Vincent
Before Tim Burton became the director of the bizarre and the absurd he was but a lonely misfit animator working at the Walt Disney Studios during its Dark Ages. Throughout the 1970’s and into the early 80’s Disney was deep in the depths of their own black hole as the company was still struggling to remain relevant in society following Uncle Walt’s death. However, there were still some fresh suits within the upper ranks of the company who were trying to break free of the management’s religiosity to their outdated creative thinking. The few people who acknowledged this artistic cancer actually encouraged the studio’s incoming young artists like Burton to go out of the box to produce their own creative driven films. This was how his first film, “Vincent” (1982), came into being. The black and white short film includes all of the trademarks that we have come to associate with him. The autobiographical storyline includes his fascination with the macabre and the surreal. The sets and props are very indicative of his gothic artistic style. The animator’s form of expressing the story showcases his passion for the art of stop motion animation. The cinematography for the picture is representative of the German Expressionism and Film Noir in cinema. But perhaps the most personal attribute of all the traits the film carried was the inclusion of Vincent Price as the narrator. Burton had long admired Price while growing up and he was able to have the actor perform the entire narration for the film. The film itself contained references to some of Price's most famous roles, such as the "The House of Wax" (1953) and "The Raven" (1963).
But alas, old habits die hard. In spite of the creative suits’ support the upper management did not know what to think of the film. They viewed it as the antithesis of the Disney style. But the suits never realized that the film’s artistic and creative individualism were in the tradition of the studio’s animation legacy. Burton's film can be seen alongside the works of other individual artistic talents at the studio such as the modernist Mary Blair, the cartoony Ward Kimball, and the graphic Eyvind Earle to name a few. Following its very limited release in several cities the studio cleaned their "filthy and dirty hands" of the film by dumping the picture into their Vault of the Dammed...
