Re: JB Kaufman Visits the SSO on 11/21 & 11/22
Posted: November 22nd, 2015, 4:45 pm
Yes, the designs are faithful to the originals. Thank you!
https://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/
It's certainly true that having produced one animated feature was invaluable experience when they tackled the second one. Having improvised a general overall system, and having seen how well it worked, they could simply follow the same broad template. On the other hand, no two of those features are alike, and each brought its own challenges that required unique responses. Ward Kimball, who worked on both films, felt that the success of Snow White actually made the artists too complacent, lulling them into thinking that production of Pinocchio would be a simple matter. In fact, it was anything but.moira finnie wrote:Were there specific lessons learned during the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that made the making of Pinnochio less stressful for the creators of the later movie?
No, I don't think they had that kind of trouble in Europe. This was at the time when everybody, everywhere, loved the Disney films -- and apparently Hitler was no exception -- and tended to give them a free pass, as far as story material was concerned. The Disneys' problem in Europe was distribution. Snow White, released overseas in 1938, was very successful in Europe, but by the time Pinocchio came along, the war was in full force and most of the European markets were closed to U.S. films. Most European audiences had to wait until the end of the war to see the Disney features -- in some cases, several years after they were produced.moira finnie wrote:I have read that studios such as Warner Brothers and Universal often ran into serious trouble distributing their films in Europe as fascism grew. Were Disney cartoons and films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Fantasia scrutinised for storylines or subtexts by governments in Germany, Austria and elsewhere at that time?
Yes, the Disney studio was on a real financial roller coaster for a number of years there. Snow White was a tremendous boxoffice success around the world, but Pinocchio and Fantasia both lost money in their initial releases -- partly because of the loss of the European markets, but they were also less successful domestically. If you're asking whether Walt's temperament made it possible to keep aiming for the highest artistic standards even during hard times, the answer is emphatically yes. He certainly had a practical side and recognized the need to deal with the financial problems, but not at the expense of quality. Dumbo is a great example. It was deliberately produced on a small scale and a low budget, so it doesn't have the extravagant lushness of Pinocchio -- but it's still a classic film because it adheres to the studio's real core strengths: storytelling and character animation.moira finnie wrote:One of the remarkable aspects of the Disney studio's existence that has emerged in books about it in recent years was the narrow profit margin and sometimes almost empty coffers within which the studio product now appears to have been a marvel of creativity and innovation. Was that made possible by the differing temperaments of Walt and Roy Disney? Was the distribution of Disney products through RKO a convenient or an uneasy alliance?
I don't think the time leading up to the war -- that is, leading up to Pearl Harbor -- had a great effect on Disney themes and style. Of course the atmosphere of the times was reflected in the films, so you could find little isolated gags and references. (For example, the fanciful newspaper headline about the "Dumbomber" in the closing scenes of Dumbo.) And if you wanted to, you could claim that one pacifist character (Ferdinand the Bull) was treated more sympathetically in 1938 than another pacifist character (The Reluctant Dragon) in 1941. That's a bit of a stretch, though, and I'm not comfortable indulging in too much academic second-guessing -- I think there's been too much of that already.moira finnie wrote:Aside from shifting the focus of work at the Disney studio to combat training and propaganda work as well as the South American market after Pearl Harbor, did the lead up to WWII affect Disney animation thematically and stylistically?
That is a quick question, but I don't know that I have a quick answer. The best I can do is a two-part answer. First, I love the form itself -- there's a kind of unique beauty and purity about a form that's completely visual. (Not to minimize the importance of the right musical accompaniment, which I also love, but you know what I mean.) Like a lot of us, I came into silent film by way of the comedies, and you don't need me to tell you what a luxury it is to discover and savor the beautiful visual comedy of Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, and other great comedians. It's like a great delicacy that can't quite be duplicated in any other medium. And, of course, having started with comedy, it was a short step to enjoying and appreciating other silents. The best films of Griffith, Vidor, and a few other directors -- not least the great pictorialists like Tourneur and Ingram -- are as great as they are partly because they don't have the handicap of sound.Lzcutter wrote:Quick question for you- why are drawn to silent films?
By common consent, the two celebrated highlights of her career are Judith of Bethulia (1913) and Anna Christie (1923). Both films are extant (although, frankly, I think they're both due for better restorations). I've always found it interesting that these two roles -- the Biblical (Apocryphal) heroine and the embittered prostitute -- are Blanche's best-remembered performances. I think it indicates something of her impressive range as an actress.moira finnie wrote:Before you dash off, could you please mention some of the essential Blanche Sweet performances you would recommend to the uninitiated viewer?
I sure have, and there sure is. I am utterly in awe of the film-preservation community, around the world -- I think they're pulling off miraculous things on a regular basis, and we're all better off for it. My hat is off to the National Film Preservation Foundation and its partner organizations. This is very much related to the above, because so much of Blanche Sweet's film career has been presumed "lost" for so long. Now some of those longed-for titles actually have resurfaced and have been restored to view, and I have reason to hope for more -- along with all those other finds that we've been enjoying recently!moira finnie wrote:Also, have you been surprised by the number of "lost films" from the silent era that have been found around the world in recent years? Is there reason to hope that more are out there?