These are three very short episodes of the Maxicat series, which consisted of 24 episodes in total. These feature a very cartoony cat with a big nose experiencing Pink Panther-like adventures on a grey, featureless canvas.
In the first Maxicat finds a magical hat, in the second he eats spaghetti, and in the last he finds a flying broom. All three are short and classic gag cartoons with the dialogue-less action being accompanied by very jolly music. As these three episodes prove, Maxicat is an enjoyable series from the very creative Zagreb Film Studio from Yugoslavia.
Watch some Maxicat episodes yourself and tell me what you think:
These Maxicat episodes are available on the DVD ‘The Best of Zagreb Film: Be Careful What You Wish For and The Classic Collection’
Directors:Bill Melendez & Phil Roman Airing date:November 20, 1973 Stars: Charlie Brown, Franklin, Linus, Lucy, Marcie, Peppermint Patty, Sally, Snoopy, Woodstock Rating: ★★★ Review:
‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’, the tenth of the Peanuts television specials, is the third of the Charlie Brown holiday specials, this time devoted to Thanksgiving. As such it’s a little preachy, especially through Linus’s lines.
The episode’s main problem is caused by Peppermint Patty when she invites herself, Marcie and Franklin over to Charlie Brown’s house, when he’s not even supposed to be home. Luckily, Linus, Snoopy and Woodstock help out.
The episode’s highlight is the silent comedy of Snoopy and Woodstock setting up a dinner table in the yard. This part is accompanied by a charming soul song devoted to the little yellow bird. Actually, the background music is very charming throughout most of the episode, with Vince Guaraldi lively piano trio music, joined by Tom Harrell on trumpet and Chuck Bennett on trombone. Only when Snoopy and Woodstock are putting on Thanksgiving costumes, this is exchanged for some ugly electronic music.
As always with the Peanuts films, the pace is relaxed. The animation is fair, if not outstanding, and the characters charming, and faithful to Schulz’s original comic strip.
Watch an excerpt from ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Peanuts 1970’s Collection Vol. 1’
‘The Struggle’ is as short as Jankovics’s previous film, ‘Sisyphus’ (1974), and again in black and white. This time Jankovics uses pencil on a white canvas to depict a sculptor sculpting a human figure. But then the sculpture itself starts sculpting back…
Jankovics’s design is very realistic, and his animation of the highest quality, but the film is less interesting to look at than ‘Sisyphus’ because this time Jankovics shows more than he suggests. Nevertheless, this is a clever little film that like ‘Sisyphus’ shows that Jankovics was one of the greatest and most interesting animators ever.
Watch ‘The Struggle’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘The Struggle’ is available on the Blu-Ray of ‘Son of the White Mare’
‘Sisyphus’ is a very short animation film, which is indeed about a man pushing a large rock up a steep hill.
The animation is done in black pen on white paper, and there’s no background art whatsoever. Most impressive is Jankovics’s animation: his command of the human form is formidable, and of the suggestion of muscles pushing up an enormous weight absolutely convincing. What’s even more wonderful is that the man is rendered in various variations of abstraction, from quite realistic to only suggestive splashes of ink. The soundtrack, with its very heavy breathing and growning, maybe a little too much, but this short is a wonderful example of the marvelous things animation can do.
Watch ‘Sisyphus’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Sisyphus’ is available on the Blu-Ray of ‘Son of the White Mare’
‘Dreams on Wings’ is an advertising film, but a most beautiful at that.
All the animation is done in watercolor paintings in very bold colors. Moreover, there’s a lot of metamorphosis, with images hardly staying static for more than a few frames. In one sequence, for example, an image of a galloping centaur changes into an arrow, which changes into a jet, which morphs into an airplane, which form the words Air India, etc.
Also the countries Air India flies to are depicted in the most poetic fashion. For example, Switzerland is depicted by mountains made of chocolate, and Egypt by a camel with a pyramid hump. The colorful images never seize to amaze, and the fun is enhanced further by a lively soundtrack by János Gyulai Gaál.
