As I mentioned before, I like a lot of things in the film The Aristocats. But the sequence in which lawyer George Hautecourt takes the stairs with the help of Edgar, the butler, always baffled me. This is potentially a hysterical moment in the film. The old man refuses to use the elevator to get to Madame Bonfamille's parlor. The stairs will be just fine. Edgar comes to his aid, but things don't go so well.
Extensive live action was filmed to help animator John Lounsbery with ideas for comedic business.
Actually those ideas weren't half bad, it's just that every animated scene in the sequence looks stiff.
At one point the lawyer hangs on to Edgar's suspenders as he looses his balance. The elasticity of the suspenders causes him to move upward swiftly, resulting in a collision with Edgar.
It is surprising that none of this cartoony business shows any weight at all. Both characters seem to float around, never showcasing believable motion.
I remember Milt Kahl being critical of this section of the film. He said he would have handled the humor differently. To me it's the execution that falls flat.
Perhaps Lounsbery, a brilliant animator, found little inspiration in the live action reference.
Here is the link to the film's youtube clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btKw8JjyVIU
Hi.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this amazing clip.
I love the movie 'The Aristocats' and still find those scenes hilarious where Edgar tries to steal back his stuff from the farm dogs. :D
I was just curious though, about this scene, where you say the humor falls flat.
So If you were to animate this scene, how would you improve it?
It was Milt who questioned the humor. I think the overall business is fine, but the animation needs to have weight in order to be believable.
DeleteI am currently watching this film everyday( its on Netflix and my two year old triplets love it) and I was just thinking the same thing a few days ago...there is no weight and the characters just float around. I guess even the nine old men had their flaws.
ReplyDeleteNetflix shows the best looking version of The Aristocats as far as picture quality.
DeleteI wonder if the weightlessness comes from the live-action reference using a ramp instead of stairs, since each would take a different kind of weight distribution as you climb them.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very good point!
DeleteI've been meaning to ask a somewhat related question: in the youtube clip you linked to is a scene of Mme Bonfamille holding Duchess. Assuming it was animated by Kahl, I can't help noticing that Duchess' design looks different in this one and others where she is in contact with Mme Bonfamille. Very "Kahl" but somehow less delicate and feminine than in other scenes where Duchess appears alone. Does this have to do with the issues Kahl had with the other animators' approach to the characters' design? I think you previously mentioned those issues in connection with Thomas O'Malley.
ReplyDeleteThose scenes could have been Milt's first scenes including Duchess. Sometimes even his scenes show subtle changes in character design. He claimed that this was the case with Medusa, but that no one in the audience would notice.
DeleteIt's a throw away scene that should have been cut in story.There's no reason to show the relationship between Edgar and the Lawyer beyond the initial greeting with the hat toss Just Comic Filler in between better bits of business like the Tral la la boomdeah bit out of the car., and then later with the dancing and the desk bits with the glasses. ...I feel bad for JL who had to do the tough angles and poor business on this in the first place. Ever the professional, He did the best he could in this situation.
ReplyDeleteThe layout is poor also, it follows the live action ramp and everything has equal proportions in it. Compared to the staircase in 101 Dalmatian's, it needed a carpet down the middle to break it up. It looks like the staircase from A Matter of Life and Death.
ReplyDelete