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ANIMATED FILMS Part 3 |
Animated Films | Tex Avery:
After working to help create the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons for the Walter Lantz studio in the early 30s, and then co-creating some of the most notable cartoon characters of all time at Warners in the late 30s and early 40s (for Leon Schlesinger), Tex Avery moved to MGM Studios in 1942, where from 1942 to 1957, he accelerated the pace and scope of animations and adopted new characters. At the end of his time at MGM, Avery continued his work with the Walter Lantz Studio (see further below). Avery's first cartoon for MGM, the anti-German propagandist short Blitz Wolf (1942), brought him his sole Oscar nomination for Best Short Subject. It was a wartime semi-parody of Disney's earlier Three Little Pigs (1933) with Adolf Wolf (a thinly-disguised Hitler, portrayed as "one big stinker") threatening to invade the state of Pigmania and the house of Sergeant Pork (US). Besides Tom & Jerry (see below), the other most popular MGM cartoon characters, Tex Avery's most famous and long-lasting at the studio, was the meek, slow-moving, sad, droopy-eyed, and slow-talking basset hound known as Droopy Dog. The emotionless, deadpan-voiced, yet stoic Droopy (known as "Happy Hound") made his nameless debut in MGM's Dumb-Hounded (1943). His first line of dialogue was: "Hello all you happy people...you know what? I'm the hero." He finally received his proper name in his fifth cartoon, Senor Droopy (1949). Drag-Along Droopy (1954) was one of the classic Droopy cartoons, a spoof on range wars between sheepherders (Droopy) and ranchers (the Wolf's "Bear Butte Ranch"), as was Dixieland Droopy (1954) - the first Droopy cartoon in Cinemascope. One Droopy Knight (1957) was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject - the character's sole nomination (after Avery left the studio). Avery also developed the character of wacky Screwy Squirrel, an angry anthropomorphic furry squirrel for Screwball Squirrel (1944) who appeared in only five cartoons from 1944 to 1946. Screwy's basic enemy was Meathead Dog. In addition, another short-lived animation series consisted of only five cartoons from 1946 to 1948. They starred a pair of mismatched bears named George and Junior (derived from the characters in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men novel, George and Lennie). The first George and Junior cartoon was Henpecked Hoboes (1946), while the last was Lucky Ducky (1948).
Tex Avery's work was considered quite controversial when he created a sexy version of the well-known fairy tale Red Hot Riding Hood (1943) with a character known as Red, a sexy red-headed beauty.
Walter Lantz Studios: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Woody Woodpecker, and Chilly Willy
Lantz made a series of black-and-white cartoons from 1929 to 1935, featuring the rubber-limbed, long-eared rabbit, including these early titles:
Lantz was noted for also making the first-ever Technicolor cartoon - the opening animated sequence to the live-action The King of Jazz (1930).
Over the next three decades, Lantz made about 200 six-minute Woody cartoons. Woody's appearance and demeanor was somewhat softened in The Barber of Seville (1944), but he still maintained his usually aggressive and slightly sadistic, manic personality. A long-time adversary of Woody's, Wally Walrus, was introduced in The Beach Nut (1944), the same year. Two Woody shorts were Oscar-nominees:
In 1948, the novelty tune, The Woody Woodpecker Song (written by George Tibble, Ramey Idriess and Danny Kaye) was released on record and became the #1 hit song (sung by Kay Kyser). The song was put into the latest cartoon, Wet Blanket Policy (1948) (with another new co-star arch-nemesis Buzz Buzzard) and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song (it lost to Buttons and Bows in The Paleface (1948)). Young boys copied Woody's haircut, and fan clubs developed across the country. In the late 50s, The Woody Woodpecker Show first appeared on ABC-TV in 1957 , and led to further shows and syndication. A less popular but distinctive Lantz cartoon character was Chilly Willy - a penguin, who first appeared in 1953 in a cartoon titled appropriately, Chilly Willy (1953). Chilly's popularity soared when animator Tex Avery joined the Lantz Studio the following year and directed Chilly's second and third cartoons: I'm Cold (1954) and Academy Award-nominated The Legend of Rock-a-bye Point (1955) for Best Short Subject Cartoon (it lost to Speedy Gonzales (1935), a Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies cartoon). As with Woody, Chilly Willy cartoons appeared all the way until 1972 - the last year of production. Hanna-Barbera's Tom & Jerry:
When the cartoon series highlighting the love-hate relationship between the two animals was first introduced in 1940 with the 9-minute Technicolored pilot Puss Gets the Boot (1940), Hanna and Barbera received their first Oscar nomination. In this first appearance of the characters, both Tom and Jerry were unidentified as such: Tom was called 'Jasper' and the mouse had no name.