‘Dreams on Wings’ is available on the Blu-Ray of ‘Son of the White Mare’
In ‘Cockaboody’ John and Faith Hubley returned to the techniques and world of ‘Moonbird‘ (1959). Once again they recorded the voices of their own children, this time the toddlers Emily and Georgia, while playing. The soundtrack is thus by design completely improvised and as children’s conversations go, all over the place.
John and Faith Hubley illustrate the dialogue with delightful drawings that augment the fantasy of the two girls. For example, when Georgia goes into a tantrum, it takes the form of a green tiger threatening her older sister. Or when Georgia utters the original word ‘cockaboody’, which gives the film its title, it’s transformed into a mysterious duck-like creature.
The watercolor background art convincingly depicts the Hubley’s house as one big place to play in. Throughout the film, we remain with the two little girls, for one little scene in which we see the mother’s reaction to the loud noises the two toddlers produce.
‘Cockaboody’ may be a rather random film, starting and ending nowhere, but in between we have a lovely ride together with the two children.
Watch ‘Cockaboody’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Cockaboody’ was released on the DVD ‘Selected Films of John and Faith Hubley 1956-1973’, which came with the March/April 2014 issue of magazine ‘The Believer’
‘The Island’ is a short gag film in which a bearded castaway is stranded on a tiny island.
Khitruk explores this traditional cartoon setting, and brings it into new directions. The man longs to be rescued, but nobody helps him, though the ocean turns out to be very crowded, indeed. In fact, in the end, the man is far worse off than he was in the beginning.
Khitruk’s cell animation is effective, his designs are charming, and his timing is excellent. But the film is more than just a mere series of gags, as Khitruk satirizes man’s aggression, greed, emptiness and folly. It’s signifying that the only person helping the main protagonist, is one who has even less than the castaway he helps. Thus ‘Island’ is more than just a little gag film, it’s a humorous essay on the human condition, and it’s not an optimistic one.
Watch ‘The Island’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘The Island’ is available on the DVD ‘Masters of Russian Animation Volume 2’
In ‘Fox and Rabbit’ (actually Fox and Hare) Norstein retells a Russian folktale in which a fox chases a rabbit out of his own house. A wolf, a bear and a bull all three promise the rabbit to help him regain his house, but when threatened by the fox they run off. Only a small rooster at least tries it.
The story is told by a voice-over, and is illustrated in a very charming semi-folkloristic style, which striking and colorful supposedly wooden frames framing the action, as if were looking at paintings. M. Meyerovich’s, rather Stravinsky-like music only adds to the folkloristic character. Norstein’s cut-out animation, meanwhile, is of the highest order, and full of little subtleties, signifying the different characters.
‘Fox and Rabbit’ may be less famous than the later ‘Hedgehog in the fog’ (1975) or ‘Tale of Tales‘ (1979), the film already shows Norstein’s extraordinary talent and charming animation style. Fyodor Khitruk thought highly of the film, and was completely surprised that such commonplace material (Soyuzmultfilm had made fable films for several decades) turned into such an original, idiosyncratic film.
Watch ‘Fox and Rabbit’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Fox and Rabbit’ is available on the DVD ‘Masters of Russian Animation Volume 2’
Director: Andrei Khrzhanovsky Release date: 1973 Rating: ★★★ Review:
In ‘Butterfly’ a boy catches some butterflies, but after a nightmarish scene in which he himself is trapped, he releases them again.
The plot of ‘Butterfly’ is far from original, and rather predictive and boring, but Khrzhanovsky’s eclectic style is not. Part of the story is told in still oil paintings, but there’s also a little cell animation and cut-out animation.
The oil paintings are most interesting, with their rather high level of realism, and their painful contrast between colorful nature, and the dull, grey world of the modern city. Especially the scene inside the boy’s flat is most depressing, with only grey electronic robots to play with. Nevertheless, the most striking aspect of this film are not the animation nor the visuals, but the fascinating score by avant-garde composer Alfred Schnittke.
