A simple film this week, explaining to the United States troops how the United Nations works.
First, some Thunderbean news:
We’re working on getting a new batch of special discs out right now. Although much slower than we’d like, it’s moving. The Halloween set is a priority, so if we’re unable to get everything together in the coming week or so, we’ll be sending that title on its own.
On the Bunin Alice in Wonderland front, progress is being made to make the footage look as good as possible. Here’s some work in progress and a comparison to the original scan of print 2 (of at least three prints we’re working with). I think it’s starting to look really good, and with some luck, we’ll have more surprises related to this project to share soon.
I’m sad to report that some progress related to the ‘Cartoons for Victory” set has stopped. I was informed via email today that the film I’m waiting for from one archive won’t be available for the moment anyway, related to the government shutdown here in the US. That led to today’s showing though. I was looking over some of the set earlier today, and really enjoyed watching this one again— the aptly titled Another Chance (1945). I thought I’d share it today.
Walt Disney Productions did a lot of government work during the war, with a good portion of the material being training films. The Disney films made for the Army/Navy screen magazine are definitely low-budget, often with barely any animation. They look pretty simplistic compared to the fully animated shorts done by Warner Brothers, MGM and UPA, but still well-produced. This one is from Issue 65, November 1945.
I would love to see the storyboards from this short, because I’m sure they look pretty close to what the final film looks like. The other shorts I’ve seen from this period are very close to the boards. I’ll bet the major difference would be in the character drawings, unless of course the Disney Studio did the boards too rather than the First Motion Picture Unit.
The simplicity of this short, regardless, is pretty refreshing and well-executed, and it does a good, non-partisan summation of what the United Nations does as a gathering of countries.This scan is from the 35mm fine grain at the National Archives. I wish I could get a better element on the track for this one, but so far that hasn’t happened- it’s at least listenable.
Have a good week all!
Steve Stanchfield is an animator, educator and film archivist. He runs Thunderbean Animation, an animation studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has compiled over a dozen archival animation DVD collections devoted to such subjects at Private Snafu, The Little King and the infamous Cubby Bear. Steve is also a professor at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
Oh, that is indeed a powerful statement! Thank you for posting this. Shame that we would never see something like this released on a Walt Disney treasures collection, because it really needs to be seen by so many people, people of all persuasions, all those people that want to make their voice is heard above anyone else’s! We live in a tough world, and sometimes tough decisions need to be made, but then you ask “who is going to make those decisions?“ There are too many alternate questions to ask. There are too many alternate ways for peace, and almost none of them violent ways. Sometimes there are individuals that can make this happen, and I can only hope that these individuals start showing themselves. OK, enough soapbox for one night.
Thanks for the update on Bunin’s Alice. Very exciting!
Did anyone notice that that’s Ronald Reagan doing the narration on “Another Chance”? He was a Democrat then.
He also later co-hosts the opening day live broadcast of Disneyland.