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Picture in Your Mind (1948)

1948 · Animation · 16 min · dir. Philip Stapp

  • Animation
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Synopsis

Sent by the U.S. government as a participant in the Marshall Plan with a specific mission to assist the French in re-gearing their animation studios, Stapp discovered a Europe much-decimated by war, but in further danger of annihilation by nuclear weapons. Returning to the U.S., he produced this alarming-yet-hopeful film, replete with its lonely, Tanguy-inspired landscapes peopled with static figures casting long shadows across charcoal-colored plains. While taking the risk of leaning a bit toward didacticism, Stapp managed to urgently convey the thought that world destruction was not necessarily inevitable, provided that people embrace, rather than reject their cultural and racial differences. ‘Picture’ is a unique document resulting from the sometimes dreamy, sometimes nightmarish vision of the artist in a war-torn land, with the spectre of death hovering ever-so-slightly ahead.

Synopsis from TMDb

Details

Director
Philip Stapp
Writer
Philip Stapp
Released
1948-04-04
Running time
16 minutes
Language
English

Subjects on the Internet Archive

Cast & crew

Reviews on the Internet Archive

★★★★★ · another masterpiece · not u · 2017-12-28

as usual this ranks very high. some will pander opinions of demerit. however, the message is clear and the style is excellent. only a person confined to dark ages mentality would find the storyline appalling.

★★★ · An abstracted film about... prejudice? Kind of? · kerriganm · 2017-03-15

A film with pictures of plants and fish and abstracted pictures of trees and people and all sorts of what-nots. The text often seems abstract, too, with seeming random words thrown about. The filmmaker eventually gets around to prejudice, and the message is eventually that you oughtn't be prejudiced. So- "What can one man do?!" he asks repeated. And does not answer. In my opinion, the artist uses art (visuals and text) to obscure rather than elucidate his message. The style shown in the film was edgy and trendy at the time. Don't care for it much, myself.

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