Erzsi Lendvai:

Animated cartoons in Hungary


Water-spider, Wonder-spider

(Szabolcs Szabó, József Haui, 1982)
161 Kbyte
Animated cartoons have a special place in the art of film. The concise definition in the explanatory dictionary of the term reads as follows: "cartoon is the common term used for puppet films and silhouette films, in which the filmmakers use diverse technical procedures for animation". There is an infinite variety of alternatives technically available as the use of diverse special effects is the copycat reflection of the filmmaker's most surreal ideas come true.

Animation to cartoon, cartoon to animation

All human endeavour to create a real-life depiction of movement as such has been a historical fact for quite a long time. As early as prehistoric times, artists kept a watchful eye on the details of movement, trying to grasp its characteristics. On the wall of a cave in Altamira in today's Spain, the prehistoric artist depicted a deer on the run, also showing the silhouette of the deer's legs while they assumed a different position in the course of the movement - reads a study by Gyula Macskássy, an analysis of movement from the 1960s. Artists in Ancient Egypt transformed the gesture of greeting into a piece of art through images of gods in a sequence of postures between the temple columns. The same pattern can be seen on the walls of the Pharaohs' temples and burial vaults or on ornamented Grecian urns. Capturing the movement in a cartoon is a similar process, the difference being that animation is a technique whereby the cartoon or a depicted object is actually animated. It is possible to bring life to a vision or an object of any kind, but the implementation of technical options available is dependent on a particular system of recording, development and projection, as it is this particular system of technical facilities that can breathe life into lines, patches, figures and objects alike.

Rather than providing a list of those experimenting with the new technique in the early years of animation, let us just mention professor István Simándi of Sárospatak, who assembled and used his own projector for educational purposes as early as 1709; a machine that aimed to bring about the same animation effect as transparencies do today. It was Émile Reynaud who first came up with something similar to today's animated cartoons. During the 1880s, he created his own hand-made drawings and paintings on celluloid material, a method which he eventually had patented in 1877 and showed by projection via his Praxinoscope that had been turned into a more sophisticated piece of equipment. It was in 1892 that the professor had his audience in Paris dazzled /A glass of beer/Un Bon Bock 1889, Around a cabin, 1894/. The artistic aspirations of Reynaud, whose life ended in a tragedy, were followed a good ten years later by those of director Stuart James Blackton, an Englishman who was working in the USA in those years, making the first animated cartoon in 1906 /Humorous Phases of a Funny Face/. In 1909, he was followed by W. Mac Cay who had directed the film entitled Gertie the Dinosaur. In Europe, it was Émile Cohl, a Frenchman, who had carried out experiments of his own with forms before making his first famous film in 1908, entitled Fantasmagorie. Another man of incentives was a Russian immigrant, Wladislaw Starevicz, who lived in France at the time, and Lotte Reiniger, a German, who was experimenting with the silhouette technique. From the era of pioneers, the works of Max and Dave Fleisher, two Austrians, had also become known for the public; works such as Coco clown, Out of the Inkwell, and, from 1926 onwards, Popeye. As for the 1920s, the works of two Americans, Ub Iwerks and Paul Terry worth mentioning. Walt Disney, the Pontifex Maximus of film-making, embarked on his career in 1923, creating not only a new style, but also making a huge effort at grassroots level for the large-scale production of animated cartoons. In the span of 25 years, 657 animated cartoons were produced in his studio, every one of them was a success all over the world. The likes of Mickey Mouse Pluto Hound or Donald Duck became starts in the world of cartoon and were soon looked upon as classics of the genre. The production of long cartoons such as Snow White and Pinoccio marked the peak of his professional career. His artistic style stamped its authority on the works of almost every representative of the genre with only very few artists being left unaffected by it. By increasing the number of sequenced drawings and by using particular special effects, attempts were made to reflect reality as much as possible. It was as late as the post-war years that the development of the art of cartoon-making got off the Disney track. The new artistic trend focused on the caricature-like simplification of things and also on the approach of abstraction rather than the photography style depiction of reality.

"The early years of animated films in Hungary"

The beginning of the art of animation in Hungary falls on a period when the masterminds of world-class animation were already beginning to turn out works tailored to their individual taste.