Watch ‘Butterfly’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Butterfly’ is available on the DVD ‘Masters of Russian Animation Volume 2’
Director: John Hubley Release date: 1974 Rating: ★★½ Review:
In ‘Voyage to Next’ mother Earth (voiced by Maureen Stapleton) and father Time (voiced by Dizzy Gillespie, who also provides the jazzy score) discuss humankind, and how its only hope is collaboration and sharing.
‘Voyage to Next’ is directed by John Hubley, but the pleasant designs of the two gods display the huge influence of Faith Hubley, who produced the film. The dialogue is improvised, and to be frank, rather rambling and disjointed, hampering the message. In fact, between an early conclusion that mankind is going nowhere and the final one that only collaboration will help little is happening in between.
‘Voyage to Next’ is very nice to look at, but little else, and one wishes the Hubleys for once would abandon their improvisational style for something more cohesive.
Watch ‘Voyage to Next’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Voyage to Next’ was released on the DVD ‘Art and Jazz in Animation’, which has been long out of print
Directors: John & Faith Hubley Release date:1972 Rating: ★ Review:
‘Dig’ is a children’s film about geology and paleontology.
A New York boy called Adam is taking his bike and dog Bones to fetch some milk, but ends up with a Rock called Rocko, who talks with a New York accent, and who takes Adam and Bones into the earth’s crust to tell about e.g. stalactites, volcanoes, earthquakes and types of rocks. In the end the trio journeys through time, from the Precambrian through the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras.
‘Dig’ boasts charming animation and a funky score by Quincy Jones, but the four songs are rather tiresome, the pacing is very slow, and the educational value negligible. The information misses context, and the images are often too vague to illustrate the message well enough. In all, ‘Dig’ certainly is not one of John and Faith Hubley’s best.
Watch ‘Dig: A Journey into the Earth’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Dig: A Journey into the Earth’ was released on the DVD ‘Art and Jazz in Animation’, which has been long out of print
Avant-garde animator Zbginiew Rybczyński, of later ‘Tango’ fame, brings us a fun little children’s film based on a poem by Julian Tuwim on trains.
The poem is set to lively jazz music by Janusz Hajdan, which Rybczyński accompanies with images of anything but trains. The lyrics are illustrated associatively, with animated pictures of a baby, a dog, an elephant. etc.
The most common element is a fat moustached man, done in pixilation. The pixilated photos are rendered in monochromes, mostly on a monochrome green canvas, which give the film a unique and very avant-garde look. Apart from the pixilation there’s a little, rather cartoony cel animation that convinces less.
‘Locomotive’ may be much less compelling than ‘Tango’, this children’s short already show that Rybczyński was a very original and idiosyncratic film maker.
Watch ‘Locomotive’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Locomotive’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Anthology of Polish Children’s Animation’
Director: Ryszard Antoniszczak Release date:1974 Rating: ★★★ Review:
‘Farewell to Steam’ is a Polish children’s film set to a rock song. The short tells about a person who wants to become a train engineer.
This is one of those films from the early seventies that display a huge ‘Yellow Submarine’ influence. This short just breaths groovy seventies design. The man himself is a prototype of a seventies hippie.
The film uses full cell animation to show us images that are cartoony, surreal and weird. The images never cease to amaze, but a story is hardly present, and hard to follow anyway. In the end ‘Farewell to Steam’ succeeds more musically and visually than narratively.
Watch ‘Farewell to Steam’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Farewell to Steam’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Anthology of Polish Children’s Animation’
Director: Stefan Janik Release date:1972 Rating: ★★★ Review:
‘Enchanted Triangles’ is a cute children’s films from Poland about triangles. The film makes clever use of the imagination of children to transform triangles into church towers, mountains, pyramids, sailing boats, birds and butterflies.
Two boys explore this triangle world. The film uses a voice over by a girl and cut-out animation. The two boys are charmingly drawn in crayons in a semi-childish style, but the triangles remain abstract. The result is cute if unassuming and rather forgettable.
