Mask of the Red Death (1969 film)

Mask of the Red Death (Croatian: Maska crvene smrti) is a 1969 animated short film by Pavao Štalter (also main animator and main artist) and Branko Ranitović for Zagreb Film. It is an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death.

Mask of the Red death
Maska crvene smrti
Poster
Directed byPavao Štalter, Branko Ranitović
Written byEdgar Allan Poe (original story), Branko Ranitović, Zdenko Gašparović
Music byBranimir Sakač, Arsen Dedić
CinematographyFranco Zambelli, Zlatko Sačer
Production
company
Release date
  • 1969 (1969)
Running time
10 minutes
CountrySFR Yugoslavia
Languagenone

Development

The short film is notable for its use of texturized animation, which is difficult to execute convincingly. The authors themselves describe it as a mix of collage technique and "animated paintings".[1] The movie was two years in production.[2]

Reception

Film critic and historian Giannalberto Bendazzi cited it as an example of a movie which would make people genuinely afraid. He praised the painting abilities of Štalter and described the movie as the one which invokes both admiration and disturbance.[3] Some cite it as a potential influence for Terry Gilliam's Monty Python and the Holy Grail, specifically the plague ridden landscape.[4] Film critic Ralph Stephenson described it as "perhaps the most impressive translation of Poe's ghostly world into the cartoon medium".[5]

Due to its innovations in the use of background by mixing painting textures, collage and drawings,[6] it was included in the anthology Art in Movement.[7] It is regarded as among 10 best Croatian animated short films by Croatian film critics.[8]

References
  1. Art in Movement: New Directions in John Halas, Roger Manvell, Hastings House, 1970, pp. 176
  2. Journal of the University Film Association University Film Association, 1970, pp. 48; "and animator Pavlao Stalter , whose masterpiece Masque of the Red Death was two years in production , attended the Chicago fete and then began a film screening – lecture tour of various American universities."
  3. Adaptation for Animation: Transforming Literature Frame by Frame, By Hannes Ral
  4. A Book about the Film Monty Python and the Holy Grail: All the References ..., By Darl Larsen, pp. 77
  5. The Animated Film, Ralph Stephenson, Tantivy Press, 1973
  6. David Sohn's Film Notes on Selected Short Films, David A. Sohn, Pflaum, 1975, pp. 65
  7. https://www.matica.hr/vijenac/672/ideja-drustvenog-i-tehnoloskog-napretka-29761/
  8. https://www.culturenet.hr/print.aspx?id=101181
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