A few pieces of art from "Night on Bald Mountain" that were sold by Heritage Auctions last year.
This segment from Fantasia remains animations' most nightmarish, astounding, horrific and beautiful moment.
Between Kay Nielsen's concepts and Bill Tytla's extraordinary animation, on top of the brilliant Mussorgsky's composition, there is a visual power that has not been matched in this medium since. Sheer terror without an ounce of comedy for balance.
Not every sequence in Fantasia came "together" in terms of story, animation and color, but Night on Bald Mountain is one of those cinematic achievements that is absolutely perfect. It went all the way, nothing is compromised in its presentation. It is a benchmark for what animation could do in 1940, and a reminder of the power of Drawn Animation.
Check out this previous post on Chernabog:
Chernabog looks weird when he smiles. Otherwise, it is such a powerful segment that it's one of my favorites of Fantasia pieces, along with the Firebird Suite from Fantasia 2000, which can be seen as a comparison with Bald Mountain in its theme. Maybe this should be my Friday night movie tonight, since I've seen Fantasia 2000 last week
ReplyDeleteI always thought that Night on Bald Mountain is a singularly beautiful piece of animation and I love hearing your thoughts on this piece!
ReplyDeleteFor me, the only scene of animation that captures a somehow comparable feeling is Be Prepared - maybe not quite incedentally. Would you tell us whether Bald Mountain was a direct influence on Scar's triumphant song?
This thing genuinely scared me as a child. I remember watching it older and being amazed at the animation of the hands.
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