Interview with Roger Allers, Disney's The Little Match Girl

Not sure if you’ve seen this interview, but I thought I’d mention it.



http://animated-views.com/2007/director-roger-allers-on-the-little-matchgirl/





It’s an interview with Roger Allers, the director of The Little Match Girl.









“For an example of Allers’ writing ability, one should look no further than such projects as Animalympics (1980), Oliver & Company (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992) and The Emperor’s New Groove (2000).



For his directorial debut, Allers co-directed The Lion King (1994) with Rob Minkoff. In 2006, he offered audiences two projects: The Little Matchgirl and Open Season.”



The Little Matchgirl:









The Little Matchgirl was nominated for an Oscar in 2006.



Ironically, The Little Match Girl was also nominated for the same Oscar in 1937. That version was done Charles Mintz’s Screen Gems. Charles Mintz is best known as the man who stole Oswald from Disney. Also, ironically, Mintz got beat out by Disney that year (The Old Mill). The Old Mill was in Disney’s Silly Symphony series. The Little Match Girl was in Mintz’s Color Rhapsodies series, which was a clone of Disney’s successful series. Mintz copied Disney every step of the way with Oswald (stole it then used it to copy Mickey Mouse), Color Rhapsodies (copied Silly Symphony), and Krazy Kat (which he turned from the comic strip into basically Mickey Mouse; he made Krazy Kat and friends look exactly like Mickey, he removed Ignatz, and he added a Minnie-like companion).





Movie time (remember, work comes first!!!)



Disney’s The Little Matchgirl - 2006:





Mintz’s The Little Match Girl - 1937:





The Old Mill - 1937 (it picks up at 5:50):





Krazy Kat in Rodeo Dough - 1931:





Of course, to be fair, everybody copied Disney at that time. Silly Symphony clones included Happy Harmonies, Loony Tunes, Merry Melodies, Color Rhapsodies, and ComiColor Cartoons (the latter is from Ub).



Enjoy!

- TAE