It's All Relative

 

Fantastic Films October 1978 was the first place I ever saw anything about the Ralph Bakshi production of The Lord of the Rings. Also, by chance, it announced the coming film, Metamorphoses, later renamed Winds of Change. It never had a wide release, so I never saw it, though I was always interested in at as an animated film. With the widespread net of YouTube, I was finally able to watch it in the last few years.

Winds of Change (1979) - Full Movie - YouTube

“Metamorphoses is a 1978 Japanese animated film.  It was released by Sanrio in the United States on May 3, 1979. It is a retelling of stories from Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid, and narration by Peter Ustinov. In all of its five parts, the protagonists are portrayed in the form of a recurring boy and girl.

Metamorphoses tried to be the rock era's answer to Fantasia, but its original run was critically reviled and closed as soon as it opened. According to many of its crew, many problems with the production, music and plotting were to blame.

“On May 3, 1979, it was reissued under a new title, Winds of Change, with seven minutes trimmed from the first cut of 89 minutes, with different (disco – dear me) music and narration by Peter Ustinov added. The five stories told in the film were reshuffled and the main character renamed as ‘Wonder maker’. – Wikipedia.

As it turned out, it was probably not worth a 45 year wait. I found the animation to be blurry and unfinished looking, the character design a little too cartoony for the subject matter, and the fact that Peter Ustinov (usually an excellent voice actor) had to carry the entire movie as the only voice (including narrator, young boys, and all women) probably didn’t do the film any favors. His work was much better in the next film.

[FULL VHS TAPE] Grendel Grendel Grendel 1984 Family Home Entertainment - YouTube

 

“Grendel Grendel Grendel is a 1981 Australian animated film written, directed and designed by Alexander Stitt and starring Peter Ustinov. It was based on John Gardner's novel Grendel.

“Like Gardner's novel, the film is a retelling of part of the epic poem Beowulf from the monster Grendel's point of view. Grendel (voiced by Ustinov) is by turns a thoughtful and contemplative character and a rampaging monster who attacks the mead hall of an early Danish kingdom, biting the head off of one would-be defender.

“Stitt acquired the film rights to Grendel in 1978, and work was commenced at Melbourne Al et al. Studios the following year. The film was conceived as a coproduction with producer Phillip Adams, under the banner of Animation Australia. Although completed in 1981, it was not released in US theatres until the spring of 1982. Because of its limited appeal, broadcasting of the film was largely restricted to art theatres in urban centres.” – Amazon.

Another movie I did not see at the time; I did not even know it existed until years later and only watched it recently (in fact just yesterday) on YouTube. It was a transfer from a 1984 videotape. At first, I did not much care for the style of the animation, but by the end I had become quite engaged with the narrative. It was not, of course, as metaphysically complicated as Gardner’s book, and Grendel was made a little nicer and Beowulf a little worse; in other words, simplified for the big screen. But Ustinov was a much better fit for the character, along with an ensemble cast. One wonders what John Gardner’s relationship with the film was like. I imagine he simply sold the rights. Since he died soon after the film came out, he didn’t have much time to react to it.

So, connecting strands with my recent reading: Peter Ustinov, John Gardner, Beowulf. All reaching back to at least 1978.