George Pal was an incredible Animator. He worked with wooden puppets and created different key poses and expressions of his characters with carved wood. This allowed incredible flexibility in the movements of the characters. One of my favourite of his short animations is ‘La Grande Revue Philips’ in 1938. Here are a few moments of absolute genius:
Squash and stretch is a distinctive element of George Pal’s animations. Because he crafts each pose, he can hit exaggerated poses. In this shot, the female puppet struts confidently down the stairs as her dress squashes and stretched with her strutting motion. I also really like the exaggerated gesture of the shoulders.
A front view.
This little sailor that took a fancy to the beautiful female puppet, comes along next to her and begins to dance by squatting and extending from side to side. Another incredible example of Squash and Stretch! In the last panel, the woman bumps the sailor away with her hips with an extremely exaggerated pose.
In this scene, a crooner is softly singing a beautiful little tune. This may be my favourite part from the clip because his eyes are glistening as if he is tearing up from the music. Also, take notice of the range of his facial expressions. Can you believe he is made from wood?
Accompanying the magical music, an ethereal dance performance on a beautifully set stage. The movements of the dancers are graceful and endearing. Enough of my gushing, here is the actual clip. Enjoy!
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