Orphan's Benefit - A Comparison

Here's a side-by-side comparison of "Orphan's Benefit", a black-and-white ∂isney cartoon made in 1934 (left), and then remade in color 8 years later in 1941 (right).

I don't understand why they did this. Why would they put so much time, money and effort into a remake when they could use that same energy on making something original? Was it because of the big Disney strike that happened a few months earlier? Were they planning a package feature of remade shorts which never fully came to fruition? If anybody has any information on the history of this, I'd love to know more.

I apologize for the interlacing issues in the video. When I get the chance, I'll reupload a better version.

The Recycling of Pinocchio's Fish

Its been a while since I've done anything remotely similar to the Disney's Gettin' Lazy videos. Part of me would like to go back & continue doing the videos again, & another wants me to just move on to new things. Still, I can't help spotting bits of reused animation when I watch a Disney movie. I almost do it unconsciously now. 

I picked up a copy of the new Pinocchio DVD (which is awesome, by the way), & noticed that some of the fish during the "Searching for Monstro" sequence looked familiar. 

The final shot of the scene was recycled in the "Walrus & the Carpenter" sequence of Alice in Wonderland, 11 years later.

 

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I think a lot of people knew about that one, but I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this one:

Coincidently, I was watching a few Goofy cartoons that I had on my iPod while on a train ride back from NYC. One of them was Goofy's Glider. After watching the Pinocchio DVD, the fish caught my eye again. Looking at the cartoon & the movie side by side, the fish looked the same (if not close). 

Both films were released in 1940, Pinocchio on February 9th & the Goofy short on November 22nd, about 9 months apart.  A pretty small span of time. I assume that the productions didn't overlap each other. Still, the drawings were pretty fresh.

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"Disney's Gettin' Lazy" 3: Whatever Happened to Bambi's Mother?

To many, the death of Bambi's Mother is the single saddest moment in all of film history. But don't worry folks, Bambi's Mom is alive & well! In fact, she came back to play a role in many movies since then. Personally, I think she holds the record of most appearances in a Disney film.

The big questions from me are 1) Who animated the original scene of Bambi's Mother eating grass, looking up & running away (Frank Thomas? Ollie Hohnston? Eric Larson? Who?...) & 2) Did the animator in question get credit for it when it was reused in the later films? Can anybody answer this for me?

Special thanks to Hans Perk & Michael Sporn!

*UPDATE* - Hans Perk pulled out his animator drafts for Bambi & wrote about his findings in the comments:

"Hi Michael, I had a look at the draft for Prod. 2002 (Bambi), Seq.09.2-"Death of the Mother." Directed by James Algar, layout by Dave Hilberman, animated by (drum roll...) Art Elliott. He animated Sc.8 (21-00ft on a 6½F setup), Sc.9 (9-00ft on 5F setup) where mother whispers "Bambi!" and Sc.10 (5-07ft on 5F setup) where mother says "Quick! The thicket!" (followed by some scenes by Bill Justice).

I did not check the other drafts yet, but normally reuse like this is not credited, as--again--the drafts were not prepared for crediting animators but for tracking the responsible person on any current production. Thus, most likely the person RE-animating the scene will be credited..."

Thanks again for the info, Hans!

"Disney's Gettin' Lazy" #2 - Mr. Toad & Jungle Book

For the chase scene at King Louie's Palace in The Jungle Book (1967), the animators thought: "Hey guys, we don't have to animate anything new! Let's just break out some 20-year-old animation from Mr. Toad & trace over Ratty, Moley & Mr. Winkie with King Louie, Baloo & Bagheera! & don't forget to replace the deed to Toad Hall with Mowgli, alright fellas?!"

I vaguely remember some animation from Mr. Toad where Toad is hanging from the chandelier & saving Moley from decapitation & Ratty from a bunch of weasels was reused for another Disney film, but I can't remember exactly what film it was. Maybe Robin Hood? If anybody can enlighten me on this, let me know & I'll compile & post it here as Part II.

Thanks & remember to leave comments!

*UPDATE* - Hans Perk & Michael Sporn both let me know (at almost exactly the same time!) about a translated Russian article about Disney animation reuse. You can find the article here: http://www.prodisney.ru/index.php?page=clones.php . Part I is translated in English, but if you want to read parts II & III, you have to translate the webpages using BabelFish.

Thanks again Hans & Mike!

Disney's Gettin' Lazy

Last week while talking about 101 Dalmatians, I mentioned about how by that point, Disney was reusing a lot of animation from earlier films. But 101 wasn't the first to do this. Disney has in fact been doing it way back since the early 1940's.

Let me ask you a question: what does Make Mine Music (1946) & The Black Cauldron (1985)have in common?..... Give up?

They both used animation from the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence of Fantasia (1940).

Also, I think they reused some leaf animation from the "Looking for Romance" sequence in Bambi for the Make Mine Music scene.

I plan on making more of these animation comparison videos in the future. While you're at it, if any of you notice any Disney animation reuse, email me through the address in my profile & let me know (but not in the comments section!). Thanks for watching!