In Hungary, it was graphic artist István Kató Kiszly, the creator of weekly cartoon news bulletins, who was first involved in the making of animated cartoons in 1914. Following the production of some minor works, he turned his attention to the field of pedagogy as a result of the lack of support for his interest in cartoons. The first cartoons that were preserved are the caricatures of Marcell Vértes, made in 1918 for the evening news bulletin entitled "Evening". However, it was as late as the 1930s that the production on a large scale of animated cartoons in Hungary was initiated. Sándor Bortnyik, a former immigrant painter, who had in the meantime returned to Hungary, opened up a school for the art of promotion in 1928; this is where Gyula Macskássy, a young graphic artist, befriended János Halász. In 1932 they founded their own studio. Soon they were joined by Félix Kassowitz, who was later to become a well-know caricaturist, and Ernõ Szénássy, while Gusztáv Ilosvay, who was specialised in music, became another member of the team. Up to 1945, approximately 150 promotional cartoons were made in the Macskássy studio through the use of diverse animation techniques. Many of them are veritable little pieces of art with a full story each, and could well be credited for their values as individual cartoons, were the accompanying promotional texts to be removed. One such miniature piece of art is a promotional film made with the object-motion technique is, for example, one entitled Family coffee substitute, in which "Coffee Pot and Family Coffee Substitute swear eternal fidelity to each other", or Evening to Morning, a mixed-technique animated cartoon, one of the promotional variants made for Darmol, a purgative , Invisible visitor, another animated cartoon, or Zeus in cognito, a witty wisecrack of a film. The list includes films like The hilarious shoemaker's boy promoting Schmoll, a shoe paste, Lucky Jim promoting Unicum, bulbs that are initially pallid, then poorly-lit, finally glowing in a film entitled Glowing Love promoting Tungsram etc...Macskássy did not give up making promotional films in later years, when film-making was nationalised, and a few of his charismatic films marked a kind of transition between promotion and entertainment. Films like The mouse and the lion, an educational film promoting the brushing of teeth, Where's that cat? promoting the healthy habit of drinking milk /Drink milk!/ or the story of Uhuka, the little owl who spent the whole day watching telly.

Talking about the beginnings: The art of animated cartoons was initially an applied art. "This, in itself, cannot be viewed as something unusual or extraordinary as it turned out to be a commendable effort serving the purposes of a good cause. The trouble started when artistic aspirations and skills were ripe to reach out for more ambitious objectives, but were confined by the circumstances, making their application nation-wide impossible, writes György Matolcsy in one of his sketches on the history of film. This is why the young talents of the art of animated cartoon in the 1930s ended up as artists living and working outside Hungary, with the exception of Gyula Macskássy and a few of his colleagues, trying to find support in their artistic effort".

János Halász settled down in London and in 1936 he and his wife, Joy Bachelor founded what later became his world famous studio of animated cartoons, Halas and Bachelor. György Marczincsák alias George Pal worked in Holland between 1934 and 39 on behalf of Philips - it was him who laid the foundations of the film art using the technique of animation in Holland. This is where he made the spectacular Philips-cavalcade, the Sleeping Beauty and other animation films that had aimed to produce an effect of indirect promotion. In 1940, he moved to Hollywood. He worked for Paramount and is a winner of several Oscars. The list is far from being complete as apart from those already mentioned, it is common knowledge that among those who were there at the beginning of the Hungarian art of animated films, several talented Hungarians became world-famous, the likes of Jean Image alias Jenõ Hajdú, or Victor Vasarely alias Gyõzõ Vásárhelyi.

In Hungary, István Valker, István Balogh, Viktor Kálmán and Félix Kassowitz carried on with their artistic experiences. István Valker, with only a handful of films left for the generations to come, had to face a difficult situation by taking upon himself the task of going his own way of free artistic thinking. He made films using a combination of techniques /featuring drawing and actor together/ upon order by a stocking-maker in Temesvár, who wished to have his daughter, Ági Polly, act in the film, for whom he had the career of an actress in mind. Valker invented different stories presented through animated cartoons in juxtaposition with the character of the little girl, who was to sing and dance in the films /Russian dream, Dance of Tyrol, Step-dance/, but the technical shortcomings of the effort constantly backfired: live acting and animation could not be reconciled . Valker had no knowledge of the experience abroad of this combined technique, therefore he himself had to experiment with the details of the process he was going to use. In l938 he embarked on another venture, another film of promotion entitled A Vagabond's luck, but, given the harsh circumstances, it was not until 1943 that he finished it. Also in 1943, he completed another film entitled The miller, the miller's son and the donkey. Valker's films are easy to recognise by the special style of the drawings and the unique animation technique applied in those films. One of the very few surviving efforts is LászlóTubay's Small axe, an animated film made in 1940, where the rather primitive filming techniques are also paramount.

