Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Disney delights wowed packed picture houses in Monklands
During the 1950s, veteran Disney innovator Ub Iwerks had been experimenting with Xerox photography as an aid to animation.
By 1959 he had managed to eliminate the inking process, preserving much of the spontaneity of the drawings.
This meant that Disney films had a more linear and graphic look, quite different from the tonal renderings that were so typical of earlier cartoon features.
Without this process, we would most certainly have been deprived of one of Disney’s most celebrated animated features.
101 Dalmatians required characters with their own unique spots – a previously impossible task for animators.
According to production designer Ken Anderson, the classic movie was a huge job, requiring 150 artists across three years of production.
He said: “In all, there are 6,469,952 [ spots] on the back of 101 heartwarming dogs as they appear in 113,760 frames of brilliant Technicolor that required 800 gallons of paint for the spots and other colour effects in the completed picture.”
101 Dalmatians is based on a story by British author Dodie Smith, who always hoped that Disney would produce a cartoon version of the tale about the kidnapping of 16 puppies.
Released for 1961’s festive season, the film was screened at the New Cinema in Airdrie and the ABC in Coatbridge to full houses at every performance.
101 Dalmatians is regarded as one of the last great animated Disney features.
Alfred Hitchcock believed the stronger the villain, the stronger the picture and Disney supported that theory with one modification – the stronger the villainess.
Disney’s greatest wrongdoers are almost all women and Cruella de Vil, who kidnaps the puppies to make a new fur coat, is a formidable and memorable antagonist.
However, her evil plan is sabotaged by the cunning cleverness of the 101 Dalmations and they all arrive home in time for Christmas – and a happy ending.
The Sword in the Stone is one of the least well-known of Disney’s animated features, but is certainly worthy of a closer look.
Released in December 1963, it was a popular Christmas time attraction when it opened at the Pavilion Cinema in Airdrie and
the Odeon Coatbridge.
The story follows the boyhood of King Arthur and his education under the guidance of the wizard Merlin, who transforms the boy into a fish, a squirrel and a bird to teach him lessons of survival.
The film is a visual feast with superb animation and an especially meorable wizard’s duel
sequence between Merlin and Madam Mim.
Apart from short cartoon reissues, Mickey Mouse had been absent from the big screen since 1953.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol ( 1983) marked the return of the Disney icon in the studio’s interpretation of Dickens literary
classic.
As the frosting on the cake, the animators decided to include as many Disney characters as possible in the cast, not only in leading roles but also in cameo performances.
So while the leads are played by Mickey, Scrooge Mcduck, Minnie, Donald and Goofy, a
variety of well-known characters from Jiminy Cricket to the Three Little Pigs all turn up.
Destined to become a holiday classic and released as the supporting featurette with a rerelease of The Jungle Book, I first saw Mickey’s Christmas Carol in December 1983 at Scotland’s most luxurious cinema – the
Odeon in Renfield Street.
The advent of home video entertainment and the release of many Disney favorites in that format, meant that 1994 brought an end to the studio’s policy of theatrical releases for Disney classics, thus future generations would sadly never experience the magic of Disney on the big screen.