Under the guise of a pretty fairy tale, this animated short makes a strong political statement. Animated paper cut-outs enact a drama in which a dictator imposes his delusions on his unfortunate subjects. The humour is black and, despite the absence of dialogue, the message is crystal clear.
A giant statue of the letter “E” arrives in the park. One man sees it as “B”; they are preparing to cart him off to the looney bin when a doctor arrives and determines the man needs glasses. Then the king arrives; he also sees “B”. He tries on the glasses, sees “E”, and pins a medal on the doctor then has his goon squad come and bash on everyone’s head until they too see “B”.
Richard Williams was a Canadian–British animator, voice actor, director, and writer, best known for serving as animation director on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, for which he won two Academy Awards, and for his unfinished feature film The Thief and the Cobbler.
In 2015 his short film Prologue received both an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA nomination in the category of best animated short. Prologue is actually the first 6 minutes of his hand-drawn feature film Lysistrata, based on the ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, which Williams joked should be sub-titled “Will I Live to Finish It?” Williams described Prologue as “the only thing so far in my career that I’ve ever really been pleased with.” In 2013 Williams told The Guardian, “All I need is some time and five or six assistants who can draw like hell.” The film was intended to be “grim but funny and salacious and sexy”. Like The Thief and the Cobbler, Prologue would never be completed. But, as Williams put it: “it’s the doing of it that matters. Do it for the love of it. That’s all there is”.
To see more work by Richard Williams follow the links below…
Vincent is a 1982 stop motion short horror film written, designed, and directed by Tim Burton. It’s produced by Rick Heinrichs. It is the second Disney horror film, the first being The Watcher in the Woods. At approximately six minutes in length, there is currently no individual release of the film except for a few bootleg releases. It can be found on the 2008 Special Edition and Collector’s Edition DVDs of The Nightmare Before Christmas as a bonus feature and on the Cinema16 DVD American Short Films.
The film is narrated by actor Vincent Price, a lifelong idol and inspiration for Burton. From this relationship, Price would go on to appear in Burton’s Edward Scissorhands. Price later made the following statement:
“Vincent was the most gratifying thing that ever happened. It was immortality — better than a star on Hollywood Boulevard.”
The Mad Doctor is a classic Mickey Mouse cartoon released in 1933. It is known as the first appearance of the title character “The Mad Doctor”, or “Dr. XXX”.
Happy Halloween!
Hobo Moon Cartoons aims to preserve the beloved Halloween classics of yesteryear for future generations to enjoy!
The short’s horror overtones made it unusual for a Mickey Mouse cartoon. Some theaters refused to show it, believing it to be too scary for kids. At one time, for this reason, it was banned entirely in the United Kingdom, as well as Nazi Germany.
The short’s horror overtones made it unusual for a Mickey Mouse cartoon. Some theaters refused to show it, believing it to be too scary for kids. At one time, for this reason, it was banned entirely in England.
A homeless thief takes the sacred rope from a bolder to cover a bloody wound, not realizing what evil it will unleash. SAKA MEN is a dark and wondrous stop motion short created by animator Shigeru Okada, created with armatures constructed by Tetsu Kawamura.
Shinto monks believe the Shimenawa rope represents the border between the lands of the physical and those of the spiritual, and the rope is often put up to indicate that a location is taboo and the rope line shouldn’t be crossed by the living.
Those mortals foolish enough to ignore this warning may find themselves faced with unspeakable horrors from the spirit realm, where human flesh is but a plaything.
A house uproots “herself” and goes on an adventure with other kinds of houses.
Directed by Pierre Clenet, Romain Mazevet, Stéphane Paccolat, and Alejandro Diaz
Writen by Stéphane Paccolat
On a cold and serene night, an intrepid house with a burning desire to survive decides to leave its hometown and the decrepit town of its childhood and heads off into the unknown. Eventually, as the solitary house walks alone the empty streets, on its way, new friends await, after all, there’s an entirely new world out there for it to explore. —Nick Riganas
Frustrated at being the only straight flamingo in a gay flock, our hero falls in love with a lady stork who flies by. Unable to convince her of his serious intentions, he isolates himself and endures an identity crisis. An intensive encounter inspires him to make a bold move.