An overview of this first period of animated cartoons in Hungary was a summary completed by Pannónia Film Studios and the Hungarian Film Institute jointly in 1984, entitled The Beginnings of Hungarian Animated Cartoons.

The question has already been asked why no serious piece of art in the world of cartoons came out of pre-war Hungary, the country where, perhaps, most talents were born. A worrying author of an article in the July 1942 issue of Hungarian Film, a periodical, pinpointed two reasons. "Because Hungarian cinemas never covered the costs of even one fourth of a costly cartoon, working for the domestic market was, therefore, impossible. At the same time, given the influx to the European market of American cartoons, one could not so much as to think of exporting Hungarian films." The war embargo changed things in this respect, though, causing independent cartoon ventures to appear in some parts of Europe. In Hungary it was not until the nationalisation of the film industry that the ice was eventually broken after the Second World War, but even so, for almost a decade, the annual output in cartoons meant one film being made in the space of one or two years. Gyula Macskássy and his small team has to be given credit for the amount of work done to resuscitate Hungarian animated cartoons after all. Moon-Serenade /by István Bessenyei, 1946/, Shepherd's Riding a Donkey /by Zoltán Olcsai Kiss, 1948/, Vitamin ABC /by Olcsai, 1950/ were followed in 1951 by the first coloured animated cartoon, entitled The Little Cock's Diamond Halfpenny, a film made jointly by Gyula Macskássy and Edit Fekete. The creation of the film goes back to 1941. Under the leadership of Álmos Jaschik, a team under private sponsorship, including Félix Kassowitz and István Valker, started to work on the original tale under the title Diamond penny, but by the time several thousand drawing sequences were ready, it turned out that the technical facilities available were not adequate to fulfil the requirements of a film of this class. Almost a decade elapsed by the time Macskássy and his team managed to knock The Little Cock.. into shape, but eventually the work was finished. According to a writing by Sándor Féjja on the history of film, /I'll be eight tomorrow, l994/ "The Little Cock put a different complexion on the face of the genre after all. The makers of the film had realised that one special effect that comes in handy in the case of an animated cartoon is the depiction of the impossible. Depicting it is an important ingredient of The Little Cock, too....although the manner of depiction is that of reality. What we actually see is how we would be able to see it, were it possible for it to happen." Today, this piece of film art, which is already part of film history, is among the precious deposits held with the Hungarian Film Institute, just like Gyula Macskássy's pre-war promotional fractions of films originally prepared on a nitro-based material and later updated and preserved on modern, safety material.

The Little Cock marked the beginning of the first phase in the history of animated cartoons in Hungary, an era of the first generation of filmmakers and of Hungarian film-making, which was becoming less and less volatile with the emergence of productions such as Sport Competition in the Forest by Gyula Macskássy, 1952, A Puppy's Strict Obligation by Gyula Macskássy and Edit Fekete, 1953, Two Peppercorn Steers by Gyula Macskássy, 1955, The Mouse and the Lion /already mentioned in connection with Macskássy/ or The Greedy Bee also by Gyula Macskássy, 1958, all of them remarkable and ambitious artistic achievements. Meanwhile, the national output of Hungarian animated cartoons increased to three between 1957 and 1960, with the exception of 1959, when two films were made. Pencil and rubber /1960/ and the Duel /1960/ two internationally acclaimed films by Macskássy and their awards did manage to turn international attention to Hungarian cartoon-making.