Watch ‘Enchanted Triangles’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Enchanted Triangles’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Anthology of Polish Children’s Animation’
Director: Daniel Szczechura Release date:1971 Rating: ★★ Review:
‘If You Spot a Cat Flying Through the Air’ is a strange little film in bold seventies design and with an avant-garde jazz score by W. Pażyński to tell us that If You Spot a Cat Flying Through the Air, it’s a cat who love birds. These words reappear a few times in the short itself.
Unfortunately, both animation and movement are rather limited, and the short is more interesting as an experiment than entertaining to watch.
Watch ‘If You Spot a Cat Flying Through the Air’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘If You Spot a Cat Flying Through the Air’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Anthology of Polish Children’s Animation’
The late sixties and early seventies saw some striking experiments in the animated feature film. These films left the tried paths of family film and aimed at a more adult audience. In Europe Walerian Borowczyk arguably made the first experimental animated feature with ‘Théâtre de Monsieur & Madame Kabal (Theatre of Mr & Mrs Kabal)’ (1967), René Laloux made quite an impact with ‘La planète sauvage’ (1973), while in the UK George Dunning’s ‘Yellow Submarine’ (1968) caused a revolution, inspiring for example ‘János Vitéz’ (Johnny Corncob) in Hungary. Meanwhile in the US Ralph Bakshi experimented with more adult themes in ‘Fritz the Cat’ (1972) and ‘Heavy Traffic’ (1973).
In Japan, Osamu Tezuka led the way with his Mushi Productions studio, releasing three more adult themed feature films: first ‘A Thousand and One Nights’ in 1969, followed by ‘Cleopatra’ (1970) and ‘Belladonna of Sadness’ from 1973.
All three were directed by Eiichi Yamamoto, but in contrast to the earlier two features Tezuka had no direct involvement in ‘Belladonna of Sadness’. Even more striking, the great master left his own studio halfway production. Thus, ‘Belladonna of Sadness’ is very, very different from Tezuka’s own rather cartoony creations.
According to Yamamoto he wanted his film to be a Japanese answer to ‘Yellow Submarine’, and to make it one the drew inspiration from the artwork by Kuni Fukai. However, Kunai’s dark and disturbing artwork is quite the opposite from Dunning’s cheerful fantasies. On the Blu-ray Fukai calls his own work from the early seventies ‘decadent’, and that certainly is an apt description. Fukai’s drawings are baroque, graphical, lush, and highly erotic. They have a distinct neo-art-nouveau character, which is both very psychedelic and very seventies. For Belladonna of Sadness’ Fukai functioned as the art director, and his drawings form the base of the complete film, which uses animation only sparingly, often leaving the camera tracking over the static artwork.
And what artwork! ‘Belladonna of Sadness’ sure is a marvel to look at. The watercolor-and-pen drawings are all interesting and of a high artistic quality. Fukai almost always uses a white canvas, in which the drawings more or less disappear, and there’s ample and expressive ornamentation to accentuate the feeling of the scene. There are some odd design choices, however. For example, the villain looks like he has no eyes and as if three bones are stuck into his skull, making him rather grotesque and unbelievable.
Animation, as said, is only used only sparingly. There is no lip-synchronization, whatsoever, and some of the animation is crude and simple. The most interesting animation occurs when the events are not shown directly, but only suggested. For example, in the best erotic scenes more is hinted at than shown, and when the world is struck with the plague, we watch the landscape melt. There are certainly some trippy scenes, full of metamorphosis, which form the best parts of the movie. The undisputed highlight of the film comes when the baroque images are suddenly changed for a rapid-fire delivery of much more cartoony designs in bold seventies colors. This frenzy of animated images is followed by beautiful glass painted animation full of metamorphosis.
The psychedelic images are further enhanced by the soundtrack, which mixes psychedelica, spacefunk and rock into a very seventies-like mix, akin to Alain Goraguer’s soundtrack for ‘La planète sauvage’ from the same year, albeit of a lesser quality. There are even a few songs to enhance the mood.
