Gerald McDermottThe Stonecutter (1960)

‘Stonecutter’ (1960) 6m, dir. Gerald McDermott. McDermott made this, his first commercial film at the age of 19, an extremely complex animation short featuring approximately 2000 animation cels presented in six minutes. Influenced by Klee and Matisse, McDermott used silk-screen as well as traditional painting techniques in crafting ethnographic folk tale animation shorts. With films that are startling in intensity, and majestic in execution, McDermott is clearly one of the outstanding animators of his generation, despite having an output consisting solely of only five films, all of which are under 12 minutes in length. After retiring from film animation at the age of 32, McDermott began producing animated children’s books, eventually becoming one of the world’s best-known authors of books for young readers, winning numerous awards in the process.

This item is part of the collection: Academic Film Archive of North America

Producer: Gerald McDermott
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: Animation; Japan; folktale

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Reviewer: Khalbrae - - February 22, 2008
Subject: Quite enlightening

It shows that every person has their place. While the Prince may not fear the paesant, it is the paesant that overcomes the forces the Prince can do nothing against.

What is the copyright status of this film anyway?

Reviewer: pheret - - February 3, 2008
Subject: the stonecutter

at first a bit confusing but lovely and nice, thought provoking ending.

Reviewer: Wilford B. Wolf - - November 3, 2007
Subject: Tasaku The Stonecutter

An animated film of the Japanese folk tale, "The Stonecutter". The core of the story is how a stonecutter is content in his work, until he wishes to become ever grander things-- a prince, the sun, clouds, a mountain-- with the help of a mountain spirit. But in the end, it is the stonecutter that causes the mountain to tremble. The moral being is to be happy with your place in life.

The animation does look a bit dated now, having that 1960s blocky abstract look that was common for children's books. However, the forms are still recognizable, and the bright primary colors are inviting to children as well as adults. In addition, it is a fine way of introducing a folk tale to a class, making this film still useful today.