First postwar anime movie restored.

[MonkeyFunk]

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-b...0060223b8.html

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) The Fukuoka City Public Library said Wednesday it has restored to its original length the first animated film made in Japan after World War II.

This still is from "Princess of Baghdad," the first animated film made in Japan after World War II.
A complete version of "Princess of Baghdad" had not existed for years.
The library will show the 48-minute-long movie based on the Arabian Nights on Saturday and Sunday at its theater.
A Fukuoka resident donated an almost complete version to the library in 2004. Since then, the library has worked with the National Film Center in Tokyo to restore the film to its original length.
Before the resident came forward, the only copy confirmed to exist was a 37-minute version kept at the NFC.
"It's a monumental work -- the first (Japanese-made animation film) since World War II -- but very few people know it exists. Thus this is a valuable film," a library official said. "We want as many people to enjoy it as possible."

[Go-chin]

$5 says the movie is crap and only good for nostalgic and historic value

[herbkir]

You could probably say that about many old films, animated and live action, if evaluated by today's standards.

But in a devastated Japan immediately following WWII, it would have represented a huge gamble -- that audiences would be responsive to a foreign-origin fantasy.

It also would be the animation industry's declaration that it was done with propaganda and was returning to being entertainment. (^_*)

[Ryoutarou]

$5 says the movie is crap and only good for nostalgic and historic value

As was most anime made back then, but yeah...historic value counts for a lot.

[Dark Fact]

Looks interesting. I wonder if the animation style here used is supposed to resemble Arabic art?

[ryuuseipro]

$5 says the movie is crap and only good for nostalgic and historic value

This again?

Unless you were being sarcastic, why is any early anime "crap"? I certainly don't think Toei's early animated films are "crap". Stuff like Panda and the Magic Serpent, Magic Boy, Alakazam the Great (Saiyuki), Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon (my personal fave), and many others, happen to be my most favorite anime ever! I was surprised at the unlimited Disney/Fleischer-inspired animation! Something I'd personally like to see more of (But then, those films were probably pretty costly). I wouldn't be surprised if Princess of Baghdad or anything else from the same period had that same kind of quality. The stuff up to the early 70s wasn't half-bad, either.

I'd much rather be watching, say, Animal Treasure Island than DBZ any day.

[Ryoutarou]

Why is any early anime great? It's all opinion, I've seen a lot of early anime, and yes, a lot of them were good, but a lot more were just bad.

[Sprocket]

That's a rather subjective generalization.

The same could be argued at length about most modern anime.

[ryuuseipro]

That's a rather subjective generalization.

The same could be argued at length about most modern anime.

Mmmmyeah . . . pretty much.

[Ikwig]

Why is any early anime great? It's all opinion, I've seen a lot of early anime, and yes, a lot of them were good, but a lot more were just bad.

The same thing can be said of any anime, cartoon, live-action TV show, or live-action movie (or, for that matter, any book) from any country at any period in time. Generally speaking, in any media you're gonna find an enormous quantitiy of thoughtless trash, plus some hunks of pure, intelligent, beautifully accomplished gold.

IMO, however, even the trash can become worthwhile over time, usually if one of two things occurs:

1. The anime, movie, etc. is dreadful itself, but provides some clues to the times in which it was made, making it historical gold.

OR

2. The anime, movie, etc. is so dreadful that you have to make fun of/MST3K it and it becomes camp gold (worthwhile purely for it's humor value).


Getting back to the topic at hand, I think the restoration of "Princess of Baghdad" is very exciting, not only from the historical perspective of what it can tell us about the times in which it was made, but also from the "lost treasure" perspective - it was incomplete for so many years and probably no one thought it could ever be seen as it was meant to be seen by its creators! And then some private citizen who's been sitting on an almost complete copy - perhaps not even knowing that he had it - discovers it and brings it forward to present to the world. That's practically as good as digging up some buried treasure!

(As a trained historian who digs through letters and other pieces of the past, that's the kind of excitement I live for! )

[Ryoutarou]

The same thing can be said of any anime, cartoon, live-action TV show, or live-action movie (or, for that matter, any book) from any country at any period in time. Generally speaking, in any media you're gonna find an enormous quantitiy of thoughtless trash, plus some hunks of pure, intelligent, beautifully accomplished gold.

I never said that it was otherwise now did I? It's just that a lot of people make older animation out to be better than it really is. Of course there were the gems, but there was also a lot of subpar films. I know a lot of anime today isn't good, I've never said that everything made these days was perfect, it's just that a lot of the anime I happen to like is older, and I know most of them don't have the greatest stories and I know there were better anime at the time, so I don't pretend to believe what I like is perfect. There are a lot of people though that like older anime just because it's old. I respect it for the historical value of such films because they were really the first of their age, but until I see the movie itself, I won't say it's good or not. I'm guessing it's not going to be good, because honestly, not everything animated back then was pure gold. I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but I can bet that most people that will call this a great film are going to do so based on it's age and not it's content.