In contrast to the beautiful art the story of ‘Belladonna of Sadness’ is subpar, and even objectionable. The film is based on ‘La sorcière’ (1862) by Jules Michelet, a non-fiction book on witchcraft, and the film’s story is set in a fictive oppressive kingdom in which a peasant girl becomes a witch. However, Yamamoto’s and Yoshiyuki Fukuda’s screenplay apparently only uses the book as a source of inspiration, as their own tale is as predictable as it is boring.
Yamamoto apparently instructed Fukai that his film was ‘porn but make it a love story’. Well, the movie is certainly porn, but hardly a love story. The two lovers Jean and Jeanne are more vignettes than characters, and if anything, Jean is a weak and will-less coward. Worse, the porn is exploitive, featuring several rapes and a lot of violence. As can be expected, there is a lot of female nudity, but hardly any male one, although penises are omnipresent, especially as the devil takes the shape of a penis himself. Jeanne’s best moment comes when she reveals herself as a full-blown witch, which provides one of the film’s most iconic moments. But during most of the film she’s used and abused by powers beyond her control. The ending, too, is unsatisfying, and all too abrupt, forcingly trying to make the porn story into something political.
Thus, ‘Belladonna of Sadness’ may transcend normal porn (it’s certainly weird and original enough to do so), but not that of a cheap comic. There’s no depth to the story, at all, and the film’s exploitive character gives a bad taste in the mouth. Nevertheless, the movie is a feast of the eye and stands as a great example of the sheer experimentation that were the seventies.
Watch the trailer for ‘Belladonna of Sadness’ yourself yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Belladonna of Sadness’ has been released on Blu-Ray, but this is currently out of print
Hungarian director Marcell Jankovics (1941-2021) is most famous for his second animated feature, the mind-blowing masterpiece ‘Fehérlófia’ (Son of the White Mare) from 1981. But his first feature, ‘János Vitéz’ certainly deserves to be equally famous.
‘János Vitéz’ was Hungary’s ever first animated feature ever, but this doesn’t show, at all. The feature is a remarkably mature product that owes nothing to earlier animation films, save George Dunnings’ ‘Yellow Submarine’ from 1968 (and one scene of a devils’ dance, which harks all the way back to Disney’s Silly Symphony ‘The Goddess of Spring’ from 1934). Like Dunning’s film, ‘János Vitéz’ uses very striking visuals in bold colors, and with a genuine contemporary design. In fact, no movie from the seventies looks so enormously ‘seventies’ as this film.
The film was commissioned by the Hungarian government to commemorate the 150st birthday of Hungary’s national poet Sándor Petőfi (1823-1849), whose stature in Hungary is comparable to that of Pushkin in Russia. Petőfi wrote ‘János Vitéz’, a long epic poem in 1844, and despite the strikingly modern visuals, the film follows the poem quite faithfully. János Gyulai-Gaál’s score is unmistaken Hungarian, akin to the music of Zoltán Kodály’s folk opera ‘Háry János’ from 1926 and contributes greatly to the utterly Hungarian character of the movie. There are also a few charming songs, adding to the experience.
The story is pretty nonsensical and more of a tall tale than a classic epic poem. It tells about the hero János Vitéz who is a sheep herder in love with the neighboring Iluska. Unfortunately, Iluska’s stepmother, the witch Mostoha, doesn’t approve of the young lovers’ romance, and makes János Vitéz’ flock of sheep disappear. Banished from his village, János Vitéz first joins a band of robbers, then joins the army, but keeps longing for his beloved Iluska.
The film retains much of Petőfi’s poetic quality: the dialogue is in rhyme, and the images themselves have a lyric quality. For example, the love of Iluska and János Vitéz is shown by associative images, full of flowers and a radiant sun. Moreover, a lot of the story is told through the images, and more by suggestion than by literally showing what’s happening. For example, when János Vitéz is banished this is shown by a street in which every house shuts its shutters when János Vitéz passes by.
