Puss in Boots | |
---|---|
Directed by | Walt Disney |
Written by | Walt Pfeiffer |
Produced by | Walt Disney |
Cinematography | Red Lyon |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Leslie B. Mace |
Release date |
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Running time | 9 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent film with English intertitles |
Puss in Boots is a 1922 film directed by Walt Disney. The film was based on the book by Charles Perrault. [1]
The film was produced in Kansas City, Missouri. It is one of the earliest surviving products of the Laugh-O-Gram Studio to be based on a fairy tale, alongside Little Red Riding Hood (1919) and Cinderella (1922). [2] There were a total of seven Laugh-O-Grams based on fairy tales. The three already mentioned, plus The Four Musicians of Bremen (1922), Jack and the Beanstalk (1922), Jack the Giant Killer (1922), and Goldie Locks and the Three Bears (1922). [3] While supposedly based on Puss in Boots (1697) by Charles Perrault, it bears little actual resemblance to any literary version of the story. Disney likely did not care about retelling a tale already familiar to the audience, and set out to create a distinct version of the tale. [2]
The film is representative of 1920s Disney-produced films in relying on visual gags, anarchic humor, and (in the finale) a chase scene. In contrast, the 1930s fairy-tale derived animated shorts of Disney incorporated themes examining the morality of the characters involved, and were more didactic in intent. This was part of a shift in animation of the time, as the products of the film form previously consisted mostly of comedy films. Disney led the way towards the animated melodrama genre and the incorporation of seriousness in the plots. [4]
The relatively primitive drawings were created by the small staff of the studio, which consisted of Walt Disney himself, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, Ub Iwerks, Carman Maxwell, Lorrey Tague, and Otto Walliman. [3] The frequent gags and unconventional plots provide the Laugh-O-Grams with the mood of a carnival spectacle. [3]
The setting of the film is contemporary, effectively featuring the 1920s United States, albeit with the anachronistic presence of a traditional monarchy in an otherwise modern setting. [3]
The hero of the tale is an unnamed young man, a commoner. Julius is his male black cat. [2] The hero is in love with the daughter of a king, and the feeling is mutual. Julius is in love with the white female cat of the king, who also serves as the royal chauffeur. The king objects to both relationships and throws the commoner and his cat out of the palace. [2] The rejected duo head to a movie theater, seeking entertainment. They watch a film featuring "Rodolph Vaselino" (Rudolph Valentino) as a bullfighter. The film inspires Julius to form a plan which will allow his master to win the hand of the royal daughter. But Julius first asks for a prize for his services, a pair of boots. [2]
In time, the duo organizes a bullfighting spectacle, with the hero in disguise as a masked bullfighter. Julius' original plan was to use a hypnotic machine to control the bull and impress the king. The actual fight ends up involving a more physical struggle, but the hero does come out on top. The king is suitably impressed to offer the hand of his daughter to the masked bullfighter. [2]
Shortly after, the king wishes to learn the identity of his prospective son-in-law. He is enraged to discover the commoner he dislikes behind the mask of the bullfighter. But the hero leads the royal daughter in a quick escape, followed by Julius and the chauffeur. The four of them make it to the royal automobile and escape, while the king briefly and futilely gives chase on foot. The films ends with the car speeding off into the distance. [2]
In comparison to the traditional tale, there is a significant shift in focus. The "cunning cat" plays a decisive part, but the focus is on the master. The depiction of the master is also considerably different. While a commoner, the hero is not a peasant. He is also not particularly stupid. He is instead a young man seeking victory at all costs. [2]
In running away with the virgin daughter of the king, the hero deprives the king of his most valued possession: his own daughter. Jack Zipes suggests that there is an underlying theme of the Oedipus complex in this action. The young boy has managed to defeat and humiliate the father figure of the tale. [2]
The film has a rather democratic theme in its treatment of the monarch. This authority figure is humiliated and its power is undermined, all through the efforts of a commoner who stages a personal revolt. The theme is probably derived from the tradition of republicanism in the United States, which rejected monarchy in its various forms. [2]
Technology plays a significant role in the film. A film is depicted as stimulating the mind of the viewer, Puss, and inspiring her plot. A hypnotic machine helps defeat the mighty bull. An automobile is the vehicle for the safe escape of the hero. The presence of these technological devices places the setting of the film decidedly within the 20th century. [2] In a way, the film can be seen as the triumph of modernity and those embracing it over the representatives of antiquated, traditional ways of thought. [2] [4]
A final departure from the traditional fairy tale can be found in its conclusion. A conventional happy ending to a fairy tale tends to involve a wedding ceremony and the victorious characters moving into a castle. This animated short concludes with an open ending. [3]
"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world. The protagonist is a young girl living in forsaken circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune, with her ascension to the throne via marriage. The story of Rhodopis, recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo sometime between 7 BCE and 23 CE, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt, is usually considered to be the earliest known variant of the Cinderella story.
