Films
16mm Films
1930? "Jungle Fool." Black-and-white Pathegram Home Movie. 635. Aesop's Fable cartoon. $8 from James Kelly, Panama, NY, through Ebay, Oct., '99.
I am surprised that 16 MM was once considered the medium for home movies.
1940? "Barnyard Olympics." Black-and-white Aesop's Fable Hollywood cartoon. $10 from Glenn Hershberger, Ocala, FL, through Ebay, March, '99.
Though I have not watched this, I think it is a Paul Terry film that I have seen on a VHS collection of Terry material.
1965? "The Ant and the Dove (An Aesop Fable)." 8 minutes, ¾ reel. Black and white. #1473. Produced by Gakken Film Company, Tokyo. Chicago: Coronet Films. $11.50 from Bonnie Bellmer, Chillicothe, OH, through Ebay, May, '99.
The zip code on the address for Coronet films helps to date this film, which I would otherwise have guessed came from much earlier.
1965? Three Fox Fables. Color ("stunning color," writes the seller). Animation by Roy Toy. EBC films. $9.01 from Don Stier, Brick, NJ, through Ebay, Oct., '99.
This film belonged formerly to the Memphis City Schools.
1967 Aesop's Fables I. No author, illustrator, or reader acknowledged. Sixteen-millimeter. Living Prose Series. In collaboration with Lumin Films. McGraw-Hill, Inc. Gift of John Carlson, Dec., '95. Also on a metal master tape and two videotape copies.
This film of about twelve minutes starts with a song: "Long ago in ancient Greece/stories didn't grow on trees./Good ol' Aesop was most able/when he'd fabricate a fable./Look and listen and you'll see/Aesop's Fables one-two-three." The visual technique involves camera sweeps and zooms on still watercolors (?). Many of the character-animals in the three fables are given classical proper names. The stories are told rather expansively. In LM, Miklos the mouse runs across Oedipus the lion. The morals include "When you step on somebody's nose, apologize right away and keep talking" and "When somebody says he wants to be friends, believe him." The moral for FC, which uses bleu cheese, warns that "you're better off if you keep your mouth shut." In GA, Aristotle the ant, who uses a pulley to move a peach-pit, has Zeus the grasshopper dance now for one crumb.
1967 Aesop's Fables II. No author, illustrator, or reader acknowledged. Sixteen-millimeter. Living Prose Series. In collaboration with Lumin Films. McGraw-Hill, Inc. Gift of John Carlson, Dec., '95. Also on a metal master tape and two videotape copies.
See my comments on the first film in the three-film series. In TMCM, the two mice manage to stuff themselves before the two dogs come. The film does a particularly good job of presenting FG, especially in its incremental development of Alexander's getting thirstier and angrier and wearier. AL brings back the earlier face-licking illustration effectively in the arena.
1967 Aesop's Fables III. No author, illustrator, or reader acknowledged. Sixteen-millimeter. Living Prose Series. In collaboration with Lumin Films. McGraw-Hill, Inc. Gift of John Carlson, Dec., '95. Also on a metal master tape and two videotape copies.
See my comments on the first film in the three-film series. This film skips the beginning song. The approach to BW is creative and sensitive. Many boring days of watching sheep without encountering any threat to them lead Paul to hope that a wolf will come. He cries out to test whether his voice actually gets to the villagers--but then says it was a joke when they arrive. His second bogus cry comes out of his love for excitement. The real attack of the wolf comes the same day. In WS, the wind goes around looking for trouble by asking everything that he meets if it would like to match strength with him. Near the end of the story, the wind aptly says to the sun "I still don't know how you did it!" In CP, the crow himself tells much of the story, using a bit of a brogue. The moral includes "Little by little will bring you what you want."
8mm Films
1940? "Barnyard Olympics." An Aesop Fable. 8 MM Home Movies. Lodi, NJ: Carnival Films AF6. $2 from Steve Haynes, Columbus, OH, through Ebay, April, '00.
I also have this film in a 16 MM version. I wonder if this one might be abridged. The box's cover shows an elephant watching a small animal emerge from the sole of a giant shoe. Is that image related to this specific film?
1940? "The Enchanted Fiddle." Aesop's Fables. 8 MM Home Movies. Lodi, NJ: Carnival Films AF1. $2 from Steve Haynes, Columbus, OH, through Ebay, April, '00.
I am sorry that I have not been able to watch each of these films. I am glad that my two Carnival Films have ID numbers. The collector in me wants to know how many there might be in the series.
1940? "The Mouse Catcher." Aesop's Fables. 8 MM Home Movies. Lodi, NJ: Carnival Films AF2. Unknown source.
The package here, except for the title stamped in two places, is identical with that for "The Enchanted Fiddle."
1950? "Aesop's Fox and Crane." Encyclopaedia Britannica. $5 from Historic-Arts, Hornell, NY, through Ebay, Feb., '00.
The bottom of EB's box says that this film joins TH and FG in the Encyclopaedia Britannica Films series of the world's most famous fables.
1960? "Punchey de Leon: Fox & Crow." Silent edition. Columbia Alltime Favorites. 8 MM home movie. FC-4253. Unknown source.
I need to wait until I can see this film to learn if there is anything related to fables in it. Stay tuned!
1960? "The Mouse and the Lion." A Fairy Fable Cartoon. Castle Films. Produced by United World Films, Inc. No. 532. 8 MM Complete Edition. $5.99 from Chris Sundblad, Bay Point, CA, through Ebay, Feb., '00.
This film is torn. Its box announces "Television and Theatrical Rights Reserved." I imagine that the reference to television helps to date it. This film comes in a box about 5¼" square. I also have a version, with the same title and number, in a box about 3¼" square.
1960? "The Mouse and the Lion." A Fairy Fable Cartoon. Castle Films. Produced by United World Films, Inc. No. 532. $9.99 from Baron Diamond Importers, Union, NJ, through Ebay, Jan., '00.
I cannot see the difference between this film, in its 3¼" box, and the adjacent one in its 5¼" box. This box has a seal reading "Headline Super 8 Black/White," but I do not know what that means. And its box does not say "Complete edition."
1960? "The Tortoise and the Hare." Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Cartoons. Walt Disney Home Movies. Super 8 Color. Unknown source.
The bottom of the box proudly proclaims "The old adage 'slow and steady wins the race' is clever adapted to Walt Disney's Academy Award Winner—The Tortoise and the Hare! I look forward to viewing the cartoon to see if it is the same presentation that I am aware of from the 1934 cartoon and books.
1960? "The Tortoise and the Hare." Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Cartoons. Walt Disney Home Movies. Super 8 Silent BW. Unknown source.
Do not be surprised: the bottom of this box says that the film is Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, but some painstaking investigation convinced me that it really is a black-and-white print of The Tortoise and the Hare, and the early frames seem to be exactly the same as in the 1934 version. Banners proclaim "The Big Race." It is of course curious that without trying I have found both a colored and a black-and-white version of the Disney classic.