Over 100 cartoons from 1940 to 1957 featured the two cartoon characters, and Hanna and Barbera were able to break Disney's Oscar monopoly for award-winning cartoons. They won more Academy Awards than any other cartoon series in history, except for Disney's Silly Symphonies that also won the same number. They won seven Oscars for Best Short Subject: Cartoon for the following animated cartoons, all in the Tom & Jerry series:
Later, in a few famous sequences, Jerry the mouse danced with Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh (1945) - the first instance of the combination of live action and animation in a feature film. Tom and Jerry also performed an underwater fantasy dance with Esther Williams in Dangerous When Wet (1953). Famed animator Chuck Jones was assigned to produce new episodes for Tom and Jerry cartoons in the 70s at MGM - but they had lost their spunk and spirit by that time - and were ultimately unsuccessful. The First Full-Length Animated Film:
It was financed due in part to the success of Disney's earlier animated short, The Three Little Pigs (1933). Although dubbed "Disney's Folly" during the three-four year production of the musical animation, Disney realized that he had to expand and alter the format of cartoons. He used a multi-plane camera, first utilized in his animated, Oscar-winning Silly Symphonies short, The Old Mill (1937) to create an illusion of depth and movement. His version of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale was the second of its kind - the first was a five-minute Snow White (1933) starring Betty Boop (with an appearance by Cab Calloway). Disney's risk-taking paid off when the film became a financial and critical success.
Disney's Golden Age of Hollywood Animations in the 40s:
Disney experimented with other milestone, ground-breaking techniques that combined classical music and animation in seven separate episodes in the film Fantasia (1940), released on November 13, 1940, and January 29, 1941 (roadshow). The film, with a production cost of more than $2 million (about four times more than an average live-action picture), featured Mickey Mouse as the star of the picture in Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the mouse's only appearance in a feature cartoon. It was the first film to be released in a multichannel stereo sound format called Fantasound - decades ahead of its time - requiring a special system devised for playback, although it was rarely shown that way due to the expense (and the fact that only 6 theaters were equipped to play Fantasound). Fantasia was the fullest expression of Disney's earlier work on Silly Symphonies. [Note A sequel of sorts was released 60 years later, originally in the IMAX format, Fantasia/2000 (1999), with new interpretations of classical music (including Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance, Stravinsky's Firebird, Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 - and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue), plus a replay of The Sorcerer's Apprentice.] Other great classic Disney tales, animated features, and storybooks in the 40s included (see also below):
The 1950s: Disney's Golden Age of Animation (continued) In the 50s, Disney released more animated features, including the following full-length classics:
In order, Lady and the Tramp (1955), Peter Pan (1953), and Cinderella (1950) were the top 3 grossing films of the 50s. [Taking into account reissues and re-releases over the years as well as the original releases, the order of these top-grossing animated films of all time has been rearranged, placing Cinderella (1950) first, followed by Lady and the Tramp (1955) and then Peter Pan (1953).] Walt Disney achieved a milestone in the 1954 awards ceremony - as the individual with the most Oscar wins (4) in a single year. He won the award in four awards categories, including one film which was animated: Best Cartoon Short Subject: Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953). UPA Productions - Columbia Studios: Some who left Disney Studios around the time of the studio's 1941 strike later established United Productions of America (UPA), a studio for cartoons distributed by Columbia. It was known for simplified, stylized, more contemporary animated drawings of characters (with limited movement but boldly colored) in the Jolly Frolics cartoon series (38 theatrical cartoons released from 1948 to 1959). The two main characters were:
Mister Magoo's first appearance in a cartoon was The Ragtime Bear (1949) - found in the Jolly Frolics series of cartoons. The second cartoon, at the start of a Mister Magoo series of cartoons, was Spellbound Hound (1950). Over the years from 1949 to 1959, the Mister Magoo cartoons (53 in total) were honored with two Academy Awards (from five nominations) for Best Animated Short Film: When Magoo Flew (1954) (it was the first UPA short filmed in CinemaScope), and Magoo's Puddle Jumper (1956). UPA also developed a popular animated TV series titled Mister Magoo that aired from 1960-1962 (with 130 episodes).