Those were the years...the 1960s and 70s

Between 1950 and 60, short films were only made for the entertainment of children, not counting films of promotion. A ubiquitous characteristic of those films is their roots in the world of folk tales and morality. In the 1960s, films underwent some real change both in subject and form, followed by an era of veritable new wave in the making of animated cartoons. A new era, already down in the history books as the early years in the adulthood of Hungarian animated cartoons, was ushered in by a new generation of filmmakers who followed in the footsteps of Macskássy and his colleagues, young talents like József Nepp, Attila Dargay, Tibor Csermák, Gábor Kovásznai, József Gémes, Szabolcs Szabó, György Várnai, Marcell Jankovics, Péter Szoboszlay, Zsolt Richly, Sándor Reisenbüchler, Béla Vajda, Tamás Szabó Sipos, János Mata, and also Ottó Foky and István Imre, the latter two being representatives of puppet animation. By then, what the art of animated cartoon was after was something not being part of anyone's wildest dreams before, a passport to a different dimension, i.e. the ontological problems of the human race examined in a very conscientious and philosophical manner. The mainstream character of the genre changed with intellectualism being the foundation of animated cartoons in Hungary. This change of character was marked by Duel, and Pencil and rubber, films that were raising questions for the genre itself, but the real milestone was József Nepp's Passion, a miniature from 1961, which broke with the tradition of folk tales. From that moment onwards a new approach, the stories of today, was here to stay in the form of caricature addressing the problems of the day. Using caricature was an attitude in which the characteristics of the genre were functioning as question marks over problems of an ethical, socio-psychological and economic nature. Thanks to this trend, animated cartoons in Hungary became a reliable documentation of the period in question during the 1960s and the early 1970s. A vision with a close-up on existing social reality and the criticism of the everyday life of the individual were most successfully expressed in the absurd, morbid or black humour sort of attitude of the genre. The list includes pieces such as Murder for five minutes, /1966, by József Nepp/, Ten Dekagrams of Immortality /1966, by Gyula Macskássy -György Várnai/, Concertissimo /1968, by József Gémes /, A Ceremonial Opening of a Bridge, /1969, by Marcell Jankovics/, Self-Destroyer /1970, by Gyula Macskássy/, Funeral /1970, by József Gémes/ etc. Films such as Sun and Moon Carried off /1968, by Sándor Reisenbüchler/ did add, by their poetic undertone, to the further sophistication of the manner in which the genre could express itself, and the strengthening of the aesthetic aspects along with the values of graphics and of the art of painting in the Kovásznai's Monologue /1963/, Metamorphoses /1964/ and Hamlet /1967/, was yet another factor to be borne in mind. A more concise way of character-forming was becoming an increasingly effective style in this branch of the art of depiction, while a vision of adulthood seemed to assert itself more firmly. "The multi-dimensional problems of mankind were put into words and images, reaching artistic heights, where quality and the feel of the essential was often rather superior to that of expensive feature films based on professional acting. In those days, the masters of animation got their minds off simple little stories; their vision was, instead, directed at real thoughts, miracles, spiritual secrets that they eventually screened." -these are the words of Sándor Reisenbüchler, reflecting on those years of change in artistic approach.

The artistic spirit that stamped its authority on the works of the 1960s continued to make headway in works of an "unusual" nature during the 1970s. Anxiety and fear of persecution are the ingredients of Péter Szoboszlay's Hey, You /1976/. At the same time, films like Good-Deeds by Béla Vajda, 1973, The Line Is Engaged by Marcell Jankovics, 1971, Scenes with Beans by Ottó Foky, 1975 are also in this class. Also ahead of the pack are Sándor Reisenbüchler's films of aesthetics and philosophy: The year 1812 /1972/, Moon-Flight /1975/, Panic /1978/, Fight by Marcell Jankovics, 1977 or Ca ira /It will work/ a painting-cartoon by György Kovásznai, 1973. Among representatives of the younger generation, a new style was in the making. The ultimate condensity of the subject matter, along with the world of grotesque and philosophy, features that had represented the last phase of Macskássy's career, lingered on in the films of Nepp, Dargay, Szoboszlay, Jankovics and Vajda, functioning as a legacy for the younger generation; some of their films are indicative of this relationship: The Big Blow-Out by Ferenc Varsányi, 1976, Changing Times by István Kovács, 1977, Rondino by Csaba Szórády , 1977, Fair play by Pál Varga Géza, 1978. At the same time, while artists of the older generation focused their attention mostly on topics of an ethical nature with possible alternatives of human conduct, the younger generation concentrated on the general mood during that period, devoting less time and energy to the individual. There was a tendency for the appearance of unusual techniques and experiments. Children's animation was quite a bit of a novelty, a genre that emerged in the works of Kati Macskássy, Gyula Macskássy's daughter, films such as Push Button /1973/, I Think Life's Great Fun /1976/ and also in Graffiti by Ferenc Varsányi, 1977.

