COLOUR CARTOONS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 14, 17 January 1936, Page 10

COLOUR CARTOONS

1 ENGLISH WALT DISNEY. “SAM AND THE MUSKET.” ‘ “I do not really want to stamp Mr. Anson Dyer as the ‘English Walt Dlsinev.' but 1 am afraid he will have to < light hard to avoid the title,” (writes i , A. P. Luscombe Whyte in the Evening ; j standard;. Mr. Dyer is the creator of < [th*- new British colour cortoons. I have j in-»w had an opportunity of seeing his ; lir.-t production, a screen version of that immortal tale ‘‘Sam and the Mus- < with Stanley Holloway speaking I the part. It is both decorative and extremely funny. If others of the series re-i' h the same standard, Mickey ana ■ Minnie are in for a really hard battle. For years Mr. IDyer worked on diagrammatic film cartoons illustrating mechanical and medical processes. He often thought of making a series of comic cartons for public release, but. the lack of a suitable central character discouraged him. H* 3 had no wish to plagiarise Disnev with yet another animal hero ' ’ But when the idea of Stanley Hodowav’s sketches came into his mind, he knew he had found a winner. H^r* 3 was humour, particularly British, fasted and tried and calling out for the camera. formed a company. Anglia Films, Limited, took a. whole ot a Jermvn stpppt office and con •,-Aired it into drawing rooms anti studio . engaged a score or artists and ‘e<-hni -ins. and set to work on his first film, ‘‘Sam.” Disney's colour cartoon-* cost about ro £12,000 each to make, accordi’ g to report. • Sam” cost between £’•'0(1 ;i nd £:~ That does not mean t is 1 in an} way. But fortune wa> saved by economical working and bv using th»- Dunning two-colour pro,.P^x—v.hi’h gixes an astonishing range of tiM- -instead of an expensive three«•<»].»ur method. Stanley Holloway has been signed up for IS cartoons, which will I>> made at the rate of six a year. \righa Films’ studio space and staffs will bp doubled next month. We shall soon be seeing another cartoon form the same studio—a comic version now nearly finished of the opera “Carmen.” I have seen sonic of sketches fur this production. L was shown into a room full of girls and *!itered with drawing paper and celluloid. The girls were working swiftly, colouring the thousands of outline Ira ngs passed from the “animation” department where the minute variatof position in each picture are . determined. In all. 15,000 seperate dr;-.wings are prepared and photographed seperately to produce one cartoon. 'The “Carmen” sketches look pretty good to me. If they produce a success Mr. Dyer will probably get to work on other opera cartoons. Tn “Sam and the Musket,” the colour is pleasantly mellow, and the story —we’d, Mr. Dyer has even managed to improve upon it. The Duke of Wellington —suspiciously Arlissine—is a pretty piece of comedy, and, of course, Holloway’.-* accent alone is worth the entertainment tax. Here may well be the start of an imI porta nt- new side in the British film in- | dustry. Mr. Alban Alack, who will make his I first i< ■ ar: n’e here in J. C. William- * son's tremendous spectacular play i •White Horse Inn” is said to be one | of the best dancers and light comedians j who lias ever appeared under the "Wil- ; liamson Ltd. management, and one of ’ his most brilliant successes has been | achieved in “White Horse Inn.” ’