Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2006 Sommario / Contents

The Ugly Duckling.
(Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.)
dazzling aerial scene where the camera seems to dive through the air to
assault a predatory chicken hawk.This was an effect made possible by a
special mount designed for the studio’s new Universal camera, which
enabled the filmmakers to raise, lower, and rotate their camera a full
360°.Animation aside, Birds of a Feather also prefigures a classic Disney
formula that would be endlessly recycled in the early days of the New
Deal: organizing a comic folk army made up of small fry to repel a
powerful bully.
Eisenstein likely saw Birds of a Feather in London, where it played with
Chaplin’s City Lights at the Dominion Theatre for the better part of 3
months.Thereafter, Chaplin asked that a Disney cartoon be shown with
City Lights whenever possible. – RUSSELL MERRITT
THE UGLY DUCKLING (L’anitroccolo eroico) (Walt Disney
Productions, US 1931)
Prod: Walt Disney; regia/dir: Wilfred Jackson; mus: Frank Churchill?
Bert Lewis?; anim: Dick Lundy, Rudy Zamora, Les Clark, et al.; 35mm,
618 ft., 6’52” (24 fps), sonoro/sound,Walt Disney Co.
Nel 1931, dopo due anni di Sinfonie a base di comici inseguimenti
e balli in libertà, Disney fece il salto nella narrativa, concludendo
quest’anno straordinario con un libero adattamento della fiaba di
Hans Christian Andersen “Il brutto anatroccolo”. Il cartoon
propone tra l’altro un delizioso omaggio a Way Down East (Agonia
sui ghiacci) quando la madre e i fratelli dell’anatroccolo vengono
risucchiati da una tromba d’aria e trascinati verso un’enorme
cascata. Ma ciò che veramente conta è la sottigliezza psicologica
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con cui viene tratteggiato l’anatroccolo. Finora Disney aveva
puntato sulle paure infantili puramente fisiche: paura di cadere, di
essere bruciati, di essere mangiati, di avere freddo, di annegare. Con
The Ugly Duckling, egli comincia a scavare più a fondo prendendo in
considerazione le paure psicologiche del bambino – il terrore di
essere abbandonato, il disprezzo di sé – e gli altri problemi del
crescere. – RUSSELL MERRITT
In 1931, after 2 years of free-form comic dance and chase Symphonies,
Disney took the leap into narrative, ending this extraordinary year with
his free adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen children’s story. The
Ugly Duckling contains, among other things, a charming hommage to
Way Down East, as the Duckling’s mother and siblings are swept up in
a storm and hurled towards a large waterfall. But its real importance is
the psychological nuance Disney gives his Duckling. Up to this point,
Disney had limited himself to exploiting purely physical fears of
childhood: fears of falling, burning, being eaten, freezing, and drowning.
With The Ugly Duckling, he starts to dig deeper, looking at the
psychological terrors of childhood – abandonment, self-loathing – and
the other costs of growing up. – RUSSELL MERRITT
FLOWERS AND TREES (Walt Disney Productions, US 1932)
Prod: Walt Disney; regia/dir: Burt Gillett; mus: Bert Lewis? Frank
Churchill?; anim: Dave Hand,Tom Palmer, Norm Ferguson, et al.; 35mm,
703 ft., 7’49” (24 fps),Technicolor, sonoro/sound,Walt Disney Co.
Nel mondo dell’animazione tutto è possibile, anche che l’amore
sbocci fra due giovani alberi. Originariamente prodotto in bianco e
nero, Flowers and Trees venne rifatto a colori ed è oggi noto come il
primo disegno animato realizzato in Technicolor tripack. Ci sono
anche altri motivi d’interesse, fra cui l’apprendistato come animatori
di Fred Moore e Ham Luske (che in pochi brevi anni diventarono
due dei più importanti artisti dello studio) e una colonna sonora
costituita interamente da brani classici. Nel 1932 comunque fu la
ricchezza cromatica a far colpo ovunque il film fosse presentato. E
fu soprattutto per questa innovazione tecnica che Flowers and Trees
vinse l’Oscar come miglior cartoon. – J.B. KAUFMAN
In the world of animation anything is possible, including a budding
romance between two young trees. Although originally produced in black
and white, Flowers and Trees was remade in color and today is famous
as the first animated cartoon produced in three-strip Technicolor. It has
other features of interest too, including apprentice animation by Fred
Moore and Ham Luske (who would become two of the studio’s most
important artists within a few short years), and a musical score
assembled entirely from classical themes. In 1932, however, it was the
rich color that created a sensation wherever the film was shown.Thanks
largely to this innovation, Flowers and Trees won the first Academy
Award in the category of Best Cartoon. – J.B. KAUFMAN
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