gulliver’s travels 2

here now some of my favorite scenes from GULLIVER’S TRAVELS

© paramount pictures

Advertisement

gulliver’s travels 1

it took me forever to find a decent print of this beautiful film. here now my first recreated background from the 1939 released animated feature GULLIVER’S TRAVELS, directed by DAVE FLEISCHER and produced by his brother MAX FLEISCHER in miami, florida.

© paramount pictures

skyline

here are a few more recreated backgrounds from FLEISCHER’S SUPERMAN shorts, some pretty impressive city views. all from 1942, ELECTRIC EARTHQUAKE, MAGNETIC TELESCOPE, SHOWDOWN and BULLETEERS.

© fleischer studios

showdown

warner brothers restaured some of the FLEISCHER SUPERMAN-SHORTS and posted them on YouTube. on cartoon brew you can read more about it. the shorts look like brandnew and inspired me to recreate one pan-background, more will follow. I chose a pan to start with from the SUPERMAN short SHOWDOWN, released october 1942. it shows a beautifully watercolor-painted apartment at night, with different lightsources from a fireplace, lamps and moonlight. have a look below

© fleischer studios

more bugs

about a year ago I posted the first recreated backgrounds from MR.BUGS GOES TO TOWN. this beautiful animated feature film was produced by the FLEISCHER STUDIOS in miami, florida, and released by PARAMOUNT on december 5, 1941 – two days before the attack on PEARL HARBOUR. that might have been the reason why it was a financial disaster at the box office with only $ 241.000 against costs of $ 713.500. here now a few more recreated backgrounds from the film.

© fleischer studios / paramount

bugs

after the 1939 animated feature film GULLIVER’S TRAVELS the miami based FLEISCHER STUDIOS released on dec.4 1941 their second feature film – MR.BUGS GOES TO TOWN ( also with the title HOPPITY GOES TO TOWN ). the film opens with an some impressive camera moves down into a 3-D (built) model of new york, going close to street level where the bug-story begins. there are some more highlights, like the tiny characters in the middle of a scary skyscraper construction site. the animation overall is good but the insects are not the most appealing characters. the backgrounds are painted in the traditional watercolor technique, used in most films at that time. only recently I saw an original background and had to color correct all my recreated BG’s, since the faded film I used showed completely wrong colors. the originals apparently were way more colorful. unfortunately there is not too much of the film’s artwork left, even the film is not well known.

© fleischer studios / paramount

up in the sky

between sept. 1941 and july 1943 the FLEISCHER-studio in florida produced 17 SUPERMAN shorts. these are some recreated pan backgrounds from the series.

© FLEISCHER/paramount

up in the sky…

the animated SUPERMAN series were produced by the
FLEISCHER studios in florida, 17 shorts, from sept.1941
until july 1943. they are unusually well done, really well
developed stories for mini-8min-features. some of the
animation is not bad, some of the backgrounds as well.
but what I like the most about them is their staging, the 
editing. very nice character compositions and camera-
angles. a very well translated comic strip series into
animation. and we all know how difficult that is!
the above recreated beautiful pan is from the 1942
short BILLION DOLLAR LIMITED.

you can see in these few scenes from the first 4 SUPERMAN
shorts how well planned they were. camera angles borrowed
from live-action films, dramatic staging supported by the 
right light and dark values, as well as a tasteful choice of color,
all that created interesting short adventures. these films are so
well timed, the stories edited so well that you forgive the not
top standard animation. it is good entertainment and compared 
to most of the crap my eyes are suffering from today – pure gold!

© paramount