As I am working on the Milt Kahl book, I started to select images of drawings that I feel are important to be included. There will be a large chapter on Milt's work for Sleeping Beauty. And I do have drawings that have not appeared yet on my blog or elsewhere online.
I am looking for Milt's rough animation of the scene pictured here. Hubert is frustrated upon finding out that his son doesn't want to marry the princess, but a girl he had just met in the forest.
This is a long scene, and Milt gives a masterful performance of Hubert's outrage.
Many rough drawings and scenes from this film have been made available over the past two decades or so, and I have been lucky to acquire a nice inventory. But I have not yet seen any offerings from this scene. Let me know if you are the owner of some of the key drawings. I would love to include them in the book.
I would need scans, and you'll get a free copy of the book.
Man, if I had any roughs from this scene I'd gladly just give them to you as thanks for covering Milt's work in Sleeping Beauty. Unfortunately, I don't.
ReplyDelete[We've all heard how Milt hated animating the dialog between the King & the Prince ---feeling he was doing "a nothing scene" with no opportunities for showing off his animation skills. I guess his sentiments prove what a UCLA Art Professor said to me about Egon Schiele's expressed contempt for his "Girl In A Fur-Trimmed Coat": "Great artists are so intent on pushing the envelope, they tend to undervalue their own design talent."
Even if this scene isn't exactly a gasser, no one could have arrived at better designs for these two characters].
Oh, I actually think it is one of Milt's best scenes.
DeleteMilt also said he found nothing interesting in Madame Bonfamille. His animation on that character is such a high as far as realistic, expressive animation.
Stuff he found boring to do, we drool over.
..and, thanks to you, soon we'll all have plenty of stuff to drool over ....
Delete....Yea!
I’m really excited about this book. I was wondering whether, after its publication, we might see fewer posts or original Milt Kahl artwork shared on your blog.
ReplyDeleteAs the previous commenter mentioned, if I had any drawings from this scene, I would gladly share them with you.
On another note, about a month ago, animator Swinton Scott posted a video featuring some Milt Kahl thumbnails from The Rescuers on his YouTube channel. A few of them have appeared on your blog before, but others were NEW to me. I thought I’d share it with you - and with anyone else - in case you hadn’t come across it.
DeleteHere is the link to his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrpwgmJ_EQ8&t=143s
If the film was extended by at least 8 minutes, 4 more of each of those minutes could go into delving further into the relationships between not only Princess Aurora and Prince Philip, but also even the relationship between their respective fathers, Kings Stefan and Hubert. Even if it would've still bombed and killed off princess features by Disney for quite a while, at least it would've capped off Walt's princess film trilogy in a far more evolutionary and solid way.
ReplyDeleteFairy tales have a logic all their own....And "fairy tale stories have to have fairy tale endings" [J. P. Donleavy]. The prince hears a voice in the enchanted forest and says "it's too beautiful to be real." And it is ---it's a gift from goddesses. Briar Rose knows that as soon as he sees her he'll "love her at once." She's also been gifted the greatest beauty on earth. It's not necessary to go beyond "Love At First Sight" to explain Phillip's attraction.
DeleteSomeone once asked Roberto Rossellini what drove Zorro to risk his life time and time again for strangers. What mix of factors would create a man like that? Roberto said "he does it because he is Zorro."
Sometimes deeper character development gets in the way of romance.