The images are as folkloristic as they are psychedelic, and never cease to please or to amaze. The character designs are more of a mixed bag. János Vitéz and Iluska are drawn as rather bland beautiful people, while Mostoha, the robbers and the Turks are very cartoony. These and other characters provide some small gags. Character animation is absent. For example, when János Vitéz mourns for Iluska, this emotion is indicated more than heartfelt. Nevertheless, there is a clever use of metamorphosis and animation cycles, and it’s clear the animation is in service of the graphics and of the story.
In all, ‘János Vitéz’ is a joy to watch from start to end and deserves a much wider audience than it has now.
Watch an excerpt from ‘János Vitéz’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘János Vitéz’ is available on the Blu-Ray of ‘Son of the White Mare’
‘There’s No Time for Love, Charlie Brown ‘is the ninth Peanuts television special. This instalment is a nice, quiet little affair, with a rather stream-of-consciousness-like quality to it.
The special starts with several comic-based loose gags on school, most of them starring Sally and Peppermint Party. After seven minutes the main story kicks in, in which the kids have to go on a field trip to a museum and write a report on it. Unfortunately, Charlie Brown, Sally, Peppermint Patty and Marcie end up in a supermarket. What’s worse, Peppermint Patty hurts Charlie Brown’s feelings there, too.
Marcie, who makes her screen debut here, has a particularly young sounding voice (by one Jimmy Ahrens). It’s nice to watch her interaction with Peppermint Patty on screen, as is the interplay between Peppermint Patty and Charlie ‘Chuck’ Brown.
Halfway the supermarket scenes there’s a short song on Snoopy’s Joe Cool character, while the accompanying images show Snoopy imagining himself as a world famous grocery clerk. The rest of the episode features a very attractive jazz score by Vince Guaraldi. Throughout, both the animation and the facial expressions are fair, and the whole episode is a pleasant, if rather understated affair.
Watch ‘There’s No Time for Love, Charlie Brown’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘There’s No Time for Love, Charlie Brown’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Peanuts 1970’s Collection Vol. 1’
‘The Highway Rat’ is the sixth animated Christmas special by Magic Light Pictures. Like all the others (save ‘Revolting Rhymes’ from 2016) the film is based on a children’s book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, and like all, narrated in rhyme.
The film boasts the same charming stop-motion-like computer animation and elaborate real sets as the others, and features excellent music by René Aubry, but frankly, the film’s source material is less engrossing than for example ‘The Gruffalo’ (2009) or ‘Room on the Broom‘ (2012). The first half consists of the highway rat taking away food from passing animals only, and the creature’s punishment and reform feel rather obligate and uninspired.
Nevertheless, the film remains a wonderful thing to look at, as neither the animation nor the visuals cease to charm. Especially entertaining is the silent comedy, mostly provided by the Highway Rat’s horse. Done with great subtlety and excellent use of eye expressions this is animation at its very best.
Watch an excerpt from ‘The Highway Rat’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Animation Backgrounds
A blog dedicated to background paintings from animation films. Kept until 2016.
Animation Scoop
Animation historian Jerry Beck’s animation film news blog.
Cartoon Brew
Topical blog on animation film, led by animation historian Amid Amidi.
Cartoon Modern
Amid Amidi’s blog on modern design cartoon art from the forties, fifties and sixties.
Cartoon Research
THE site on classic animation research, hosted by cartoon historian Jerry Beck.
Cartoons Theory
Frank Beef analyzes classic cartoons. Kept until 2020.
Century Film Project
Michael reviews films of 100 years old and older, roughly in chronological order.
Classic Cartoons
A similar blog featuring many stills and comic strips. Kept until 2012.
Comet over Hollywood
Jessica Pickens reviews classic Hollywood films, especially musicals.
Deja View
Top ex-Disney animator Andreas Deja’s own blog.
Disney History
Esteemed Disney historian Didier Ghez on the latest books on Disney history.
Feeling Animated
Paul Astell brings us thorough reviews of animated features.
Flickers in Time
Short and to the point reviews of classic films (lately mostly pre-code talkies) by an anonymous retired Foreign Service Officer from California
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 