slaytonf Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 TCM, which has generally a good appreciation for film around the world, seems to have a exceptionally restricted view when it comes to stop motion. It seems to consist entirely of Ray Harryhausen, and King Kong. There is a long history of work from around the world, with many wonderful movies, odd movies, magical movies, that delight, trouble, and fascinate. I am not an expert, but I can offer some names and examples of their work. First and foremost is Jiri Trnka, one of the many stop motion animators that worked in Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. His masterpiece, The Hand (1965), is a transcendent tale of oppression and resistance. Another Czech, Jan Švankmajer, created dark, disturbing, and menacing atmospheres. His use of random hodgepodges of found objects in the creation of his universes, juxtaposing the innocent with the dangerous, lent a quee-rly familiar/alien quality to his movies. Alice (1988) is an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland that represents his best work. Kihachirō Kawamoto is a Japanese animator who trained under Trnka, who encouraged him to draw on his own culture for inspiration. The Demon (1972), Dōjōji (1976), and To Shoot Without Shooting (1988) are examples of his best work. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SansFin Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 I assume you are familiar with the pioneering works of: Vladislav Starevich and: A. L. Ptushko. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 If you're talking about the discussion Ben had with that guy last night before and after KING KONG, well, he was mostly mentioning the innovations made by WILLIS O'BRIEN. He did also mention "stop-motion" pioneers who preceeded O'Brien too. And they WEREN'T American. Sorry, but I forgot that young man's name. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 I assume you are familiar with the pioneering works of: Vladislav Starevich and: A. L. Ptushko. No, I'm not. As I said, I'm not an expert. But I'd like to get familiar with the works of others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 If you're talking about the discussion Ben had with that guy last night before and after KING KONG, well, he was mostly mentioning the innovations made by WILLIS O'BRIEN. He did also mention "stop-motion" pioneers who preceeded O'Brien too. And they WEREN'T American. Sorry, but I forgot that young man's name. Sepiatone I am talking about the movies TCM has shown--and hasn't shown. I didn't catch the discussion last night, because I didn't watch the movies, as I've seen all of them many times. I take the fact that non-American animators were mentioned as auspicious. If people at TCM are aware of them, then they might try to schedule some of their movies. I look forward to seeing their work in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jlewis Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 I assume you are familiar with the pioneering works of: Vladislav Starevich and: A. L. Ptushko. I would love to see these two covered on TCM. An airing of TALE OF A FOX, one of my favorite animated features of all time, would be nice. Also maybe a newly restored Mosfilm puppetoon or two in the full rainbow color system that Ptushko supervised in his 1936-38 period. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 If you want to include shadow-puppet style animation, Lotte Reiniger stop-motioned silhouette animation as far back as 1926's "The Adventures of Prince Achmed": Everything else, like Svankmajer, was weird and foreign. If other countries COULD come up with another Ray Harryhausen or Henry Selick (why's this "Burton" guy going around claiming he directed "Nightmare Before Christmas"??), they're welcome to, but they didn't. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SansFin Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 I'd like to get familiar with the works of others. Vladislav Starevich was arguably the greatest stop-motion animator. The Revenge of a Kinematograph Cameraman (1912) was a breakthrough in technique, composition and style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIC0Sb6pLvI One of my particular favorites is: The Insects' Christmas (1913): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384484/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCZL4K6E1jc Other of his masterpieces are: The Mascot (1933). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025477/?ref_=tt_rec_tti https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyLHedkQbCw The Frogs Who Wanted a King (1922). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0014063/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wONKTobZgP8 The Story of the Fox (1930). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021309/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsdTCsfnxc Ptushko is best known for: The New Gulliver (1935) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026793/ The Golden Key (1939) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032162/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_10 His work showed such genius that the greatest movie studio of the age created a department for him. You might wish to Google also for: Hedgehog in the Fog (1975) Konflikt (1983) Levsha (1964) The Cat Who Walked by Herself (1988) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jlewis Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 They did show The Cameraman short during a silent animation retrospective a while back. Don't recall any other Starevich(cz) films. I think TALE OF A FOX is a great one for TCM. The Yuriy Norshteyn shorts like THE HEDGEHOG AND THE FOG and TALE OF TALES are essentially cut-out animations rather than stop-motion, but it is high time that Soyuzmultfilm gets a special gala presentation as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr6666 Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Indeed there are so many different examples of the varied techniques of film animation other than the traditional cell-animation that usually 1st comes to mind: stop-motion techniques ( with many differing materials, Harryhaussen's creatures, Puppetoons, Claymation, 'South Park' type cut-outs, silhouette (Prince Achmed), humans (Angry Kid shorts), sand, pinscreen) and all the new computer/digital techniques. I don't think there would be any difficulty in filling up a SOTM or Fri. Night Spotlight with examples of some really fascinating & creative films (assuming rights availability, of course) http://en.wikipedia....ional_animation list of notable stop-motion films: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stop_motion_films#Stop_motion_animated_features BTW, I always wanted a chance to see the Oscar nominated animated films and shorts mentioned every year at the awards. Where does anyone get to see ANY of those?? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 BTW, I always wanted a chance to see the Oscar nominated animated films and shorts mentioned every year at the awards. Where does anyone get to see ANY of those?? The local college-town arthouse always has a festival of both the live-action shorts and the animated shorts, after the nominations come out-- The films are mostly indie, so it's easy for distributors to get one collection traveling the circuit. Also, I didn't find it on Lotte Reiniger's IMDb page, but does anyone remember a Prince Achmed style shadow-puppet stop-motion of the Baron Munchausen story? I didn't know Reiniger's name back then, but seeing her animation made me remember sitting through the Munchausen movie with a festival audience the night the heat went out in the theater, and....oh, ask me for that story some time. It was not a happy experience for anybody. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 Thanks for the suggestions, SansFin! I'll look them up. I think I've seen a couple of them. As for claymation, aside from the Wallace and Gromit movies, which I enjoy, there's one brilliant one that won the Academy Award for best animated short film. It's Closed Mondays (1974), by Will Vinton and Bob Gardiner. It's available for viewing lots of places. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 I am talking about the movies TCM has shown--and hasn't shown. I didn't catch the discussion last night, because I didn't watch the movies, as I've seen all of them many times. I take the fact that non-American animators were mentioned as auspicious. If people at TCM are aware of them, then they might try to schedule some of their movies. I look forward to seeing their work in the future. Well, the guy DID mention GEORGES MILIES,whose A TRIP TO THE MOON was shwn by TCM in the past, as well as other MILIES' works. Milies was mentioned also as an early pioneer of "stop motion" techniques. I would suppose then that TCM has shown others. I couldn't say for sure as I don't watch the channel 24/7. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted December 12, 2016 Author Share Posted December 12, 2016 Well, the guy DID mention GEORGES MILIES,whose A TRIP TO THE MOON was shwn by TCM in the past, as well as other MILIES' works. Milies was mentioned also as an early pioneer of "stop motion" techniques. I would suppose then that TCM has shown others. I couldn't say for sure as I don't watch the channel 24/7. Sepiatone The only stop motion work TCM has shown besides Harryhousen and Kong, I believe, are one or two of the Rankin-Bass Christmas features. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Faiola Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 George Pal was Hungarian and I think his first films were done in the Netherlands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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