Animator / Contributor
Posted:
Feb 4, 2008, 12:13 AM
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Animated Shakespeare
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User Alcazam got me thinking about animated drama. Although William Shakespeare wrote his plays hundreds of years ago, he crafted some excellent drama.
I am wondering if any significant animation studio has produced animated versions of Shakespeare's works. Walt Disney Pictures produced The Lion King, which runs closely parallel to Hamlet. It intrigues me greatly to think about MacBeth, Romeo and Juliet, or Two Gentlemen of Verona done in animation.
Two significant obstacles to producing live theater versions of Shakepeare's works are the elaborate sets, and the detailed costumes. There is no costuming in animation, as the outfits are drawn on the characters. Likewise, complex and bulky sets are reduced to background murals and occasional foreground cels.
Has any major studio, domestic or worldwide, ever tackled animated high drama?
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Cartoon Aficionado / Contributor
Posted:
Feb 4, 2008, 5:49 AM
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There was a show called Shakespeare: The Animated Tales, which animated some, but not all, of the Bard's works.
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"Here's to thirty years of Godzilla, Godzilla, Godzilla. And....Godzooky!"
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Supervising Animator
Posted:
Feb 4, 2008, 12:45 PM
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Aardman Animations did a short about Shakespeare called Next (1989, directed by Barry Puves). I believe it was claymation. This short is set up like a theatre audition and Shakespeare is on stage auditioning while the director is sitting and watching from in the house (where the audience sits). With no dialogue, Shakespeare acts out excerpts from some of his plays in about 10-15 second intervals using props and dummies to represent various characters.
I don't know if this is still available, but I have it on VHS, "Aardman Animations: Animation For Grown-Ups!"
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Research Guru / Moderator
Posted:
Feb 4, 2008, 2:31 PM
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In 1959, Czechoslovakia's Kratky Film Praha and Jiri Trnka Studios -- both fairly large concerns -- co-produced Sen Noci Svatojanske, a 76-minute puppet-animated version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. This was the first animated puppet film released in Cinemascope.
Animator Jiri Trnka began work on this production in 1955. Originally, it was released without dialogue, relying instead on pantomime, dance and music. An English-language soundtrack was added in 1971.
The film won several awards. The English version was narrated by no less than Richard Burton... this was his sole role in animation, AFAIK.
There was also the 1989 cartoon feature Resan till Melonia, known in English as Journey to Melonia: Fantasies of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Loosely based on the play, the fantasy film was co-produced by several Swedish and Norwegian studios.
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"Oh boy." -- Allan Sherman
(This post was edited by eminovitz on Feb 4, 2008, 2:35 PM)
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Supervising Animator
Posted:
Feb 4, 2008, 3:24 PM
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Othello, a silent cartoon from 1920, was a spoof of, well..... "Othello." The short was from Hepworth Picture Plays and directed by Anson Dyer. A cutout animation.
Another silent short and Shakespeare spoof Dyer made was Oh'Phelia (1919).
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Lead Animator / Contributor
Posted:
Feb 5, 2008, 3:32 AM
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The Shakespearean spoofs made by Dyer during 1919-20 are listed as (chronologically) 'Amlet; The Merchant of Venice; Romeo and Juliet; Oh'Phelia; Othello and The Taming of the Shrew.
Only Oh'Phelia (presumably a sequel to, or second go at, 'Amlet) and a fragment (about two-thirds) of Othello are known to survive.
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("La-la La-la I can't HEAR you!")
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Apprentice
Posted:
Mar 6, 2008, 10:35 PM
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I saw Shakespeare: The Animated Tales version of Macbeth when i was a kid. All i could really remember about it was the strangely pretty animation. My Shakespeare teacher in high school had it and i recognized it right away but due to popular vote we didn't get to watch it.
I know a bunch of cartoons have done little rip offs of Shakespeare but the only one i can think of is the Simpsons *slightly embarrassed that it is the only one i can think of right now*
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><))'> teddy0bear
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Supervising Animator
Posted:
May 3, 2008, 6:29 PM
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I came across another Shakespeare cartoon, Romeo In Rhythm (MGM, 1940). In this one, Romeo and Juliet jazz up the play.
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