Perhaps you don’t know that in the 1940s, Salvador Dalì and Walt Disney worked together on a revolutionary animated film. Unfortunately, Dalì’s art only materialized into an extraordinary 15-second-long sample. Towards the end of 1946 Disney decided to call the project off. When I read about that strange joined venture in a magazine, I was utterly astonished. What made me shudder was the reason why the project fell through. Commercial and financial reasons, of course. The Walt Disney Company wanted to avoid another flop after Fantasia in 1940. Very few people would have accepted and understood such an original film. So, the film was not made. (Fine!) The flop was avoided. (Fine!) A lot of money was saved. (Fine!) But today, after over 50 years, who cares? The only tragically important thing is that we DO NOT, and will NEVER have that surprising masterpiece simply because of those financial reasons.
1999-09-15