Wednesday, April 22, 2015

IT"S BACK TO JAPAN...

...for a 1930s "making of..." promo covering one of the country's first color cartoons, made by Noburo Ofuji (1900-1961), pioneer of the country's art.

It's likely that what we hear is not the original soundtrack, as the lengthy cycles were probably carried by the authentic music score. Ofuji alternated between cel and cut out techniques, both with his unique decorative stylings. (Thanks to "bumbumdbear".)



If the date attributed is correct, Ofuji's cel work changed little over 10 years, as seen here in the complete 1948 cartoon, THE BEAR DODGER.



2 comments:

Mark Kausler said...

W0W Milton, I loved that Bear Dodger cartoon. That little pie cut eyed guy really looked ridiculous as he towed the tall-headed guy around with a rope draped around his strangely-shaped head. The musical ideas were a lot of fun to listen to, and the "bears" looked more like big black pigs than bears, but their growls landed them squarely in Ursus territory. The print used for transfer looked very dirty, full of crusty scum. It seems that a lot of old Japanese cartoon prints look like this. Maybe they don't have any film cleaner in Japan? Many thanks for posting this peculiar picture.

Unknown said...

Love this cartoon immensely,as I have been dodging bears ever since I got here