Daily post &Puppet Animation &Trnka 22 Jan 2006 08:32 am
Rambling & Trnka
More rambling:
The illustration to the left is by Jiri Trnka.
- Speaking of Dumbo, this is by far my favorite of the Disney dvd releases. Aside from the fact that it’s probably my favorite of the Disney features, John Canemaker does a solo addition of a commentary through the entire film.
It reminds me a bit of the pieces the NY Times used to do. They would have a celebrity watch an older film of their choice, and the writer and star would talk through the film. We’d get to read what the writer quoted from the viewing. Here we actually are watching the film with Canemaker and get to enjoy all his knowledge of this film at the same time. It’s informative, casual and enjoyable.
Would that the Disney studio would do more of the same. Oh, wait. No. They don’t give us commentary tracks anymore, at least not on their “Treasure” series, but they do add more games and puzzles for the children.
- I’m still traveling through the most recent WB collection – vol. III. I like about half of the films on this collection. My preference is for the earlier films. I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the m a n y black and white shorts that were made. All those great Porky films – as long as they don’t force the colorized ones on us – with costar Gabby. I love them and would certainly buy up any dvd’s.
I’ve gone through all of the commentary tracks and have enjoyed some of them. The Michael Barrier commentaries are a treasure of information; it’s almost like he can’t get it all in (and I’m sure he can’t) before the film ends. His audio highlights from some past interviews, add an original touch to the experience. Likewise Milt Gray. His is a new voice that I’d like to hear more from: lots to say and articulates it well. I’ve also gotten to enjoy the amiable style of Greg Ford‘s comments. He gives us a hell of a lot of information while at the same time absolutely loving every second of every short he views with us.
The stills above come from the Jiri Trnka film, The Archangel Gabriel and Ms Goose. It’s a remarkably beautiful film in which puppets play out a story from Boccaccio’s Decameron. The film takes place in Venice (are there any other animated films set in Venice?)
- Cartoon Brew Amid Amidi has a scathing and absolutely astute response to Cory Edwards’ whining on Animation Nation that his film, Hoodwinked, has been disrespected by animators. I wonder when Edwards or his brother, Todd Edwards, will complain about the treatment the critics have given his film. Go Amid, go.