At the peak

Animation film-making, "reaching an advanced level of socialisation" was at its best in 1980. Not only in terms of the number of films produced. It was acclaimed both internationally and domestically alike, through several awards. Top of the chart was Ferenc Rofusz's 1981 Oscar, awarded for his film entitled The Fly. Rofusz is a member of the 3rd generation of artists. His film is the encounter of technical bravura and a classical attitude in philosophical thinking. Apparently, many young talents, quite a few of them endowed with an affinity for experiments, tried to catch up with the previous generation of artists. Ferenc Varsányi, Miklós Kaim, István Kovács, Elek Lisziák, Zsolt Richly, Kati Macskássy, Béla Ternovszky, Tibor Hernádi, László Ujváry, Ferenc Cakó, László Hegyi Füstös, Csaba Varga, Ágnes Pásztor, Mária Horváth, István Orosz, Ágnes Pásztor and Ferenc Rofusz are among them. As a result of their work, a further differentiation, spiritual sophistication and thoroughness could be associated with the short animated cartoons of the 1980s with, of course, some overlaps in different categories of subject matter and form. The grotesquely ironic and morbid artistic approach survived in films like Motorture by Ferenc Cakó, 1982, Mad Rubber Dog by Miklós Kaim, 1982, Scones by Gyula Nagy, 1984, The Luncheon by Csaba Varga, 1980, and films featuring Augusta, a rubber lady who had made her debut in The Luncheon. In what is known as the artistic group, fascinating pieces of art performed bravura style were also produced, films such as Miracles of the Night by Mária Horváth /1982/, The Wind by Csaba Varga /1985/, Farewell Little Island by Sándor Reisenbüchler /1987/, films with a message for the everyday life of both the individual and the public, the likes of Performance and Success by Béla Vajda /1982/, Statistical Pocketfilm by László Hegyi Füstös, /1982/, Reportrait by Kovásznai-Lisziák, /1982/, Ah, America! by István Orosz, /1984/, and those with a good deal of wit and irony (with either an optimistic or pessimistic outlook) and belonging in the group of philosophical pieces, such as The Fly, this desperate, now world famous attempt at liberty, Moto perpetuo by Béla Vajda /1980/ and Mária Horváth's Doors, films which have also received several awards. Talking about doors, there are some other award-winners such as Door 1 by Béla Weisz /1987/ and Door 3 by Zoltán Szilágyi Varga, /1989/, Ad astra by Ferenc Cakó, /1982/, Gravitation by Ferenc Rofusz /1984/, all of them being acclaimed as little masterpieces. As a result of revolutionary trends taking shape in the world of technology, along with a great many attempts at creating new forms of expression, the scope of experimental films widened. Innovative attempts of this sort are marked by films like Sixth or Seventh... by Attila Csáji, /1983/, a laser animation, Rhapsody in blue Jeans by Annamária Zoltán /1983/, a textile animation, Finger Wave by Gyula Nagy /1986/, music-driven animation of human fingers, Ab ovo by Ferenc Cakó /1987/, made by sand- animation technique, Ad rem /1989/, a plastiline and coal powder-animated film, Labirythm by Jánvári /1989/, a computer-controlled sequence motion film. The future of Hungarian animated cartoons depends on the manner and extent to which state-of-the-art technology will replace the spirit of film-making itself.

Film series

The emergence of the film series during the 1960s was paramount - first in the cinema, later on television. Arthur, a film series commissioned by the Americans in Pannónia Film Studios in 1961, was an incentive for Macskássy and Várnai to produce a Hungarian film series. This is how the "Peti" series was made in 1962 in the wake of a film entitled Peti and the Robot, Peti being a new, modern character of a child besides the only legendary character of that class during the years between 1950 and 1960, Gergõ, who featured in Two Peppercorn Steers. The subject of the Peti series was the typical-kid-of-today-versus-modern-technology kind of story, summing up the existing system of aesthetic norms in the character of Peti himself. At the same time, the first famous adult Hungarian cartoon character developed from József Nepp's Passion in 1964. Gustav, the epitomy of human anomalies and intricate relationships, remained popular for long years and survived several series, while new series were also launched, films like the short-lived Marci in the Jungle or The Magic Snake -- the latter by Ottó Foky, or Vili and Bütyök, and a series for adult entertainment by Macskássy and Várnai entitled Man and Human, the episodes of which are linked by a peculiar outlook on the world.

