I first remember seeing What On Earth! as a between-features offering on HBO in the early 1980s. May I say, what a great time for that channel it was; you could see all manner of short movies on it then--everything from the latest "videos" (on a feature they called Video Jukebox) to things like 1978's Special Delivery or Jim Henson's 1966 curio Timepiece. This was about 15 years after What on Earth! had been nominated for the 1967 Best Animated Short Academy Award. As one who's always been suspect of the car culture, this piece's cynical, smiling creepiness has always stuck hardily with me. Trolling around the fantastic National Film Board of Canada website, I thankfully rediscovered its abundant charms and thought I'd share the film with readers. It was produced by Wolf Koenig (a longtime NFBC fixture, also Oscar-nominated for 1966's The Drag and 1968's The House That Jack Built) and Robert Verrall (who also co-produced The Drag, and who, in 1967, was just beginning his career with the esteemed NFBC). What on Earth! was designed and directed, quite humorously, by Kaj Pindal and Les Drew. Note the terrific music by Don Douglas as you watch!
No comments:
Post a Comment