10. Joe Young (Mighty Joe Young, 1949)
Having seen King Kong several times upon its 1933 release; and thus inspiring such a celebrated career, it is rather fitting that for his first feature, Harryhausen and fellow animator Willis H. O'Brien (who had worked on King Kong) magically brought a primate to life. The story follows Joe, a pet gorilla released into the African wilderness- only to be captured and exploited by Hollywood (where
do they get these ideas from?) And although Harryhausen was credited as an assistant, he was responsible for most of the animation that enabled Joe's facial expressions and ability to seamlessly interact with his environment. Of course, things were not perfect immediately; issues with the scale of Joe's model meant that the gorilla was considerably larger in some scenes than others, but the technology was later claimed to be more complex than that of King Kong. Mighty Joe Young won an Academy Award for Special Effects, marking a promising future for the twenty-nine year old Harryhausen.