Mister Magoo also starred in UPA's first feature-length cartoon film, the 76-minute 1001 Arabian Nights (1959), an adaptation of the Aladdin folktale with Magoo as Aladdin's uncle. The theatrical animation, released by Columbia Pictures, was the studio's first animated feature. Walt Disney Pictures also released a poorly-rated, live-action version of the character, Mr. Magoo (1997) directed by Stanley Tong (his sole English language film), with Leslie Nielsen as the title character. Crusader Rabbit - The First US Animated TV Series:
The show originally aired from 1950 -1952 and also had a color version in 1957, with both Lucille Bliss and GeGe Pearson providing the voice of the Don Quixote-like title character. It told about knight-in-armor Crusader Rabbit and his tiger companion Rags, combating nemesis Dudley Nightshade, with episodes ending in a cliffhanger.
Hanna and Barbera:
H-B Enterprises (the first name of the company) became responsible for the following cartoon shows, and their related spin-offs:
Based upon some of these cartoon shows, they also produced feature-length films, such as the animated musicals Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! (1964) (H-B's first theatrical film) and The Man Called Flintstone (1966) - a James Bond spoof, the Star Trek-like Jetsons: The Movie (1990), and the live-action Scooby-Doo (2002) (with a sequel in 2004). In the 1980s, one of H-B's most popular animated TV series was The Smurfs (1981-1989), that ran on NBC-TV for 9 seasons, with 256 episodes. Cold War Era Propagandistic Animations:
Advanced Animation Techniques in the 50s and 60s: Ray Harryhausen and Others In 1949, inspired by the stop-motion work of Willis O'Brien in King Kong (1933), Ray Harryhausen animated the stop-motion gorilla in Mighty Joe Young (1949), although the work was mostly credited to O'Brien. This was Harryhausen's first feature film for which he created stop-motion animation. His own distinctive brand of stop-motion animation was termed DynaMation - a process involving split-screen rear projection to insert the stop-motion characters into background live-action plates. Ray Harryhausen's films, such as his best known work Jason and the Argonauts (1963) with its skeletal warriors set-piece, perfected stop-motion animation. By the time the 61 year-old Harryhausen had finished Clash of the Titans (1981), he had worked on more than a dozen sci-fi and fantasy films with stop-motion animation. He created the fantastic images in 15 films between 1953 and 1981, including:
Other Famed Animators in the 50s through 70s: George Pal, the father of screen science fiction fantasy films, artistically combined live acting cinematography, animation, puppets (e.g., Puppetoons produced for Paramount in the 30s), and other visual effects in films such as Tom Thumb (1958), the Cinerama-configured The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1963). Animator-geniuses of recent years have used pixillation, the frame by frame animation of live subjects or objects and human beings by filming them incrementally in various fixed poses. Mary Poppins (1964) was a more recent, semi-animated kids musical with both live-action and animated characters. The best-known work of the Halas & Batchelor (husband and wife) animation studios was the adult-themed and serious Animal Farm (1954), the first animated color feature film made in England. All of the character's voices were provided by actor Maurice Denham. The allegorical tale, based on George Orwell's 1945 satirical political novel, told of animals at Manor Farm who were led by fascist pigs Napoleon and Snowball to rebelliously overthrow oppressive Farmer Jones, take over the farm, and form a free, egalitarian socialist utopia. The new society was to be based upon seven principles:
A classic family animation with similar animal characters, although a-political, was Charlotte's Web (1973), adapted from E.B. White's beloved tale about an intelligent spider (Charlotte, voiced by Debbie Reynolds), a rat (Templeton, voiced by Paul Lynde), and a bashful, ill-fated barnyard pig (Wilbur, voiced by Henry Gibson). It was noted for Charlotte's sacrificial saving of Wilbur with web-spinning creations ("Some Pig"), Wilbur's caring for Charlotte's egg sac and spiderlings upon her death, and memorable songs including "Mother Earth and Father Time." The magical puppetry of Jim Henson's Muppet characters have also charmed audiences, first with The Muppet Movie (1979), then followed by more adventures with Kermit, Miss Piggy, and other delightful characters. [See section on Children's Films.] |
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Note: It heavily
influenced director Chuck Russell's The Mask (1994) featuring
Jim Carrey as mild-mannered bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss, who was obsessed
with cartoons. When Stanley donned a magical mask, he turned into an
alter ego composed of Tex Avery-like cartoon characters - the Wolf
(including a famous double-take with his eyes popping out of his head
and a wolf whistle), the Tasmanian Devil (whirling like a tornado),
and others. He even re-enacted portions of a classic Avery cartoon
that he earlier watched on his VCR, Red Hot Riding Hood (1943),
in the nightclub scene. All special effects were compliments of George
Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic.]
