Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Oct. 7, 1970, edition 1 / Page 4
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I I Page 4 SIFWIPI ily f lu Wednesday, October 7, 1970 ri Hardhats hate freaks - by bill harrill wallets and a shopping bag full of drugs. Disney, the film genius ^You loved him then . Are you looking for an evening of engrossing drama, sparkling wit, and relevant social comment? If so I strongly advise that you avoid “Joe,” a low budget hard-hatted Frankenstein of a picture. In fact if this flick ever makes it to the T.V. screen you’d be better off shutting off the set and taking up a hobby. by russell schwarz How do you start a review on a film that can’t be described? Probably, by saying it can’t be described. Right? separated by a brief series of shots of the orchestra, and a speech of introduction. cartoon. They proved that generally people would reject, out of hand, any new form and in 1940, “Fantasia” definitely was. Fantasia, the peak of Walt Disney’s career, is beyond words. Wait a minute, did 1 say Walt Disney? Yes, Walt Disney, the man, the genius, America’s only true film genius. An awfully lot of people think Disney only makes films for kids. He did make children’s films, sometimes. The correlation between images and sound is even tighter than in Kubrich’s masterpiece, “2001: A Space Odyessy.” I refuse to describe each segment in detail, because words really detract them. Instead I’m going to talk about a man and a film. But Fantasia? Stowkowski, The Philadelphia Symphony, Bach, and Beethoven is a kids film? Not hardly. Fantasia might accurately be called visual music. It is the coordinated staff to selected music. Walt Disney, the god of most American children, was much more than a maker of cartoons. He refined animation as a process and an art to its highest point. He built bridges of joy for us to cross and recross in our dreams. His greatest film, the one he loved most, “Fantasia,” was a financial disaster, because of two things: In its second-time around, the film may be a financial disaster. This time for roughly the same reasons. When I went, the theatre was virtually empty. \^o cares? If you don’t see it you will have missed the greatest, most beautiful piece of artwork ever put on film. Walt Disney put his entire being into this film. It shows. The believability of the plot and the characterization is on a par with the Santa Claus myth and the stereotyped characters (all young people appearing using drugs, all old people kill young people, all hardhats hate freaks) leaving us to wonder about the aesthetic purpose of shooting up a houseful of freaks who stole two On the whole, there were a couple of good cinemagraphic effects supposed to represent a respectable middle-aged executive going beserk; but unfortunately that is as far as the film went in attempting to understand iuiman emotions and conflicts. The action was similarily poor with outrageously stereotyped half-truths volleying around with abundance. The plot is so bad, and the movie in general so poor, that I can’t say anything more witiiout becoming unprintable. So let me end by saying that my only wisli is that the producer, director, and author were all gunned down in the final massacre scene. Pulsing colors and shapes in the surreal drawings completely change one’s perception of beauty. The film itself is broken into six segments, each of which are 1. Disney-type animation is phenomenially expensive (where most people would use 15 drawings for a given movement, Disney would use 40). The critics and the public at large, couldn’t see it as anything but a large scale I hope that if you can find no better reason for seeing it, that you see it to see him. Remember, when on Sunday evenings how you’d sit and wait for his Stow to come on? You loved him then. Why not now? Walt Disney is dead, yet he lives in his films. This is him at his best in “Fantasia.” Just remember, you’ll never be able to turn on the television again on Sunday night, and hear the man say, “and now, here’s Walt.” cws ©KQGDMAL University City Boulevard ^ ^
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