The reanimators

The slow but steady Tortoise has finally crossed the finish line -- and it only took 50 years.

The stop-motion animated fable “The Tortoise and the Hare” is the last of six fairy-tale shorts in a project begun after World War II by animation-effects wizard Ray Harryhausen, best known for his work in 1950s and ‘60s fantasy classics such as “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” and “Jason and the Argonauts.”

The 12-minute film, which Harryhausen started in his garage in Los Angeles in 1952, wrapped in July, with North Hollywood animators Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero completing the work under Harryhausen’s direction.

The American Cinematheque will officially unveil the film Thursday evening at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood as part of its Harryhausen tribute.

Why did it take so long to complete? “I shot about four minutes of it, and then I got a call to do a feature film, which was much more financially lucrative,” says Harryhausen, who now lives in London but flew in for the cinematheque event. “Then another feature came along, and another one, so I never actually finished it.”

In fact, he had all but forgotten about the short until filmmaker Richard Jones, who had directed the 1986 Harryhausen documentary “Aliens, Dragons, Monsters and Me,” raised the question of finishing it. “We talked about maybe wanting to finish it up around 1989,” Jones says. “It was a slow process of putting it all together.”

Having floated the idea for nearly a decade, Jones came upon Walsh and Caballero, both then in their late 20s, who had done two previous stop-motion shorts. After a series of tests, the two were given the go-ahead to finish the film.

“I loved their enthusiasm, which I thought was half the battle,” Harryhausen says.

Like virtually everyone else in the animation and effects industries, Walsh and Caballero regarded Harryhausen as a cinema icon, which meant the opportunity of working with him offered both joy and trepidation. “The most nerve-racking part was knowing that you were going to do footage that was going to be cut up against Ray’s footage,” Walsh says. “That would be a daunting prospect for any animator.”

Because none of the original tabletop sets had survived, the duo fashioned new ones in Walsh’s garage studio, based on existing footage and Harryhausen’s designs. They even traveled to the Mojave Desert to find the same tiny blossoms that Harryhausen had found 50 years earlier to decorate the woods set.

What Harryhausen still had were the original foam rubber and cloth puppets of the film’s Hare and Fox characters, which were built over movable metal armatures and required only slight refurbishing. The same was true for each character’s dozen or so interchangeable plaster heads, all bearing different expressions. The body of the Tortoise, however, had to be reconstructed with a newly sculpted shell by Harryhausen over a metal armature built by Robin Walsh, Seamus’ wife.

Production to complete “The Tortoise and the Hare” began in 2000, with Walsh and Caballero continually referring to Harryhausen’s earlier works to try to match his animation style. “Ray is the master of really strong poses and great staging and framing,” Caballero says. “At first we were a little timid, and Ray told us to be broader. He had us study a lot of Laurel and Hardy and Hal Roach comedies.”

“We were always second-guessing ourselves,” Walsh adds, asking, “Would Ray like this?”

Throughout much of the 1 1/2-year production period, footage and images were shuttled between L.A. and London by mail and fax, although Harryhausen periodically came stateside to supervise in person. He even stepped into the garage to animate a few new shots himself -- his first animation work since 1981’s “Clash of the Titans” -- although any attempt to discover who animated what shots prompts the jovial 82-year-old to intone, with perfect Oliver Hardy delivery: “I have nothing to say.”

Harryhausen confirms he is “more than pleased” with the result, which features newly recorded narration by Gary Owens, a carefully researched vintage music score and some digital tweaking to conform the look of the old and new footage (the work was donated by IO Film in North Hollywood, whose owners are Harryhausen fans).

“It’s a thrill to see it,” Harryhausen says, beaming. “I always loathed having anything unfinished.”

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‘Tribute to Ray Harryhausen’

What: Premiere of stop-motion animated short “The Tortoise and the Hare” (12 minutes) followed by double feature of 1974’s “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad” (104 minutes) and 1961’s “Mysterious Island” (101 minutes); discussion between features with Ray Harryhausen and animators Mark Caballero and Seamus Walsh

Where: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

When: Thursday, 7 p.m.

Price: General admission, $8; students, seniors with ID, $7; cinematheque members, $6.

Contact: (323) 466-FILM or www.egyptiantheatre.com