Napoleon the Pig - Animal Farm
Halas & Batchelor (1954)
Halas and Batchelor Cartoon Films was founded in 1940 by husband and wife team John Halas and Joy Batchelor; over the next 58 years they were to be one of the premiere animation studios in Western Europe. Their output include 70 propaganda films during the Second World War, children's shows, full length cartoons (the first was Animal Farm in 1954 - unwittingly a propaganda film clandestinely funded by the CIA), musical shorts, educational cartoons and a series based on the popular books of Gerald Hoffnung - he of the Interplanetary Music Festival.
In 1961 they introduced Hamilton the Musical Elephant in two charming little shorts with soundtracks by British jazz great Johnny Dankworth (it was only later that he became the more formal John).
You have to wonder why the little guy only appeared it two cartoons though perhaps the creators wisely thought there were only so many plot lines you could create for a trumpet playing forgetful elephant.
April 6 -1327: The poet Petrarch first sees his idealized love, Laura, in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon.
There was an Old Derry down Derry,
who love to see little folk merry;
So he made them a book,
and with laughter they shook
at the fun of that Derry down Derry.
I'm not at all sure if children still read Edward Lear (I'm sure some must) but I always found his word play enchanting. He conjured up such pictures of Jumblies, floating Owls and Pussycats, and various old men and ladies of sundry places whose strange habits made for wonderful limericks.
I thought I'd start off my week by revisiting a few of my favourites. However since I didn't have one of his many books at hand I thumbed clicked through the videos on YouTube and came up with these two very different but fun animations of classic Lear stories.
Well I guess that little tag end answered my question about children still reading Lear.
The tweets, blogs and sites that deal with the gossip around films were awash this past week with the first photos of Anthony Hopkins as that master of implied horror Alfred Hitchcock. I have to be honest and say I didn't find he look all that much like Hitchcock and he looked even less like Sir Anthony. Apparently this is all in aid of a movie that's currently being made about making a movie - not just any movie mind you but that 1960s classic of subversive terror Psycho. This was the film that had an entire generation avoiding taking a shower like.. well death.
It wasn't until I read the entry on Wikipedia that I realized the behind the scenes drama involved in making the film. The studio bosses felt that the material was just too strong for the sensibilities of the American public and Hitch had to fight to get it made. Even then he had to finance it himself and in order to cut costs filmed in black and white and utilized the studio team he had working with him on his weekly TV series.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents was part of a legendary Sunday night line-up on CBS in the 1950s - it began with Lassie saving people and ended with Hitchcock bumping them off! Though he seldom was involved with directing the show, for over ten years he served as a slightly sardonic host for a half-hour - later expanded to an hour - of murder and suspense. And for ten years we were treated to introductions that became as classic as many of his films. As the lumbering first cords of Charles Gounod's March funèbre d'une marionette sounded the camera faded in on a simple eight line caricature - drawn by Hitchcock - of that unmistakable profile followed by Hitchcock himself in silhouette lumbering, like the music, on to the screen and eclipsing the drawing. Then he'd turn and in that purse-lipped, plummy almost lisping voice wish us a "good evening". What followed were satirical or mocking jabs at the sponsors, network and general state of the Union as lead-ins to the commercial breaks. There were times when Hitchcock's brief appearances were more memorable than the episodes themselves.
It was during a discussion on the upcoming film with my colleague Lara that the topic of Gounod's little piano piece - part of a larger unrealized suite - came up and as often happens with our discussions it led to a Google search. As well as quite a few of those Hitchcock introductions we came across this fun piece of animation. Created by Eric Fonseca - he scripted it, created the puppets and decor and filmed it - back in 2006, its almost like something out of Edward Gorey as directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The perfect combination for a March Macabre!
This remarkable piece of animation was the first effort of Eric Fonseca and took him a year to make. He followed it up with The Fall of the House of Usher - a full length stop-animation feature that he completed in 2010. A preview of what looks like an fascinating take on Poe's tale of terror can be found here.
22 April - 1970: The first Earth Day is celebrated.
A friend in Athens introduced me to a wonderful piece of animation: Sita Sings the Blues. Created by independent film maker Nina Paley it is a brilliant take on the Rama and Sita legends mixed with blues songs from one of the great forgotten vocalists of the 1920s-1930s Annette Hanshaw. In this clip she sings Who's That Knocking At My Door - a great little number and I just love her signture tag: That's All!
The witty combinations of animation and visual styles, the parallel story of modern day Nina with the great Ramayana legend as seen from Sita's point of view, the shadow puppet commentators and the introduction of American blues makes for an animation classic.
The intriguing story behind its creation and Paley's decision to make free downloading available can be found here. And of course Sita has its own website here.
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