Films by Jove, owners of the Russian Soyuzmultfilm Studios film library, has invested more than $3 million to digitally restore the 1,500 animated films in the collection to their original splendor. Now the company has opened a website, russiananimation.com, making this amazing library of rarely seen films available on DVD. Among the highlights: Animated Soviet Propaganda.

From 1924 to perestroika the USSR produced more than 4 dozen animated propaganda films. They weren’t for export. Their target was the new nation and their goal was to win over the hearts and minds of the Soviet people. Anti American, Anti Capitalist, Anti Fascist, some of these films are as artistically beautiful as the great political posters made after the 1917 revolution. A unique series. With a unique perspective. Includes commentary by a leading Soviet film scholar.

Also check out this collection by one of the world’s greatest animation artists: The Complete Works of Yuri Norstein. Great stuff.

Larry Loc on the ASIFA-Hollywood blog posted a bunch of photos he snapped at last night’s UPA TRIBUTE at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Two of Larry’s pix are posted above, one an image from the landmark 1945 film, BROTHERHOOD OF MAN (left), and the other of Bill Melendez and Willis Pyle (at right).I’m not very good at doing followup reports, but I’ll say I had a very good time. I was surprised at the huge crowd that turned out for the event, coinsidering the lack of publicity (outside of this website) for it. Just a couple of notes: My old friend, animator/director/teacher Howard Beckerman came in from New York. I wish I spent more time talking to him last night, my only regret; I want to thank Dave Bastian for bringing two vintage UPA posters for display (a Jolly Frolics “Ragtime Bear” one sheet and a MAGOO MERRY-GO-ROUND compilation show poster from 1953); Thanks to Mark from BOING BOING for interviewing me for an upcoming podcast – I hope I made sense. Thanks to Tee Bosustow for making this event happen – and to everyone who came out to make it quite a night. If anyone else posts a report on the screening, let us know.

The image above is a black-and-white still from one of the last non-Magoo UPA theatrical shorts, THE JAYWALKER (1956). It’s a strange film – not quite successful – but a good looking picture that introduced a new character, Milton Muffet, who tried to endear audiences with his pedestrian (pun intended) humor about his jaywalking obsession. Bobe Cannon directed the film, the last of a small set of adult social comedies (which included the superior FUDGET’S BUDGET and CHRISTOPHER CRUMPET) which really defined UPA’s contemporary attitude (moreso than the popular Mr. Magoo cartoons that UPA is best known for).FUDGET’S BUDGET (1954) is one of the UPA classics that isn’t shown much these days, but if you’re in LA tonight you have a rare chance to see it on the big screen and meet some of the members of UPA’s legendary crew. 6:00 pm at the Egyptian Theatre. See you there.

After posts about Disney’s forays into VD prevention and gonorrhea drugs, I’d be remiss to not post Disney’s 1946 film THE STORY OF MENSTRUATION. The film is available on YouTube, something that was kindly pointed out on We-Make-Money-Not-Art.com. While not exactly a classic piece of animation, its kitsch value is unsurpassed.

UPDATE: Disney historian Jim Korkis wrote in with some interesting info about STORY OF MENSTRUATION. Here’s what he says:

Disney’s “The Story of Menstruation” was originally delivered to the International Cellu-Cotton Company on October 18, 1946. It has been estimated that the film has been seen by approximately ninety-three million American women. Neither sexuality nor reproduction is mentioned in this influential film, and an emphasis on sanitation makes it a more a hygienic crisis rather than a maturational event.

In fact the entire film is very quiet, subtle, formal and clinical. “Menstruation is just one routine step in a normal and natural cycle that is going on continuously in the body,” soothes the narrator while she reminds us that there is an accompanying free book available in case the information supplied by this film is so overwhelming that a viewer isn’t able to retain it all.

That booklet was entitled “Very Personally Yours” and was filled with promotional material for Kotex brand feminine products and included Disney artwork from this educational short. The 1947 edition has a cover that features a somewhat sophisticated female hand holding an engraved card that says “Very Personally Yours” with no hint what the contents might be. My copy (thanks to eBay) is approximately 5 by 7 inches, small enough to slip into a purse, with twenty pages of text. In the side margins are drawings from the film but interestingly, there is no Disney copyright in evidence anywhere in the book. The final text pages are very directly aimed at promoting a variety of Kotex products for feminine hygiene. Since the Disney film was run for at least two decades after its creation, the booklet was updated over the years and I don’t know how much of the Disney artwork remained in later editions.

Ray Pointer just informed us that film director, Richard Fleischer, son of animation pioneer, Max Fleischer, passed away in his sleep last evening. He was 89. Mr. Fleischer, who had just released his teling of his father’s career in OUT OF THE INKWELL: MAX FLEISCHER AND THE ANIMATION REVOLUTION, in June had been in failing health for the better part of a year. He leaves behind a most impressive body of work in films including 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, BARABBAS, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, DR. DOOLITTLE, TORA, TORA, TORA, SOYLENT GREEN, THE JAZZ SINGER (with Neal Diamond), CONAN THE DESTROYER, and RED SONJA.

Everyone is getting into the anime act. Anime is cool among the kids and teens (thus its presence on Kids WB, Cartoon Network, Toon Disney, Nicktoons, etc.), sci fi fans (Sci-Fi Channel), tech nerds (G4TV), and classic film geeks (TCM). I half-expect to see an anime series start appearing on The Weather Channel soon.Starting April 1st, The Indepedent Film Channel will begin running Akira Kurosawa’s SAMURAI 7 (do you think it was the name “Akira” or “Kurosawa” that attracted them to pick up the show?). To help promote this series, filmmaker Dan Persons has created several “Anime in the USA” mini-documentaries (3 minutes each) for the IFC website. Animation director Kevin Alteri (BATMAN: TAS), producer Frank Gladstone (IDT), anime historian Fred Patten and yours truly (that’s my talking head in the frame grab above) participated with our comments and observations. You have to work a bit to find these mini-films, but here are the directions:Go to IFC.com (or, if for some reason you have trouble bringing that page up, try ifc.com/news); and click on “UNCUT ON DEMAND” at the top of the page. Once the viewer pops up, click on pause to stop the startlingly loud promo clip, click on “SERIES” on the right, then click on “SAMURAI 7.” The two episodes of “Anime In The USA” should be at the very top of the list.

I didn’t think there was any way to top today’s post about Disney’s venereal disease film.Alex Kirwan, art director of MY LIFE AS A TEENAGE ROBOT, proved me wrong, by sending over this hilarious 1944 LOOK magazine ad wherein Mickey Mouse fights gonorrhea by experimenting on other mice, and then ends up taking the gonorrhea drug himself. It looks like there’s a second page to the ad, based on the numbering, but you’ll get the idea. Fridays just don’t get any better than this folks.

(click on image for larger version)

I used to think the most bizarre Disney film was THE STORY OF MENSTRUATION. That was, until I saw VD ATTACK PLAN (1973), an educational short about that most Disney of subjects: venereal diseases. The film was directed by Nine Old Man, Les Clark, and animated by Charlie Downs, who manages to create some really interesting movement for a main character who has no arms or legs. Here’s a short article about the film. And you can watch the film below, in its entirety, courtesy of Google Video:

(Thanks, Benjamin Plouffe)