The Alice Comedies are a series of animated/live-action shorts created by Walt Disney in the 1920s, in which a live action little girl named Alice and an animated cat named Julius have adventures in an animated landscape. The shorts were the first work by what ultimately became The Walt Disney Company.
The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended from 1957 to 1969, where theatrical animated shorts began losing popularity to the newer medium of television animation since in 1957, produced on cheaper budgets and in a more limited animation style by companies such as Terrytoons, UPA, Paramount Cartoon Studios, Jay Ward Productions, Hanna-Barbera, DePatie-Freleng, Rankin/Bass and Filmation. In artefact, the history of animation became very important in the United States.
'Puss' is a character in the fairy tale "The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots" by Charles Perrault. The tale was published in 1697 in his Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. The tale of a cat helping an impoverished master attain wealth through its trickery is known in hundreds of variants.
"Sleeping Beauty", also titled in English as The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods, is a fairy tale about a princess cursed by an evil fairy to sleep for a hundred years before being awakened by a handsome prince. A good fairy, knowing the princess would be frightened if alone when she wakes, uses her wand to put every living person and animal in the palace and forest asleep, to awaken when the princess does.
Cinderella is a 1950 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Based on Charles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale, the production was supervised by Ben Sharpsteen, and was directed by Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, and Clyde Geronimi. The film features the voices of Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Rhoda Williams, James MacDonald, and Luis van Rooten.
The Laugh-O-Gram Studio was an animation studio located on the second floor of the McConahay Building at 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, Missouri, that operated from June 28, 1921, to October 16, 1923.
The Pentamerone, subtitled Lo cunto de li cunti, is a seventeenth-century Neapolitan fairy tale collection by Italian poet and courtier Giambattista Basile.
Puss in Boots is a character in a 1550 Italian fairy tale by Giovanni Francesco Straparola.
"Jack the Giant Killer" is a Cornish fairy tale and legend.
"Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Cole, publishing under pen name Felix Summerly, popularized the tale in The Home Treasury (1845), and Joseph Jacobs rewrote it in English Fairy Tales (1890). Jacobs' version is most commonly reprinted today, and is believed to be closer to the oral versions than Tabart's because it lacks the moralizing.
"Puss in Boots" is a European fairy tale about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand in marriage of a princess for his penniless and low-born master.
Histoires ou contes du temps passé, avec des moralités or Contes de ma mère l'Oye is a collection of literary fairy tales written by Charles Perrault, published in Paris in 1697. The work became popular because it was written at a time when fairy tales were fashionable amongst aristocrats in Parisian literary salons. Perrault wrote the work when he retired from court as secretary to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, minister to Louis XIV of France. Colbert's death may have forced Perrault's retirement, at which point he turned to writing. Scholars have debated as to the origin of his tales and whether they are original literary fairy tales modified from commonly known stories, or based on stories written by earlier medieval writers such as Boccaccio.
Giantland is a 1933 animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by United Artists. The film is an adaptation of the fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk" with Mickey Mouse in the title role. Mickey is voiced by Walt Disney and Mickey's nephews are voiced by Marcellite Garner, who at the time usually voiced Minnie Mouse. It was the 62nd Mickey Mouse short film, and the twelfth of that year.
Little Red Riding Hood is a 1922 short animated film by Walt Disney that is a rendition of the traditional story of Little Red Riding Hood. The film is part of the Laugh-O-Grams series that was released in 1922. This is one of the first cartoons by Disney, and considered to be Disney's first attempt at animated storytelling. Rather than using animation cels, it was made mostly by photographing inked lines on paper. The film was considered to be lost for many years and it was listed in 1980 on the American Film Institute's "10 Most Wanted Films for Archival Preservation". A print of the film was discovered by British collector David Wyatt in a London film library in 1998 and was restored the same year.
Puss in Boots is a 2011 American animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is a spin-off of the Shrek film series and its fifth installment, rather than an adaptation of the fairytale "Puss in Boots". The film was directed by Chris Miller with a screenplay by Tom Wheeler from a story by Brian Lynch, Will Davies, and Wheeler, based on the character from Shrek 2 (2004) and inspired from the Puss in Boots fairy tale. It stars Antonio Banderas, alongside Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Amy Sedaris. The film follows the origin story of Puss in Boots (Banderas) during his adventure years before the events of Shrek 2. Accompanied by his friends, Humpty Dumpty (Galifianakis) and Kitty Softpaws (Hayek), Puss is pitted against Jack and Jill, two murderous outlaws, for ownership of three legendary magical beans that lead to a great fortune of Golden Eggs from the Great Terror, a gigantic Goose.
Julius the Cat is a fictional anthropomorphic cat created in 1922 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. He first appeared in the very first animated series created by Walt Disney, the Alice Comedies, making him the predecessor of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Mickey Mouse. Julius is an anthropomorphic cat, appearing intentionally similar to Felix the Cat. A bold and inventive hero, he gradually became the primary focus of the Alice Comedies, to the point Disney abandoned live action for pure animation on subsequent projects.