From 1968 onwards, the year when the production of animated cartoons became palatable for the management of Hungarian Television, an era of veritable renaissance was in the making in terms of animated cartoon film series, having gained the required financial support for the making of such films, and the trend, one might say, has not ceased to exist to this day. The policy of openness first manifested in the production of the funny adventures of the Mézga family, featuring in the film series entitled Messages from the Future, which was meant mainly for the entertainment of children and, to some extent, also for adult viewers, and in Tamás Szabó Sipos's Let me explain the future, an animated cartoon series, which was more directly involved in the world of realities, a film in which Dr. Brain set out to make intelligible some of the basic terminology of economics in a half-jovial, half-ironic manner. The Let me explain...films proved to be long-lived on account of their involvement in the problems of the day. Film series, it seems, managed to win favours with television, producing an army of stars from diverse series like Tails the Cat-Chaser, Kukori and Kotkoda, Mirr-Murr the Tom-Cat, Elek Mekk - Jack-of-All-Trades, doctor Bubó /featuring in Next, please /, Mikrobi, Square-eared Rabbit, the inhabitants of Crow Hill /featuring in Tales from Crow Hill/. In 1978, Marcell Jankovics launched a new series meant equally for adult entertainment, entitled Hungarian Folk Tales, which also added to the couleur locale of Hungarian cartoon-making on a national scale. During the late 1970s and in the 1980s, several long-film versions of individual serials were produced for cinematic purposes, films like Water-spider, Wonder-spider by Szabolcs Szabó and József Haui, The Adventures of Sam the Squirrel by Ottó Foky, Vuk by Attila Dargay, Leo and Fred by Pál Tóth, Matthias, lover of justice by László Ujváry Jr. As for the technology applied in the making of films, these series and serials were made under the auspices of experiment, using a variety of techniques: Tales of Vases by Sándor Békési --mixed technology, Augusta by Csaba Varga --Plasticine, Zénó by Ferenc Cakó -- Plasticine, The Wardrobe's tales by Csaba Varga -- cartoon series made with an object-sequencing technique but still popular as ever. The most popular series and serials from the 1980s are as follows: Tales of Pom Pom by Attila Dargay, Never Mind Toby by Ferenc Cakó, Tales about King Matthias by László Ujváry Jr., The Grrreat Angler by Attila Dargay, Hungarian Historical Legends by Marcell Jankovics, Fables by Zsolt Richly, Animalia by Tibor Hernádi, Tinti's adventures by Líviusz Gyulai, Adventures of Fanny the Elephant by Líviusz Gyulai, Trombi and the fiery imp by Tamás Baksa, Droplet by Ferenc Varsányi, Curious Fáncsi by Zsolt Richly, while the series entitled Hungarian Folk Tales also continued, along with Tails, The Warm-makers of Crow Hill, Next, please, etc.

Cartoons of a different order

For a very long time, long animated cartoons were not produced in Hungary. According to Pannonia Film Studio statistics, only 26 long animated cartoons had been made world-wide until 1954. By 1972, the number of productions was still short of 50. Cartoonists in Hungary had asserted themselves in short animated cartoons, displaying considerable talent in the making of this category of films, but the time of the long film was still to come, given the lack of demand and opportunity, although a screenplay was completed in 1970 of a film entitled Gustav's boat, an animated cartoon that was to have lasted for over 60 minutes. It was in 1973 that the "long pregnancy" ended with the release of Johnny Corncob, a film by Marcell Jankovics, which marked the beginning of a new era in the history of the Hungarian animated cartoons i. e. that of long cartoons. As Attila Dargay put it "it was like the discovery of America or the success of nuclear experiments, the opening up of an entirely new world. To make an evening-long film was high-class stuff in the art of cartoon-making". By the end of the 1970s, three other long cartoons were produced: Hugo, the Hippopotamus, /1973/ by Bill Feigenbaum and József Gémes, commissioned by the American Fabergé Brut, Matty the Gooseboy, /1976/ by Attila Dargay, and Foam Bath /1979/, an avant-garde film musical by György Kovásznai. Our directors of animated cartoons having ventured out into the danger zone, the "battle for supreme forms" was won, and long animated cartoons gradually proved themselves as well-mannered adolescents who can, if necessary, behave like adults. While the dramaturgy of a short cartoon calls for rapid tempo, resorting to punchlines most of the time, the rhythm and movement of long cartoons is of a slower type, using recurring figures, scenes and voices. Here, the function and message of punchlines also changes to allow for the kind of behaviour that qualifies action in the film. From 1980 to today, long films have been produced in both the experimenting category /The Son of the White Horse by Marcell Jankovics, 1980, Heroic Times by József Gémes, 1982, No-White by József Nepp, 1983/, and in the traditional category of entertainment alike /The Adventures of Sam the Squirrel by Ottó Foky, 1982, Saffi by Attila Dargay, 1984, Cat City by Béla Ternovszky, 198/. From the mid-1980s /1986/ the production of long films has been at the top of Pannónia Film Studios' agenda, too, and in 1991 the 25th animated cartoon entitled The Princess and the Goblin by József Gémes was produced .