Walter
Lantz, an early animator, and Charles Mintz (representing Universal
and boss Carl Laemmle), took over the character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
from Walt Disney in 1928 - it was the first animated character
for Universal Pictures. Mickey Rooney was the first to do the
character's voice. The resemblance of Oswald to its biggest competitor,
Disney's Mickey Mouse, was striking. 
Another
of Lantz' legendary creations was a new character - the red-headed, blue-bodied, long yellow-beaked, trouble-making
Woody Woodpecker, with his distinctive trademarked laugh ("Ha-Ha-Ha-HA-Ha" by
Mel Blanc) and voice (by Mel Blanc for the first four cartoons, and then by
Ben "Bugs" Hardaway until 1948, and thereafter by Lantz' own wife
Grace Stafford). Woody (looking slightly deranged and not like his later persona) first appeared in Lantz' Andy Panda cartoon Knock, Knock (1940) distributed by Universal Studios, in which he bedeviled the panda. The next year, the popular Woody became a starring character as "Woody Woodpecker" in The Cracked Nut (1941), and began to replace the waning Oswald the
Rabbit. 
In
their first full teaming together after first meeting at MGM and serving
as co-directors in the studio's animation unit, William Hanna and Joseph
Barbera created the cat and mouse Tom & Jerry series (clearly
influenced by the frenetic action in Tex Avery's work at Warners).
It was composed of comic adventures about Tom - a gray mangy cat, and
Jerry - a wisely innocent mouse. 
One of their most famous cartoons
was the 19th short, Mouse in Manhattan (1945) that featured
a score by Scott Bradley (made up mostly of Louis Alter's Manhattan
Serenade later used in 
The
Golden Age of Hollywood cartoon comedy was in the late 1930s and 1940s. The
earliest animated films that most people remember seeing are the later,
more sophisticated Disney feature films that contain exquisite detail,
flowing movements, gorgeous and rich color, enchanting characters,
lovely musical songs and tunes, and stories drawn with magical or
mythological plots. The first, full-length animated film was
Disney's classic 
The critically-praised 
Animator Jay Ward, working with Alexander Anderson, Jr (whose idea was first turned down at Terrytoon Studios), created the immensely-popular animated, serialized NBC-TV show Crusader Rabbit, through their new company Television Arts Productions. It was the first American animated series produced especially for television. 
In
the late 50s after their success with Tom and Jerry cartoons,
Hanna-Barbera formed their own company in 1957 (a division of Warner
Bros.' Animation). They were one of the earliest animation studios
to become successful producing animated cartoon TV shows for television,
but were often criticized for their crude, low-budget animations. 
One
of the most notorious propaganda films ever made, Duck and Cover (1951),
was aimed at school children. The 9-minute Civil Defense film used an animated
turtle named Bert to show children how to survive a nuclear explosion or atomic
attack by using a "duck and cover" technique under their desks.
Later, Bert became a cultural icon in the documentary The Atomic Cafe (1982),
and it was cleverly spoofed in Brad Bird's The Iron Giant (1999) with a cartoon
beaver. For its historical and cultural place within film history, it was
inducted into the National Film Registry in 2004. 
Harryhausen's best film, with screeching harpies, a giant metal warrior (a cross between the Colossus of Rhodes and a bronzed stone giant Talos man), a 7-headed hydra, and sword-wielding skeletons doing battle against Jason (Todd Armstrong)
