Prod.2001-Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs(XVI)
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- Witch by Norm Ferguson, Effects animators not named.
One animator for the whole sequence, the great Norm Ferguson...
Prod. CM20 - Mickey Cuts Up
Mickey Cuts Up was directed by Burt Gillett and released 11/30/1931. It is found on Disney Treasures DVD: Mickey Mouse in Black & White Volume 1 disc 1. You may still find it here on YouTube. Have a look, if you need a clearer understanding of the following documents! Gillett left some documents pertaining Mickey Cuts Up behind, and I would like here to show a few of these that I recently lucked into. It is interesting to speculate in which order these were written - they seem to all be in Gillett's own handwriting and would probably date to late August or early September 1931. First we have two pages, numbered 1 & 2, with ideas linked to names, Otto and Webb, which to me seems to mean that the ideas were originally thought out by either Otto Englander or Webb Smith. There are interesting ideas that did not make the film - they are crossed out: "mower bumps up and down on hedge - trick cuts." Some were not crossed out and made it in the film: "Cuts down tre...
This sequence starts at 2 in the film so all the scene 1 parts are cut out. I remember reading that this sequence had its first parts cut out and this draft proves it. The draft's date is before the release, so I wonder if they appeared in the official release, maybe not. Disney may have thought the movie had enough horror scenes and decide to remove this.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed that Ferguson had to do the whole sequence by himself but when the witch speaks to the camera, it feels over the top. It makes her look insane. Of course, that was probably the point.
An interesting fact, that in foreign versions, the book's writing is changed to the appropriate language (the same is true with the Dwarf's beds).
Fergy does a fine job...I quite like the witch.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the wicked queen has so little character in contrast to the witch really bugs me, though....They don't seem like the dame person!
I remember reading somewhere (maybe the sadly vanished Disney Ever Notice site) that one deleted scene involved the Queen having the Huntsman "dragged away by Nubian torturers", presumably as punishment for disobeying her orders. What I'd be interested to know is 1) in what way were they "Nubian", 2) in what way were they identifiable as "torturers" rather than executioners or mere thugs, and 3) if they *were* clearly identifiable as torturers, did they ever seriously consider including the scene? Given that they kept in the skeleton of the prisoner grasping for the water jug, I do wonder just how disturbing they were and were not prepared to go.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Paul and Hans, I had been trying for a long time to reah the EverNotice site with web.archive, but I just got told that "robots" were preventing me from reaching it. You'll also notice the post, by "PolarBear", which says that Sleepy was a late replacement for a different character. For what it's worth, I was "The Sorceror's [sic] Padawan".
ReplyDeleteThe scene when the witch says "Buried Alive" before she walking to the dungeon was actually animated by Fergy's assistant John Lounsbery. They probably take his name out of the draft because it was a mistake or for a reason.
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