Director

Norm Ferguson

2: briefs
13:00: average
26 min: in total

On film.briefs2

Fantasia

James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe Jr., Norm Ferguson · 1940

Fantasia sets eight animated sequences to classical pieces conducted by Leopold Stokowski, introduced on screen by critic Deems Taylor, ranging from abstract shapes moving to Bach to dancing hippos set to Ponchielli. It began as The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a Mickey Mouse vehicle whose spiralling budget only made sense as part of something larger; Disney and RCA built a pioneering multi-speaker sound system, Fantasound, specifically to give the film's roadshow release a sound quality no cinema of 1940 otherwise offered.

13:00

Pinocchio

Ben Sharpsteen, Hamilton Luske, Norm Ferguson, T. Hee · 1940

A woodcarver's puppet is brought to life and told he must prove himself brave, truthful and unselfish before he can become a real boy, guided — imperfectly — by a cricket appointed as his conscience. Made for $2.5 million as Disney's second feature, the film pushed effects animation further than Snow White had, rendering water, smoke and lightning with a level of realism the studio hadn't attempted before, even as it lost money on first release when the war cut off its overseas markets.