Transformations

Until the late 1980s, the production of animated cartoons was financed by the government. Artistic forces were joined by Pannónia Film Studios, which was known internationally as one of the five major cartoon studios world-wide at the end of 1970s and the beginning of 1980s, the other four being Walt Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Soiuzmultfilm and the Japanese Toei.

This was a huge step forward, especially in the light of the history in Hungary of the cartoon, which was, during the war years and also in the early post-war period, an almost defunct form of art. In the pre-war period, cartoons were made in private workshops, and after 1945 the venue of cartoon-making was the Newsreel and Documentary Studios, where Gyula Macskássy and some of his colleagues teamed up to form the Cartoon and Puppet Department. This is where the Little Cock...was also produced. The end of 1953 also marked the end of what is known as the early years of cartoon-making, and the commendable early achievements of the artistic effort were continued in the Hungarian Studios of Synchronised Films. 1955 was a year of financial difficulties and redundancies facing what was by then a team of 60-75 staff, delaying the formation of the independent Pannónia Film Studios, which eventually went operational in 1959, becoming, through the ups and downs of its history, the centre of the production of animated cartoons in Hungary. What was characteristic of Pannónia-produced films was the coexistence of artists with different visions rather than ones with some uniform national artistic style. During the 1970s, the studios were also supportive of this artistic approach, providing special profiles, independent planning and internal management techniques for individual groups of artists. Both young artists and those who were experimenting with new techniques were made part of those groups, while studios were getting quite a few commissions from abroad, fulfilling international requirements through what was regarded as high-class, quality work. On July 1, 1986, Pannónia Film Company became the legal successor of Pannónia Cartoon and Animated Film Studios /functioning as an independent legal entity with distribution rights./ Besides government support, Hungarian Television became, from the late 1960s onwards, a firm basis for the production of animated cartoons in Hungary in those years by becoming a regular customer in the animated cartoons industry. After 1990, the new political system brought with it a new economic environment and, with the picture changed completely, state support was withdrawn in the production of cartoons as a result of increasing economic hardships, which entailed the formation of several small or medium-sized studios that started to operate simultaneously with Pannónia Film Company. Hungarian Cartoon, which was founded in 1992 and has been functioning as a kind of link between the EU's media program and the production of animated cartoons in Hungary, had 10 major animated cartoon studios plus 2 puppet studios to work with in 1995. Members of the Cartoon are: Kecskemétfilm Kft, Varga Studios, Pannónia Cartoon Makers, Videovox, Funny Film, Studio 2 /American Hungarian ownership/, Animex, Dana Film, Reflex, Loonland /German-Hungarian ownership/, and also Puppet Film and Aladdin studios. According to estimates, these studios work with a total of 500 active cartoonists. Of course, we know of other studios that are not part of the Cartoon group.

Some of those studios have a long artistic history. Apart from Pannónia Film Studios, two major cartoon studios were founded in Hungary in the early days of cartoon-making. Their history now is part of the history of film itself. One of them was founded in Kecskemét, the other was founded in Pécs. The latter is associated with the name of Csaba Varga. It was Varga who, in 1974, helped transform two groups of non-professional filmmakers in Pécs into IXILON, a non-professional cartoon studio. Their remarkable debut at the University Theatre meant that their artistic existence was, from then onwards, dependent on Pannónia Film Studios; initially, this was an incentive only to become the source of difficulties later on. Csaba Varga was commissioned to make films and to establish a studio in Pécs, which eventually was completed by 1978. The studio's line was experimenting with graphic techniques and films especially for adult entertainment. Awards both in Hungary and abroad were a proof of their talent and success. Ten years later, in 1988, Varga Studios became the first private animation workshop in Hungary. The most important customers of this group of young talents were Music TV, BBC and 20th Century Fox. Their latest long film, Wonder Tree, which is directed by Csaba Varga, is an international co-production based on a screenplay by Péter Halász

