http://www.michaelbarrier.com/ Exploring the World of Animated Films and Comic Art No Category en Copyright 2007 mbarrier@michaelbarrier.com (Michael Barrier) Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:48:00 GMT Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:48:00 GMT I'm still behind in a lot of things, but I did manage to see both Kung Fu Panda and WALL•E a few days ago, and you can read what I thought of them by clicking here. This is, I'm afraid, one of my grumpy reviews. I saw Kung Fu Panda in Imax, two days before it yielded the screen to The Dark Knight, but it was a close thing. When my wife and I got to the theater five minutes before show time, we were told that the 2 p.m. show had been canceled due to "technical difficulties." We had driven ten miles to the theater, though, and Phyllis was not about to accept that excuse without asking some sharp questions. It turned out that the theater didn't want to go to the expense of showing the film for a very small audience—namely, Phyllis and myself—but its management finally decided it had no choice but to do so. So we had what amounted to a private screening in an Imax theater. ... http://www.michaelbarrier.com/index.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:47:06 GMT manual:1216853280250:28222430569178850:http://www.michaelbarrier.com/RSS/rss.xml [This is the permanent link to my review of Kung Fu Panda and WALL-E.] http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Commentary/KungFuPanda/KungFuPanda.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:46:24 GMT manual:1216853280265:4077604386654149:http://www.michaelbarrier.com/RSS/rss.xml He was, to my mind, the greatest of all of Walt Disney's animators, but I never had the chance to meet Bill Tytla—he died in 1968, before I began interviewing veterans of the "Golden Age"—and I never so much as heard his voice. Until this week, that is, when Didier Ghez posted a link to an audio clip from a 1967 Tytla interview on his Disney History Web site (the July 22 entry). ... http://www.michaelbarrier.com/index.html#billtytlasvoice Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:45:32 GMT manual:1216853280265:1360914164856467:http://www.michaelbarrier.com/RSS/rss.xml 've had some very interesting communications recently from visitors to the site—as usual, much more substantial than the typical blog comments—and you can go directly to them by clicking on these links: ¶ Bill Benzon writes about WALL•E on the page devoted to Pixar, DreamWorks, and other computer-animation studios. ¶ Vincent Alexander writes how Bugs Bunny differed, or didn't, in the hands of the different Warner directors, on the page devoted to Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, and the Warner Bros. cartoons. ¶ Andrew Osmond adds to the ongoing discussion about the adult animated features made by Japanese directors (and others). Speaking of Andrew Osmond, he will have two new books out next month, one on Miyazaki's Spirited Away and the other on the director Satoshi Kon. I've ordered both books from amazon.com, and you can do the same by using the form just below. http://www.michaelbarrier.com/index.html#thehand Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:44:56 GMT manual:1216853280265:8184337383115972:http://www.michaelbarrier.com/RSS/rss.xml ...on July 17, 1943, Walt Disney's Victory Through Air Power premiered at the Globe Theatre in New York. That's Walt at the left above, of course, shaking hands with Major Alexander de Seversky, whose book was the basis for the Disney film. I don't know the name of the Boris Karloff lookalike between them, or, for that matter, when and where the photo was taken. http://www.michaelbarrier.com/index.html#65yearsago Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:05:12 GMT manual:1216264002828:5688403376923798:http://www.michaelbarrier.com/RSS/rss.xml ...on July 17, 1955, as every Disney geek knows, Disneyland opened to invited guests (and thousands of gate crashers). The photo above was taken three days earlier, just before a Hollywood Bowl concert in tribute to Walt and in anticipation of the park's opening. From the left: Fred Gurley, chairman of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company; Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper; Walt; George O'Brien, honorary chairman of the Bowl's Family Night; Lillian Disney; and Dorothy "Buff" Chandler, wife of Norman Chandler, publisher of the Los Angeles Times. Hopper and the Times were idefatigable boosters of all things Disney, and Gurley's name was given a few years later to a Disneyland locomotive; the Santa Fe itself was one of Disneyland's first sponsors (for details, see Michael Broggie's excellent book Walt Disney's Railroad Story). The George O'Brien in the photo is, I think, the actor of that name who starred in such notable silent films as Sunrise, and later in 1930s westerns, but I'd welcome confirmation or correction of that. http://www.michaelbarrier.com/index.html#and53yearsago Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:04:31 GMT manual:1216264002828:491688949534013:http://www.michaelbarrier.com/RSS/rss.xml When I was in Washington, D.C., last month, I visited the Library of Congress's Manuscript Division to see if I might examine some of Dr. Frederic Wertham's papers there. Wertham, who died in 1981, is best known for his ferocious criticism of crime and horror comic books in the late 1940s and early 1950s, through magazine articles, congressional testimony, and, especially, his famous/notorious 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent. I was surprised to learn that his papers are not yet freely available to researchers, but that approval for access must come from the executor of his estate. I filled out the necessary form and was surprised to hear by email, a few days later, that my request had been denied. When I asked why, since my credentials seemed to be in order (and Wertham and I even had some cordial correspondence many years ago, when he was writing his strange little 1974 book on fanzines), I received this reply from Leonard C. Bruno of the Library's staff: For quite some time now, the Wertham executor has consistently rejected any and all requests for access. These are rejected outright, with no explanation, and apparently without consideration of the requestor's intent, affiliation, explanation, supplication, or anything else. Even requests that have been limited or targeted to only certain containers, rather than for total access, have failed. Unfortunately, you have joined a growing group of scholars unable to gain access. Very odd—but, as Bruno added, the executor's arbitrary sway will soon end: The Wertham Papers will come open May 20, 2010. At which point, I'm sure, a lot of irritated researchers will join me in trying to figure out just what it was that the executor was trying to hide. http://www.michaelbarrier.com/index.html#werthamslockedvault Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:59:52 GMT manual:1215986453015:9647113426090798:http://www.michaelbarrier.com/RSS/rss.xml I've been recuperating from minor surgery, and a result I've put off seeing Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E. I hope to see both of them later this week. I can't say that my expectations are high, since I've heartily disliked all the DreamWorks features except Madagascar, and my skepticism about Pixar (the Brad Bird-directed features aside) has been deepening with each new release (as witness my reviews of Finding Nemo and Cars). The ecstatic reviews for Wall•E, especially, have activated my b.s. detector. A couple of negative reviews have actually made me eager to see both films, though, to test the reviewers' thoughtful comments against my own reactions. That's the best kind of review, I think, one that makes you want to enter into a dialogue with the review and the film itself. The reviews I have in mind are by Mark Mayerson, on Wall•E, and Stephen Rowley of Cinephobia, on Kung Fu Panda. Both reviews are well worth your time, whether or not you have seen the films, and no matter how you feel about them. Speaking of links: My recent posts on Anton Grot, the Warner Bros. art director, prompted John McElwee of the Greenbriar Picture Shows site to send me this link to a page devoted to Grot and other Warner Bros. set designers. John's site is one of the wonders of the Web, packed with fascinating and consistently reliable information about the films and people of Hollywood's Golden Age. Try it, and you haven't already made it one of your RSS feeds, I'm sure you'll join me in doing so. http://www.michaelbarrier.com/index.html#comingattractions Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:59:17 GMT manual:1215986453031:7797003756916656:http://www.michaelbarrier.com/RSS/rss.xml