Wednesday, January 11, 2017

The Reluctant Dragon Feature Film




I love The Reluctant Dragon. The animated short as well as the whole "behind the scenes" 1941 feature film. Disney released the movie as bonus material in glorious HD together with the Blu-Ray edition of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, combined with Fun and Fancy Free.
I am sure many of you have seen this "documentary" and you probably spotted a few Disney artists in the drawing class scene, or when Robert Benchley visits Ward Kimball's office together with Fred Moore.
As I understand it, most key personal was part of the live action shoot in one role or another. But not everybody made the final cut, like Marc Davis and Milt Kahl.
It's no surprise that Woolie Reitherman got some screen time, after all he animated the introductory scenes of the Dragon.




In this animal drawing class you can easily recognize Retta Scott, Jack Kinney, Eric Larson and Ken Anderson in the front.



But look here: As the camera follows Benchley walking in front of the commissary you can see Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston leaning against the wall.



A few seconds later Les Clark shows up in the center of the frame. Geez...those trees in front of the animation building are gigantic today.



A fantastic rough animation drawing by Ward Kimball is currently offered at Heritage Auctions:


That short poem about a poor little upside down cake is one of the most hilarious moments in Disney Animation. The fact that the Dragon moves himself to tears as he is reciting it makes me laugh out loud each time I watch it. Kimball gold!



8 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. That character is so much fun to watch! Is that the real final model sheet? Only a few of the drawings have the colour separation on the neck. I'd guess that the whole character was handled by just a couple of people, though, so they maybe didn't need to make extensive model sheets

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  3. Boy, that Dragon is a real ham actor if ever there was one...

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  4. Do you work the weekend's Andreas or you work the weeks.

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  5. "In this animal drawing class you can easily recognize Retta Scott, Jack King, Eric Larson and Ken Anderson in the front."

    Jack Kinney , not Jack King.

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  6. Hi Andreas!

    I was wondering if you know more about this picture you used in your post: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WLo_zFetWyY/VdqkkA9QC_I/AAAAAAAAOwA/RNdYR2kfYuY/s1600/SITSB%2B2.jpeg

    As it happens, I am fairly certain I have the original at home, which I got from my grandfather. The sketches mean a great deal to me, and have been wondering for ages what the history behind it is? I would love to come into contact with you somehow, except I couldn't find your e-mail adres anywhere.

    regards,

    Thomas Bruinsma

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