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George Dunning

George Dunning

Birth : 1920-11-17, Toronto, Ontario

Death : 1979-02-15

History

George Garnett Dunning was a Canadian filmmaker and animator. He is known for animating and directing the 1968 film inspired by the Beatles, Yellow Submarine. Dunning was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and studied in at the Ontario College of Art, and soon found freelance work as an illustrator. Dunning joined the National Film Board of Canada in 1943, where he worked with Norman McLare and contributed to several episodes of the Chants Populaires series. From 1944 to 1947 Dunning created many original short films and developed his skills animating articulated, painted, metal cut-outs. In 1948, he spent a year working for UNESCO in Paris under the mentorship of Czech-born animator Berthold Bartosch. Then in 1949, he and fellow NFB grad Jim McKay created one of Toronto's first animation studios, Graphic Associates, where he produced commercials and gave Michael Snow his first job in film. Dunning later moved on to New York City working on UPA's The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show and in 1956 he moved to England to manage UPA's new London office. After the office went under, he hired many of the UPA staff to work for him and his newly established production company, T.V. Cartoons Ltd. (renamed TVC London). Among the animators working for TVC were Richard Williams and Jimmy Murakami. By 1961, TVC was producing about one hundred commercials a year. During this time Dunning also managed to make many personal short films noted for their surrealistic atmosphere and Kafkaesque themes. The Flying Man earned him the Annecy Cristal Grand Prix in 1962 while The Apple won the 1963 BAFTA Award. Dunning also oversaw the cartoon series The Beatles for ABC, and this led to his involvement with Yellow Submarine (1968). Dunning was also responsible for the opening credits of Blake Edwards' A Shot in the Dark, along with a series of shorts and inserts including "the digger", for the BBC's Vision On series for children. About the time of his death he was working on an animated version of Shakespeare's The Tempest, which was never completed. His company was briefly resurrected in the 1990s, before being merged with Varga Studio.

Profile

George Dunning

Movies

Director

Anti-drug film set in Harlem.

Damon the Mower

Damon the Mower

Lead Animator

Inspired by an Andrew Marvell poem, George Dunning sketched short phrases of animated movement on index cards, which were then stuck to a table top and filmed. Animation bared to the bone, and still extraordinary.

Damon the Mower

Damon the Mower

Director

Inspired by an Andrew Marvell poem, George Dunning sketched short phrases of animated movement on index cards, which were then stuck to a table top and filmed. Animation bared to the bone, and still extraordinary.

Director

A short film inspired by lateral thinking that sees an astronaut explore "the monsters of mass society and mass media."

Hands, Knees and Bumps a Daisy

Hands, Knees and Bumps a Daisy

Director

Part of BFI's "National Coal Board Collection".

Yellow Submarine

Yellow Submarine

Director

The wicked Blue Meanies take over Pepperland, eliminating all color and music. As the only survivor, the Lord Admiral escapes in the yellow submarine and journeys to Liverpool to enlist the help of the Beatles.

The Beatles Mod Odyssey

The Beatles Mod Odyssey

Self (voice)

The Yellow Submarine DVD calls this short feature a ‘making of documentary’ in the special features menu.

Director

The eternal human comedy in the free and lyrical manner of the author of "The Flying Man".

Producer

Animated British TV Movie

Thud and Blunder in

Thud and Blunder in "Knock-Off Time"

Producer

Thud and Blunder learn what not to do while in a coal mine.

Director

A man's repeated attempts to retrieve an apple off a high tree branch all prove fruitless. What does he want the apple for? That would be Telling.

Director

A man undresses and takes to flight, while another man and his dog witness him.

Animation

Cartoon: a man takes off his shoes and climbs into a wardrobe, Another man appears, tries to communicate, and finally steps into a wardrobe; noises; the first man climbs out wearing another pair of shoes, leaving the second man with the old pair.

Producer

Cartoon: a man takes off his shoes and climbs into a wardrobe, Another man appears, tries to communicate, and finally steps into a wardrobe; noises; the first man climbs out wearing another pair of shoes, leaving the second man with the old pair.

Director

Cartoon: a man takes off his shoes and climbs into a wardrobe, Another man appears, tries to communicate, and finally steps into a wardrobe; noises; the first man climbs out wearing another pair of shoes, leaving the second man with the old pair.

Director

The story of the settlement of Canada, illustrated with cheerful animated cartoons. The arrival of Jacques Cartier, the fishing and fur trades which followed, and the rival colonization by the French and British, climaxed by the battle of the Plains of Abraham, are depicted. The coming of the United Empire Loyalists is seen; then the west-coast gold rush and the completion of the transcontinental railway. New branches were added to the family tree when many European settlers came to fill the great spaces of the Prairies. Finally, we see the whole country matured into a nation, its traditions enriched by those of many peoples.

Cadet Rousselle

Cadet Rousselle

Animation

Colourful puppets illustrate the old French song about Cadet Rousselle, who falls down a ladder, who trips on battlements, and whose dogs will not obey him. The animated figures carry our hero through his predicaments with colour and verve.

Cadet Rousselle

Cadet Rousselle

Director

Colourful puppets illustrate the old French song about Cadet Rousselle, who falls down a ladder, who trips on battlements, and whose dogs will not obey him. The animated figures carry our hero through his predicaments with colour and verve.

The Three Blind Mice

The Three Blind Mice

Director

An animated safety film adapts the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice" into a song where the mice are factory workers who disregard safety rules and wind up injuring themselves.

Director

A humorous depiction of farm animals' need for proper fodder, Grim Pastures shows a horse and a cow both racing for the same bit of grass. The distracted beasts end up with sandwich boards with slogans imploring farmers to raise more fodder.

Keep Your Mouth Shut

Keep Your Mouth Shut

Animation

This animated short from Norman McLaren features a human skull cautioning Canadians to “keep their mouths shut” in an effort to end gossiping during World War II.