Animation &Animation Artifacts &Disney 08 Dec 2010 08:50 am
Thomas’ Hook – Part 1
- Frank Thomas is one of those animators that I took too much for granted. The more I look at his work, the more I realize he was one of the greatest animators to have graced the business.
His animation of Captain Hook is brilliant.
Per comments by Wil Raymakers and Sandro Cleuso, I’ve learned that this particular scene was animated by Woolie Reitherman. Naturally that would be under the supervision of Thomas, who controlled the character, Hook.
I can’t speak more highly about this scene. In a flash, I can tell you exactly where this scene sits in Peter Pan, and I’ve remembered it since I was a child; it’s that key to me.
The scene is obviously designed to be on ones, and I have the drawings for the second half (on ones), but the first half includes only the keys. Consequently, there’s some staccato movement in the QT movie I’ve made. Regardless, it’s beautiful.
The scene comes to me courtesy of Louis Scarborough Jr., who made the loan.
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Here’s a QT movie of the complete action from the scene, including Part 1.
Since the scene has been inbetweened, it’s exposed, for the most part, on ones.
on 08 Dec 2010 at 12:02 pm 1.Daniel Caylor said …
Beauty, thanks Michael!
on 08 Dec 2010 at 12:15 pm 2.Wil Raymakers said …
Thanks for posting these ,Micheal……..Frank Thomas is indeed a brilliant animator but this scene is by Woolie Reitherman
on 08 Dec 2010 at 12:18 pm 3.Thad said …
I agree with everything you wrote. Do you have any of the Thomas animation from the scene at the piano? Easily one of the best acted scenes ever animated. Unfortunately a lot of the truly wonderful scenes are bookended by many that are definitely not.
on 08 Dec 2010 at 12:45 pm 4.Michael said …
Will, I don’t have the drafts for PETER PAN. I was told that this scene was by Thomas. Are you sure it was Woolie who animated it?
on 08 Dec 2010 at 12:49 pm 5.Sandro said …
Hey Michael,
This is scene was actually done by Woolie Reitherman. Of course, Frank was in charge of Hook and maybe he helped with drawings and suggestions, but it is a Woolie’s scene.
Best.
Sandro
on 08 Dec 2010 at 1:47 pm 6.Wil Raymakers said …
Michael, yes, I have a copy of the draft and it says it is animated by Reitherman.
on 08 Dec 2010 at 3:17 pm 7.Michael said …
Thanks Wil, I’ve adjusted the post and have given you credit for catching my error. Thanks; I appreciate it.
on 08 Dec 2010 at 8:31 pm 8.Stephen Worth said …
Lounsbery did a lot of great scenes in the Skull Rock sequence. Frank didn’t do much animation in this part of the film.
on 08 Dec 2010 at 11:18 pm 9.Jason Groh said …
Woolie Reitherman gets a TIRED rap for being a guy who could do only broad action scenes.Some of this is even perpetuated by Woolie himself,but Reitherman was a great animator and he did tons of great stuff he never gets credit for.
Woolie did some of the best stuff in Alice in Wonderland in the “tea party” and “walrus and carpenter” sections that Kimball often gets mentioned for.
They say history is written by the victors….Sadly Animation history is often only written by those who bother to write it down at all.
It would blow peoples minds the amount of great stuff in Disney features done by five of the other nine old men who never get credit for much at all because they never wrote a book:(
Les Clark did more animation of Alice than Milt Kahl did in that movie and you would never know it.
Thanks for the cool post Michael!It is great to see some of the other guys get some well deserved props.
on 09 Dec 2010 at 9:37 pm 10.Stephen Worth said …
Last night I was watching the new bluray of Fantasia with an animator friend and he commented on how good Freddie Moore’s animation in Sorcerer’s Apprentice was. Of course the scenes he was referring to were by Les Clark. Everyone knows Iwerks and Moore, but Clark was the animator behind the mouse for the lion’s share of his career.
on 15 Dec 2010 at 7:36 pm 11.John V. said …
Actually, weren’t Frank and Woolie both in charge of Hook?
on 04 Aug 2011 at 7:58 pm 12.Nicholas Pozega said …
Great grabs! This will be interesting to study!
Also, following Thad’s question, do you have grabs of the pencil test where Hook says “Well, get on with it!” I know it exists, since i saw the pencil test on Youtube.