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DVD Gulliver's Travels
This 1939 animated film is based on Jonathan Swift's classic novel about a sailor stranded on an island populated by people the size of his thumb. When Gabby, the town crier, discovers Gulliver on the beach, he runs to tell the king. But the king is preoccupied with the impending wedding of his daughter, Princess Gloria, to Prince David from the neighboring kingdom. When the kingdoms can't agree on which song to play at the wedding, Gulliver is caught in the middle of a war. His common sense helps the two sides resolve their dispute, but not before a lot of adventure and romance.
A milestone in the art of animation, this was the second animated motion picture of its magnitude ever produced, after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It has been digitally mastered and visually enhanced, making it first-rate family entertainment even today. --Elisabeth Keating
You may or may not care about the historical or technical aspects of this film (The 2nd full length animation, after Snow White. One of two feature films to come out of the famous Fleisher Studios. The delicate use of the rotoscoping, a process by which animation cells are created by tracing them from filmed footage or photographs. A great extra documentary featuring Max Fleisher, showing how cartoons are made.) If you are a cartoon buff, these things may appeal to you.
You will probably enjoy the visual element of this film. (An entirely hand painted cartoon, like a living painting. Sensuous oceans that echo the block print style of the Japanese Ukiyo-E masters. Outstanding use of the masking effect.) If you enjoy animated art, these things should appeal to you.
Or you might just want to run around your house screaming "Giant on the Beach!" and have some fun watching a great old cartoon that never really got its due. My 4 year old nephew seems to favor this approach, no matter how much I remind him of the film's aesthetic qualities and historical importance. Go figure. Anyway, this is a great DVD, and well worth the rather small price.
Best version yet of "Gulliver"
I personally love this sweet, sentimental old movie, as I remember it fondly from many childhood viewings on TV. I just got the new DVD, and I think the restoration is quite decent. Comparing it to the laserdisc edition of some years back, the color is MUCH more well-balanced and consistent. This was a big distraction to me on the laserdisc, where it would change from pastel to oversaturated from scene to scene. I did note a couple of instances of digital artifacts, i.e. dark backgrounds not changing rapidly enough in relation to foreground figures, but I can forgive this. Considering the sales prospects, it must have been a relatively low-budget project. Listening on headphones, I found the simulated stereo very attractive, though I can't comment on its effectiveness as surround sound. The original mono soundtrack is available on an alternate track, if this is preferred. I myself am delighted to have it, but I can see that many people are perturbed by stylistic inconsistencies, the cloying sweetness of the musical score, etc. All these "faults" which have been enumerated here and elsewhere shouldn't diminish the enjoyment of the film for people who, like myself, see it as a sweet, nostalgic souvenir of an earlier age when they, and the world, were a bit younger. Also (dare I say it?), even today some younger kids might find it amenable, if they're not too jaded.
Incidentally, for those who love this film, there is a recent CD on the Marco Polo label (catalog number 8.225063) devoted to movie music by Victor Young. It contains a 16-minute suite of Young's music for "Gulliver's Travels," newly recorded by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra -- hence, the Liliputians bid a fond farewell to Gulliver with Russian accents.
The classic of my childhhood!
This beautiful movie is my favourite cartoon! Beats today's Disney stuff hands down! Just LOVELY!
This collection of fully restored, 1930s animated shorts from the legendary Max Fleischer are a real treat. For anyone who has grown up associating the Superman character with different phases of art direction in Superman comic books over the last 50 years, or best remembers the look of the Christopher Reeve films or the old television show, these 'toons will be a mini-revelation. Expanding on cues from the first generation of Superman comics, Fleischer immerses the man from Krypton in a marvelous blend of art deco, William Cameron Menzies-inspired sets, and edgy compositions that can't help but remind one of Fritz Lang-ian paranoia. Everything is oversized, blocky but rounded, ferociously modernist, and all too vulnerable. Superman's very function as a character in these... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Complete Superman Collection - Max & Dave Fleischer DVD Release Date: Released the 01 August 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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One of the most talented animators of the silent and early sound eras, Ub Iwerks designed the physical appearance of Mickey Mouse. He animated the first Mickey shorts almost single-handedly, doing more than 700 drawings in a single day. Iwerks's animation was rubbery, weightless, and appealing, but his approach was at odds with the increasing realism Walt Disney sought. In 1930, he left Disney to start his own studio, but despite his talent--and the exceptional animators who worked for him--he produced old-fashioned, unfunny cartoons that couldn't compete with the more sophisticated storytelling and brash gags in the shorts from Disney, the Fleischers, Warner Bros., and MGM. In 1940, Iwerks returned to the Disney studio, where he won Oscars for his innovations in optical... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Ub Iwerks DVD Release Date: Released the 13 July 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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I have the revised edition of this set and it was money well spent. The Stero-optical Process is always fun but the most overlooked quality of these gems is how they really get inside of you. Some call these cheesy and some are but cartoons like "Somewhere in Dreamland," "Play Safe," and "The Little Dutch Mill" are impossible to watch without tearing up. Now DISNEY cartoons are cheesy! They're just pointless romping and frollicing through daisies. These Fleischer shorts have morals and messages that really get to you. More Info about this DVD Director(s): Dave Fleischer DVD Release Date: Released the 30 July 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Ub Iwerks was one of the greatest animators of the silent and early sound eras: he animated "Steamboat Willie" and other early Disney shorts virtually by himself. But the films he produced at his own studio after breaking with Walt Disney in 1930 lack the vitality of his earlier work. During the '30s, the animators with Disney, the Fleischers, Warner Bros., and MGM developed a new style of cartoon humor that centered on characters with strong, recognizable personalities. Iwerks's first recurring character, Flip the Frog, who appears in more than half the cartoons in this collection, never developed into a wholesome good guy or a sarcastic antihero. He remained an observer, rather than someone who initiated the action, as Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny did. The rambling plots further... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Ub Iwerks DVD Release Date: Released the 13 July 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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You may or may not care about the historical or technical aspects of this film (The 2nd full length animation, after Snow White. One of two feature films to come out of the famous Fleisher Studios. The delicate use of the rotoscoping, a process by which animation cells are created by tracing them from filmed footage or photographs. A great extra documentary featuring Max Fleisher, showing how cartoons are made.) If you are a cartoon buff, these things may appeal to you.
You will probably enjoy the visual element of this film. (An entirely hand painted cartoon, like a living painting. Sensuous oceans that echo the block print style of the Japanese Ukiyo-E masters. Outstanding use of the masking effect.) If you enjoy animated art, these things should appeal to you.
