John Carter Of Mars

Animated test footage for John Carter of Mars project worked on by Bob Clampett in the 1930's.

• Category

  Film & Animation

[Andybucker]

Yes, I pray that people will not forget who indeed wrote the books... :-o

[Sailor Barsoom]

I know it's just a typo, but I couldn't help but grin. There are times I've wondered if we'd have to wait until 20116 to see this.

But thanks for the info.

[Marshalsify]

Sure is that Bob Clampett is a real cartoon genuis, He is the man who really did put the Looney into Looney Tunes and after he was sacked by that nasty Eddie Selzter who took over in 1946 or 47 from poor ol' Leon Schlesinger, his cartoons will forever live on bless him.

[ATGkeller]

This is awesome looks like a flip book

[Sylderon]

I wonder if this would've been as much of a flop as the completed one. Very good action there, especially for a simple pencil test.

[EuropeanAnimation]

I did compare some for American Pop. They weren't exactly the same, but they were floaty and don't come across like a character but copied from footage for that reason. I didn't say that good work had to be polished, but there's a difference between the unpolished look of Hakkenden 10 which is good looking, and Bakshi's floaty people who look like robots. Disney has screwed up too with Cinderella and parts of Snow White. They did better with Anita who's live action referenced.

[EuropeanAnimation]

Varying degrees refers to the distinction between tracing and referencing. Call me what you like. You're only making your self look worse. Keep showing off your black and white thinking.

[EuropeanAnimation]

Ralph Bakshi's rotoscoping efforts are blatantly artificial and awkward, requiring the viewer to adjust to their incompetence to enjoy the film. Disney has used rotoscoping to varying degrees and some of their uses are incompetent as well. Motion capture is not rotoscoping. You must have the eyes of a dog to tell me that rotoscoping's beautiful, and the brain of one to attempt to silence me on it in addition.

[sugarraykirk]

What a shame this was never completed. The books are great fun.

[jay55also]

With Bob Clampett's work,I think you would have to compare this stuff with the original Superman cartoons of the 1940's by fleischer ,like the Popeye cartoons and the Gulliver's Travels feature animated movie.

[daregularperson]

Haha, yeah, Ralph Bakshi has done some crappy rotoscoping - he usually seems focused on grittiness and double on cheapness anyway. As for this particular clip, they do at least seem to be moving fluidly, although not too lifelike.

[EuropeanAnimation]

I think it looks good viewed for its time period and wish that it had gotten made. When I call it crude, I'm comparing it with other sensible efforts, not crappy rotoscoped ones like Ralph Bakshi's. Bakshi should have known better by that time period.