Time for Melody by Robin Allan The fortieth anniversary of Melody Time (1948) serves as an opportunity – and much more than an excuse – to reassess one of Walt Disney’s neglected animated feature films; it was not a success either critically or commercially, and like its predecessor Make Mine Music (1946) with which it… Read More »
There were more package films to follow: Song of the South (1946), Fun and Fancy Free (1947), Melody Time (1948), and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad (1949). All these films are interesting, but for experiment and adventure in animation Melody Time is the most rewarding. It lacks The musical quality of Make Mine… Read More »
Once Upon a Wintertime (Director Hamilton Luske) This is a stylised story, sung by Frances Langford, of boy and girl romance on the ice, the human lovers echoed by two rabbits who travel to a frozen river on the young couple’s sleigh. The girl and her rabbit counterpart are trapped on an ice floe (one… Read More »
Johnny Appleseed (Director Wilfred Jackson) This is the story of “a real life pioneer” called John Chapman (1776 – 1847) who, “with a tin pot hat, a bag of apple seed and a holy book.., all alone set out to meet the great unknown… without no knife, without no gun”. The film chronicles his courage… Read More »
Trees (Director Hamilton Luske) This is a visualisation of Joyce Kilmer’s famous poem, with Oscar Rasbach’s music, sung by Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians. The music is too lush and we are subjected to one of those lapses in taste to which Disney is prone, but otherwise, this little section is a gem. It is the direct… Read More »
By Ken Clark Publicity for the medium is welcomed whenever it promotes new work or adds to general public awareness, but I have never subscribed to the idea that tricks of the trade should be continually on show – a good magician never reveals his secrets. However, that is not to say the occasional tantalising… Read More »
MOMI The Museum of the Moving Image received the Royal seal of approval when Prince Charles attended the opening ceremony on Thursday 15th September 1988. There was much to recommend, particularly the way in which those responsible had succeeded in squeezing a pint into a half-pint pot. Tucked under Waterloo Bridge this seemingly impossible site… Read More »
The point I am making is that animation suffers from a lack of exposure. As one man remarked after seeing Halas & Batchelor’s retrospective: “Why on earth haven’t we been given an opportunity of seeing these films before this moment?” I suggest an answer may be found in the video cassette. A start has been… Read More »
The world of animation has been severely handicapped because it has never been classified according to its nature, its character and its type as so many other art movements have. This lack of classification has, unfortunately, contributed to the fact that the general public still thinks all animation is of the comic type which, as… Read More »
David Williams and Robin Allan have been reading a book which pays tribute to a neglected artist and animator of genius. Those familiar with John Canemaker’s editorship of Funnyworld and his beautifully researched documentary films on Otto Messmer and Winsor McCay, will need no more than that acquaintance to recommend this sumptuous book. Its large… Read More »