It was through the support of Pannónia Film Studios that the first provincial film-making workshop, Kecskemét Animation Film Studios, was established in 1971. From 1991 onwards, the studios were operational under the name Kecskemét Animation Film Company, today the company operates under a different name, Kecskemétfilm Kft and is led by Ferenc Mikulás, just as its predecessors. After the early years of its existence, the studios can now be regarded as an individual workshop with plans and films of their own rather than nothing more than an affiliate of Pannónia Film Studios. The Kecskemét staff have successfully become one of the most important workshops in Hungary with the virtuosity and uniqueness of individual artists. This group of artists boasts the likes of Péter Szoboszlay, László Hegyi Füstös, Mária Horváth, Líviusz Gyulai, István Orosz, Dóra Keresztes, László Haris, Péter Molnár, Zoltán Szilágyi Varga, Árpád Miklós, Gizella Neuberger, Béla Weisz, László Ujváry etc... In their works, tradition is intermingled with the improvement of new forms of animation techniques, their approach and forms reflecting the influence of folklore, which they heavily rely on. Until 1995, more than 250 films were produced at the studios including three long film versions based on their own film serials. /Water-spider, Wonder-spider, 1982, Matthias, lover of Justice, 1985, Leo and Fred, 1987/. The fifth film series of Hungarian Folk Tales by Marcell Jankovics and another co-produced series, Albert says... are both under production, but the most expensive ever long film, Monkey Castle, a film by French, German, British and Hungarian producers is also being made here, along with Mouse of the World, which is based on a short novel of Sándor Kányádi and directed by Zoltán Szilágyi Varga. In the recent past, they have received 53 awards at different festivals, and in 1993 two of their films, Cultural historical Manoeuvre at Night by Zoltán Szilágyi Varga and 66, Zöldfa street by Mária Horváth, were shortlisted for Cartoon D'Or, the highest professional acknowledgement of cartoon-making. The future generations of cartoonists are also taken care of through international scholarship funds and also through Firka, a local studio, which is also a springboard for professional improvement.

1985 was a trial of strength for the Kecskemét group; the town of Kecskemét was the venue of the first festival in Hungary of animated cartoons, thereby creating a tradition for the domestic festivals of animated cartoons. "...I came to realise that our individual artistic efforts can only gain momentum if a forum for filmmakers and films alike is there to support them " - said Ferenc Mikulás. The plans originally included a film festival to be held every 3 years. After 1988 there was a period of silence, then in 1993 festivals continued, under the name Festival of Animated Cartoons, and now, in 1996, which is the 100th anniversary of film, the festival intends to take upon itself the duties of an international forum.


Gustav

(József Nepp, 1966)
74 Kbyte

Foam Bath

(György Kovásznai, 1979)
84 Kbyte

Cultural historical Manoeuvre at Night

(Zoltán Szilágyi Varga, 1992)
131 Kbyte

Foam Bath

(György Kovásznai, 1979)
83 Kbyte

Johnny Corncob

(Marcell Jankovics, 1973)
68 Kbyte

Johnny Corncob

(Marcell Jankovics, 1973)
119 Kbyte

Hungarian Historical Legends

(Marcell Jankovics, 1988)
102 Kbyte

Hungarian Folk Tales

(Marcell Jankovics Marcell, Mária Horváth, 1990)
141 Kbyte

Hungarian Folk Tales

(Marcell Jankovics Marcell, Mária Horváth, 1990)
118 Kbyte

Hungarian Folk Tales

(Marcell Jankovics Marcell, Mária Horváth, 1990)
108 Kbyte

Hungarian Folk Tales

(Marcell Jankovics Marcell, Mária Horváth, 1990)
75 Kbyte

The Greedy Bee

(Gyula Macskássy, 1958)
45 Kbyte

Sun and Moon Carried off

(Sándor Reisenbüchler, 1968)
85 Kbyte

Sun and Moon Carried off

(Sándor Reisenbüchler, 1968)
101 Kbyte

Sun and Moon Carried off

(Sándor Reisenbüchler, 1968)
105 Kbyte

Duel

(Gyula Macskássy, 1960)
118 Kbyte

Duel

( Gyula Macskássy, 1960)
86 Kbyte

Pencil and rubber

( Gyula Macskássy, 1960)
55 Kbyte

Pencil and rubber

( Gyula Macskássy, 1960)
50 Kbyte

Vuk

(Attila Dargay, 1980)
129 Kbyte

Films Profiles Essays Prints Teaching Review Moving Picture Gallery News Letters Contents Films Profiles Essays Prints Teaching Review Moving Picture Gallery News Letters Index