Pondering “Pocahontas”
I think Disney’s Pocahontas will seem better as time passes. While it is flawed, there is still much to recommend in it. Here’s my opinion.
The Leaf Pile Game of Thunderbean Projects
This week we look at The Plowboy’s Revenge (1927), a pretty standard Aesop’s Fable – other than being a dark tale of servitude and murder.
Go To Hades – Part 2
Returning once again to the ethereal realm of devils and angels, we pick up where we left off last week, to see how the forces of good and evil coped with the outbreak of Axis hostilities overseas.
The “Peanuts” Apollo 10 Project & The Records That Prove It
Charlie Brown and Snoopy were so part of the national zeitgeist, they were included in the Apollo project, and the fact and whimsy was captured on two very different 1969 records.
Disney Rarities
This week, two Disney oddities in Mark Kausler’s film closet – one, a lost educational film from the 1940s, the other some rare behind the scenes footage from Pinocchio.
Bob Clampett’s “John Carter of Mars”
In 1936, Bob Clampett met author Edgar Rice Burroughs and tried to convince him he could sell a series of cartoons based on his John Carter of Mars stories.
“The Enchanted Square” (1947) gets an upgrade!
Seeing this film in Technicolor is a revelation, especially the almost neon-bright contrasting color palettes in Shane Miller’s backgrounds.
Go To Hades – Part 1
An attempt to chronicle animation’s departures to a higher (or often lower) plane, exploring themes of reward or retribution to the animated mind.
Here Comes That Shield Again!
The beginning of a new series of columns, devoted to taking a closer look – and listen – to the songs used in Warner Bros. cartoons.
Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and Blu-ray compilations and has lent his expertise to dozens of bonus documentaries and audio commentaries on such. Beck is currently on the faculty of CalArts in Valencia, UCLA in Westwood and Woodbury University in Burbank – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [Click Here]
