Screen Arts 11/7

1950-1959 Animation

1st Yugoslavian cartoon was created in 1951 by Duga Film Studio. It was called The Big Meeting. The credits at the beginning of the cartoon is something you dont see these days. It does seem very propaganda-ish from the visuals, but of course not understanding what they are saying makes it purely guessing.

Neighbours is a 1952 film created by Canadian Norman McLaren. Won an Oscar for documentary after some killing scenes were edited out. The sound track reminds me of the old school 8bit video games, and the escalation of the fight over the flower became ridiculous quite quickly.

Halas & Batchelor created the first British animated feature, Animal Farm in 1954 based on the novel. Was a retelling of the Soviet communism story, and Stalins rise to power. The drawing style reminds me of Footrot Flats.

In 1958, George Pal created Tom Thumb while working in hollywood. It won a special effects OSCAR in 1959, using giant sets, superimposition and stop-frame animation.

The Fabulous World of Jules Verne was made in 1958 by Karel Zeman(Czech Republic), using live action and stop-motion animation. He was an inspiration for Terry Gillam of Monty Python fame.

A Venice film festival prize winner was Samac(The Lonely) by Mimica and Marks(Croatia). Was the precursor to the flood of existential films in 1958. It looks like what I would expect an acid trip to be like, commenting on the human machine that is the office job.

Legend of the White Snake(1958) is a Japanese full length animation that provided a basis for what we know as Anime and Manga today. Produced faster than the western features of the time.