Gulliver's Travels

The ship goes down and Gulliver washes ashore. When he wakes he is tied down; the people of Lilliput are far smaller than he is and take him for a giant. There are two kingdoms on the island and they are about to go to war. The cause of the quarrel is which song will be sung at a wedding. Gulliver steps in. But there are people who want the war, and they make plans to get rid of him. Dave Fleischer directs. It was made at the Fleischer studio. It is the second animated feature made in America; after the success of the first, the studio had to produce an answer quickly. A new studio was built in Florida for it and the crew was expanded fast; the film was completed in a very short time. Gulliver was drawn by rotoscoping; a real actor's movements were filmed and drawn over, which made the character look unlike the others. The narrative removes most of the satire in Swift's book; the cause of the war is reduced to an argument over a song. Its songs were played a great deal on the radio at the time and carried the commercial side of the production. Its limit is structure; some sections run long and the comic characters break up the narrative. Who it is for: anyone curious about the history of classic animation. Who it is not for: the narrative is simple, the characters thin, and the humour has dated.