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Directors: John & Faith Hubley
Release date: 1973
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
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’
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
Director: Emily Hubley
Release Date: 1995
Rating: ★★★
‘Her Grandmother’s Gift’ is directed and animated by Emily Hubley, and narrated by her mother, Faith Hubley.
Faith Hubley recalls her own first period, and the unhealthy attitude her own mother had towards this natural phenomenon. Emily Hubley illustrates this remarkably frank and autobiographical tale with images that are related to but different from her own mother’s art. The younger Hubley relies much less on animation cycles than her mother, and pimps her images with collage art, photographs and the use of bits of cut-out animation. Her style is less poetic than her mother’s, but her images support her mother’s narrative very well.
Watch ‘Her Grandmother’s Gift’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Her Grandmother’s Gift’ is available on the DVD ‘The Hubley Collection Volume 2’
Directors: Faith Hubley & Emily Hubley
Release Date: 1995
Rating: ★★★½
In ‘Rainbows of Hawai’i’ director Faith Hubley, ever thirsty for mythology, turns her attention to the isles of Hawaii. She retells four Hawaiian stories, in her own idiosyncratic way, using a lot of repetitive animation cycles, dancing figures, and semi-abstract, yet vibrant images.
In terms of animation most interesting is the first story, ‘Hisaka Asks the Dragon’s Permission to Enter the Forest – They Do Battle’, in which the animation of the dragon is surprisingly traditional. Most intriguing is the second story, in which a woman gives birth to a friendly green shark. The four stories are followed by a last section, titled ‘All Children Are Sacred and the Dance of Life and Death Goes on and on’, which reshuffles images from all four previous stories with images of dancing figures.
According to the titles, Hubley took inspiration from Oceanic art, but frankly, this is not really visible, as the images in ‘Rainbows of Hawai’i’ aren’t very different from those in her earlier films.
‘Rainbows of Hawai’i’ is available on the DVD ‘The Hubley Collection Volume 2’
Director: Faith Hubley
Release Date: 1994
Rating: ★★★★½
‘Seers and Clowns’ is one of Faith Hubley’s less comprehensible films. Like many of her other works, the short is drenched in mythology.
The film consists of five very short chapters, and uses citations from Chief Seattle, Lao Tse and Kabir. Throughout the film Hubley’s Joan Miró-like imagery remains beautiful, poetic and intriguing, but as most images consist of short animation cycles of semi-abstract figures dancing with joy, any story is hard to follow.
Most interesting is when Hubley’s enriches her style with Eastern influences (in ‘A Chinese Seer Divines Change’) or from Ancient Greece (in ‘Cybele’s Dream’). The mythological atmosphere is greatly enhanced by Don Christensen’s quasi-ethnic music.
Watch ‘Seers and Clowns’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Seers and Clowns’ is available on the DVD ‘The Hubley Collection Volume 2’
Director: Faith Hubley
Release Date: 1992
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
‘Tall Time Tales’ is a meditation on time.
Like ‘Upside Down‘ the film consists of several parts, divided by a voice over. ‘Tall Time Tales’ consists of five parts: 1. Time waits for no one, 2. Tick Tock Clock, in which Hubley illustrates the grind of daily work routines, 3. The twin paradox (a concept from the relativity theory), 4. Dreamtime (a concept from aboriginal mythology) and the vague ‘Arrows or circles’, probably musing whether time is linear or circular. The film ends with a great finale of beautiful, if utterly incomprehensible images moving to Don Christensen’s percussive dance music.
‘Tall Time Tales’ is one of Faith Hubley’s more successful films, blending inspired music with ditto images. Its philosophy me be light, this is still one of those films that make you stop and wonder.
Watch ‘Tall Time Tales’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Tall Time Tales’ is available on the DVD ‘The Hubley Collection Volume 1’
Director: Faith Hubley
Release Date: 1991
Rating: ★★½
Review:
According to the titles this film is inspired by ‘upside down poetry’ by 15th century Indian poet Kabir.
The film shows several ‘upside down’ situations, all introduced by a voice over, like ‘a sheep eats a wolf’, ‘a corpse eats death’, and ‘a fish jumps out of the ocean’. Most interesting is ‘an elephant is tied to an ant’s leg’, which features remarkably classic animation on the elephant, a standout between the circular and flat animation that dominates Hubley’s films.
As always, ‘Upside down’ features Hubley’s gorgeous Miró-like ritualistic designs, but the film is hampered by the trite voice over titles, and Don Christensen’s rather disjointed score. Moreover, the stream-of-consciousness-like scenes are little more than illustrations of the poet’s ideas, and there’s no story whatsoever.
‘Upside Down’ is available on the DVD ‘The Hubley Collection Volume 1’
Director: Faith Hubley
Release Date: 1990
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
With Amazonia Faith Hubley returns to her favorite subject, mythology, telling three myths from this area.
The first is a creation myth in which the moon goddess creates life, but is envied by two other god-like creatures. Unfortunately, it’s far from clear what’s happening during this part.
Much clearer is the second part, which tells about a clever and hungry tortoise, who defeats a jaguar, a fox and a deer by outsmarting them, and then devouring them… This is a surprisingly funny sequence for a Faith Hubley film, whose style normally is more poetic than anything else.
The last myth is the only one to use a piece of dialogue: we hear Dizzy Gillespie say “One day, when there are no trees left, the heavens will fall and the people will be destroyed.” This part is clearly against deforestation, but also shows that nature will doubtless survive mankind.
Hubley’s magical animation style enhances the mythical atmosphere, as does Don Christensen’s music. The complete film is very beautiful and poetic.
‘Amazonia’ is available on the DVD ‘The Hubley Collection Volume 1’
Directors: John & Faith Hubley
Release Date: September 21, 1964
Rating: ★★★★★ ♕
Review:
One of directors John & Faith Hubley’s quintessential shorts,’The Hat’ is one of the most beautiful anti-war films ever made.
It’s an extraordinary blend of beautiful design, modern animation, improvisation and politics.
When a border guard accidentally drops his hat across the border, he and his enemy colleague argue about it and about war in general. Surprisingly, this is an improvised dialogue between jazz musicians Dizzy Gillespie and Dudley Moore, who also provide the film’s great jazz score.
The film’s leisurely speed is refreshing, its painted backgrounds of a snowy landscape are beautiful, the painted looks of the characters highly original, and its vivid animation by veteran Shamus Culhane stunning. All these aspects mount to a great and essential animation film. A classic.
Watch ‘The Hat’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘The Hat’ is available on the DVD ‘Art and Jazz in Animation’
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 