In a Heartbeat is a 2017 computer-animated short film produced by Ringling College of Art and Design. Written and directed by Esteban Bravo and Beth David, the project was funded through Kickstarter, raising $14,191 from 416 backers on a goal of $3,000. The short film concerns a closeted gay boy, Sherwin who has a crush on another boy named Jonathan and his heart desires to be with him. The short received wide praise on various platforms and was shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Dinner Time was one of the first publicly shown sound-on-film cartoons and premiered in New York City in August 1928, three months before Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie, which premiered on November 18th, 1928. However, Dinner Time was unsuccessful and Disney’s film would go on to be widely touted as the first synchronized sound cartoon.
Dinner Time is an American animated short cartoon produced by Van Beuren Studios. The musical score was composed by Josiah Zuro. The film is part of a series entitled Aesop’s Fables and features the Paul Terry creation Farmer Al Falfa who works as a butcher, fending off a group of pesky dogs.
Seven and a half years in the making, The Moon’s Milk is an entirely handmade stop-motion animated short about a time when the moon was close enough to be reached by ladder. Narrated by Tom Waits, the film chronicles the last expedition of Captain Millipede and his crew to harvest the milk seeping from the craters. The action takes place between the gravities of two heavenly bodies, which further complicates the attraction between the characters. Longing, missed signals, and mishaps lead to the enchantment of the heavens with music.
Credits
Directed by Ri Crawford
Produced by Kim Aubry & Ri Crawford Narrated by Tom Waits
The superist hero of them all, Mighty Mouse, easily brushes aside molten lava and stems the tide of an island volcano, set off by the torrid dancing of Krakatoa Katy, the hottest dancer of them all. Then he carries all of the island natives to the safety of higher ground, where Katy leads them all in a jive-chanting jitterbug dance in tribute to their hero.
Mighty Mouse in Krakatoa is a 1945 Terrytoons animated short. It is the 25th cartoon short of the Mighty Mouse theatrical series. Story written by John Foster.
Technological Threat is a 1988 American animated short made by Brian Jennings and Bill Kroyer and was produced by Kroyer Films. It was an example of early computer animation, integrated with traditional animation, and is itself an allegory for the threat computer animation represented to traditional animators at the time. The robots and backgrounds were drawn based on computer-generated 3D models, while the dogs and wolves were drawn by hand.
A short surreal experimental animation by Yōji Kuri.
By night green parasites devour humans. A cruel food chain that never ceases, and an eternal repetition of life and death. A grotesque and strange parable drawn by Yoji Kuri. Isao Tomita’s synthesizer music echoes quietly and eerily.
Daffy’s Rhapsody is a 2012 3D computer-animated Looney Tunes short film featuring the characters Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd. Directed by Matthew O’Callaghan and written by Tom Sheppard, the film is an adaptation of the song of the same name which was sung by Mel Blanc and recorded in the 1950s by Capitol Records.
Elmer Fudd goes to see an anti-duck hunting musical starring Daffy Duck to which upon seeing Daffy as the star of the show, his hunter instincts kick in and he chases Daffy throughout the short while Daffy (whilst singing to the tune of Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2) is initially unaware of Elmer but soon realizes the danger.
Starring Mel Blanc as Daffy Duck and Billy West as Elmer Fudd.
Flowers and Trees is a 1932 Silly Symphonies cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by Burt Gillett, and released to theatres by United Artists on July 30, 1932. It was the first commercially released film to be produced in the full-color three-strip Technicolor process after several years of two-color Technicolor films. The film was a commercial and critical success, winning the first Academy Award for Animated Short Subjects.
