Night on Bald Mountain (1933)
Filed under:
Claire Parker,
Alexandre Alexeieff,
Night on Bald Mountain,
animation,
early animation,
black and white,
classical,
Russia
The very first pinscreen animation, "Night on Bald Mountain" is based on and set to Mussorsgky's work of the same name. It features the eerie performance of a witches' Sabbath on the top of a mountain, and the horrors wreaked on the fields below.
- from Night on Bald Mountain (1933) (1933)
- Creator: Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker
- Posted by Nicholas Sammond
- Options
Commentaries on this Media!
Night on Bald Mountain (1933)
by Nicholas SammondThe very first pinscreen animation, Night on Bald Mountain is set to Mussorsgky's work of the same name. It features an eerie play of shadows and animal forms, merging the pastoral with the terrifying monstrosity of the mountain and the witches' Sabbath that is being portrayed. The Russian fields below are shown as bombarded with stormy winds and horrors. The animation has notes of surreal and avant-garde imagery and influence.
Compare with the Disney-animated version of Mussorsgky's Night on Bald Mountain in the animated film Fantasia (1940).
Other media by this contributor
Felix Saves the Day (1922)
Heeza Liar At Bat
EP Christy Playbill
Bamboozled: Indefinite Speech
Tin Pan Alley Cats
Swooner Crooner
The Jazz Singer (1927) - Mammy
"Jefferson" - Tropic Thunder
Crowing Pains
Ko-Ko the Barber
Voodoo In Harlem
Toyland Premier
The Old Man of the Mountain (1933)
Petering Out
Mammy (1930) - Who Paid the Rent for Mrs. Rip Van Winkle?