Post #6: Gulliver's Travels: Disney's First Competition

    During the 20's and 30's, Walt Disney, along with Ub Iwerks and a team of great and overly worked animators, perfected the coordination of sound and movement with his succession of Silly Symphonies, the nonsensical "moral" stories that were basically the precursor to modern day music videos.  During the 30's, however, Disney worked extensively with Technicolor, getting a two-year exclusive contract in the mid 30's.  The first feature length film that Disney and his up and coming powerhouse produced was "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," a monster that took  some three years to complete and became the highest grossing animated feature thus far.  From then on, from Pinocchio to Bambi and so on, Disney and his Studio dominated theaters with full length animated features.  However, Disney didn't have the only animators of time; Max Fleischer and his studios were the first of many to challenge Walt Disney for his animation throne.  Disney got into the business early and effectively and for the next decades, was at the top of the list of the mainstream animated feature's audience.  In the years following Snow White, Fleischer Studios were the first studio to challenge Disney in technique, storytelling and popularity; starting with 1939's "Gulliver's Travels."

                                              
 

    Fleischer first came on the animation scene in 1914 with his invention of a little device called the Rotoscope.

                               

    The Rotoscope was the first of its kind, a device that allowed animators to trace over frames of live action, so the animation could be spot on and motion would transfer more accurately.  Fleischer is also the first to use the bouncing ball in animated sing-a-longs; a technique that was emulated many times over the succeeding years.  His first real icon was Betty Boop, an image that was marketed and even seen on places like the nose of a fighter plane the world over.  In 1939, when he released "Gulliver's Travels," Fleischer did so with the intent not only to further his own career, but to challenge the singular throne that Disney was making for his studio.

    Gulliver's Travels was the first animated feature film by a studio other than Disney, but it was technically on the same level.  Fleischer used his patented rotoscoping technique to animate the film, and this gave it a level of craftsmanship no studio outside of Disney had even attempted.  Many of the characters, Gulliver himself included,  looked more anatomically human than Disney's characters, due to the precision that tracing frames of a real person will have.  Disney is said to have scoffed at the finish product, but that isn't to take away any technical merit; the film was filmed and produced in around a year, a third of the time that it took Snow White to be ready.

    Much like Snow White, Gulliver's Travels was a box office hit, and had the same infatuation for musical numbers that any other animation of the time had.  Some of the songs were later re-scored and the music was used in other Fleischer productions.  Like many movies of the time, by today's standards Gulliver's Travels is a little slow; the film being both a story and an opportunity to showcase the artistic prowess under the studio's command.  However, the film is fairly true to the book, so it does tell a full story nonetheless and one that will entertain audiences of any age group.  This film could've started a legacy like Disney, but Fleischer's studio didn't have the consistency or drive or funding that the other did.  Though Gulliver's Travels was such a success, it was very expensive to make, and failed to recoup all the losses through its theatrical run.  This debt, along with problems within, allowed for Fleischer Studios to be absorbed by Paramount, and Max was eventually replaced and forced out.  An unfortunate backdrop to such an early gem.

Max Fleischer’s Gulliver's Travels - Trailer - For more funny videos, click here

    I commented on James Davis' and Elliot Meek's blogs.

Comments

[Brad]

Gulliver's Travels used to be one of my favorites. Like you said, the character designs and movements do seem slightly more realistic than that of your typical Disney creation from that time period. It definitely deserves some praise. It was an interesting mix of cartoony animations along with Gulliver, who looked, moved, and acted like a realistic human being.

[Gymnloniele]

Работаю я монтажником. Подключаю юзеров к Интернет по выделенке.
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...И тут я понял, что ждет меня в будущем...



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Гогот стоял такой, что до конца пары мы нашего раскрасневшегося от стыда
препода не видели...



Во время лекции заходит в аудиторию студентка:
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Профессор:
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Студентка:
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Профессор:
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На приеме у врача:
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