Animation Artifacts &UPA 29 Dec 2007 08:34 am
The Tell Tale Heart – part 2
- Today I complete the collection of frame grabs I’ve pulled from UPA’s The Tell Tale Heart. If you don’t have the film on dvd, watch it on YouTube. This film is included among the films preserved in the U S National Film Registry.
However, to quote John Kricfalusi, “‘Masterpiece’?? It’s a total boring slow eyesore.” By that, I assume he means the film doesn’t scream at you; it tells a story, and I guess that makes it boring. The fact that the cartoon lifted the Production Designer to the height of this storytelling process is irrelevant. Perhaps, today’s audiences are too impatient. (I once had an intern tell me that she couldn’t watch Citizen Kane because it was too boring. It was in Black and White.)
Regardless, I have to step off of my soapbox; here are the remainder of these beautiful images. I hope they inspire someone the way they once did me when I first saw the film. I offer these up to Paul Julian, who did such brilliant work of design.
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Then it was over.
The heart was still.
The eye was dead.
I was free.
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But there was still work to be done.
I replaced the planks so carefully no eye . . . not even his
could have found anything wrong.
So soon?
“The neighbors reported a scream. We’re obliged to investigate.”
“A scream? My own, gentlemen. A childish dream.”
“But come in, please. You’ll want to look through the house.”
“That is our duty. Where is the old man?”
“Gone to the city.”
“You’re up very early.”
“The dream I spoke of. It awakened me.”
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“When did he leave?”
“The old man? Yesterday.”
“How long will he be away?”
Tw . . . two weeks.”
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“Perhaps longer.”
“Nothing out of place, here.”
“There is his bed, his cupboard. All in order?”
“Quite in order.”
“All quite in order.”
“Nothing amiss. You understand that when a complaint is made we have no choice but . . .”
“Stay! It’s such a wretched hour. I was making tea. A hot drink will break the chill.”
“Surely it will surprise such good people how much the night . . .”
“. . .conceals from their eyes. But not yours, to be sure.”
CRASH !
“What? What did you say good sir?
“Yes. Yes, of course. The hot water. It will do no harm to the bare boards.
I’m a little less tidy with the old man away.”
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Then I heard it. It might have been a hand. A clock.
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But no, louder. Still louder. They must hear it.
But still they talk and talk. They must.
They must. Of course they do. They know. They do. They’re torturing me.
Letting it beat so that I . . . I . . . I
________________________________________STOP IT ! Stop it, you devils !
YES ! I did it. It’s there under the floor. OH, STOP IT !
It is the beating of his hideous heart !
_____________True, I am nervous. Very, very dreadfully nervous.
_____________________________________But why will you say that I am mad?
on 29 Dec 2007 at 2:32 pm 1.Thad Komorowski said …
Michael,
It’s sort of pointless to keep hammering away at John K’s viewpoints on UPA. It’s completely ass-backwards that he criticizes these films when the Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons and Roger Ramjet that he lauds on his blog regularly suffer from the same problems and even more. It’s upsetting to see fans pick up his harsh opinions (believe me, I’ve seen younger fans copy my own viewpoints, which is flattering but saddening), but really, how serious can you take an animation student if they only listen to and say what they’re told to?
“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a great, eerie film. I enjoy it a lot.
on 31 Dec 2007 at 12:50 am 2.Ward said …
Thanks, Michael, for posting all these. I love this film. It’s brilliant.
on 01 Jan 2008 at 9:07 pm 3.J Lee said …
There really should be a separate category for Hollywood theatrical cartoon shorts that are non-comedic, since part of the problem with the original release of “The Tell-Tale Heartâ€, and even to some extent with audiences today is what they expect a Golden Age cartoon to be, and what this cartoon actually is. It wouldn’t surprise me if – to a much lesser extent – theater audience response was quite muted when Warners re-released Jones’ “Old Glory†and “Tom Thumb In Troubleâ€, since by that time, the studio’s strong cartoon personality was well-known, and moviegoers may have felt cheated by what they expected on the screen, and the actual content of the cartoon.
If nothing else, the Academy nomination for “The Tell-Tale Heart†was some well-deserved recognition for Paul Julian, whose great background work for Freleng at WB is overshadowed, ironically, by the UPA-influenced designs of Maurice Noble from the mid and late-50s.
on 02 Jan 2008 at 9:17 am 4.Michael said …
That’s a good point about Maurice Noble’s influence on films done well after this short. However, I don’t think Julian’s work here is like much else done at UPA. This film almost feels more like Dali in animation than Disney was able to pull off.
on 06 Aug 2008 at 10:49 am 5.sheila graber said …
Hi Michael, I’m researching UPA for my book/cd on animation which will cover history,techniques and my own slant on things. I really respect your slant on animation it comes from a very informed heart- and not just a tell-tale one!
This sequence is perfect in telling the story – wish I’d had you as a storyboard designer when I was making stuff for TV. I already found your info on “felix”unique – and hey, you’ve done it again..MANY THANKS- Sheila