esrosedotblog

'TOONS

I just read that it took 3-4 years to complete the first Disney cartoon features. No conveyor belt operation, that. Pre Eisner and Katzenberg.

I do know that, on the viewing side, they were appearing about every year. I, naturally, figured that they made the next one after the one I had just seen. Not the case.

My first film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and it drove me down behind the seats. The witch and all. The cliff. The lightning. Jeeeez!

It was released in my birth year. So how old could I have been? Not very old.

Did you know that they had product tie-ins even in those 'olden days'? They did. My mom got me a little Bashful. The dwarf. About a foot high. It was made of printed fabric with a beard attached. I loved him. He ended his days with sort of a cracked visage and a very hugged body; a dirty beard.

I also remember seeingPinocchio (1940). Not to be fooled this time, I watched it through fingers over eyes. I was freaked by the 'bad boys'. That has changed, as now it is quite the opposite. Bad boys are OK with me and have been for quite a while.

After that, they allowed me to skipp Dumbo (1941), a flying elephant and a circus fire. Scary. I knew that even before it opened.

In 1942, they made the first feature that I could sit through and did. My mom held my hand in the scary parts and held me when it got sad. The film was Bambi (1942) and I saw it again today. It is digitally remastered. They have held it off the DVD market until the remastering could be done. The clarity and the beauty of the artwork is quite astounding. It is clear why it made it into the NYTimes Best 1176 Films list.

One of the great things about Bambi, is that it has Thumper the rabbit. He is who I really remembered from all those years ago. A star. And then Flower the.....well they never use the word. But then they don't say 'deer' or 'rabbit' either. I have to admit to a small prickly emotion at the end and some fear at the fire and all the stuff you are suppose to feel. It works.

It is a 4 out of Netflix5.

It is interesting to see the arc of the story which Disney has repeated endlessly. Innocent youth sullied by hard times, the loss of a parent, a calamity of some sort followed by escape and perhaps redemption. Then the cycle repeats itself. Well. That is not Disney's invention is it?

The other thing is the use of 'cute' animal characters. And the trio. Bambi has the two sidekicks. This is pre-cute Disney. They keep a low profile. The story is the driving force. And there is not all that awful singing. It is not a musical and there are no human stars to fuck up the purity of the animation.

Yes I know Robin Williams is funny. But as Robin Williams. And so on. Don't get me started. That was Alladin which we saw already.

That is enough. We will be seeing more Disney works in the Best series: Dumbois not too far in the future. It is a D.