60th anniversary of the first book of the Chronicles of Prydain: The Book of Three

Hello. 

Today March 12, 2024, is the 60th anniversary of The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander from 1964, the first book of the Chronicles of Prydain series (1964 -1969)

1972 Interview with Chronicles of Prydain author Lloyd Alexander, Illustrator Evaline Ness and Ann Durell

 

 from the Free Library Rare Book Department YouTube channel, 

Rosemary Ann Sission's early Black Cauldron scripts

 Hello again.  

 Rosemary Anne Sission, "the Miss Marple of British playwriting" wrote scripts for Disney live-action films as Escape from the Dark (aka The Littlest Horse Thieves 1976), co wrote the script for Freaky Friday (the 1976 Jodie Foster one) and the Watcher in the Woods (1980) with Bette Davis. 

Rosemary did script treatments for The Black Cauldron going back to the 70's. 

images from Heritage Auctions. 

                                         one of the working titles: "Taran and the Horned King"

                                                   

another script here on this link at heritage auctions

  The Black Cauldron Early Script by Rosemary Anne Sisson (Walt | Lot #19097 | Heritage Auctions (ha.com)

If you look at the script's character list you will notice that a lot more characters from Lloyd Alexander's books that are absent in the film. 

Prince Gwydion, 

Queen Achren, 

a young gwythaint, 

bees and bears. (I don't remember any bears in the books.)

  

 (I'm not sure if Mel Shaw did any art with these extra characters. With the exception of the jovial King Smoit. [not in the script?]

                                             (Image source: Tumblr user: hellyeahprydain and  bookshop-belle.livejournal.com)

Her other work for animation that I know of, the script for Thames television and Cosgrove-Hall's stop motion adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows (1983) [aired on ITV in 1983 and shown on The Disney Channel in 1986]

                                                            (Image source: waltsvault)

Disney's Live Action/Hyper Realistc CGI Remakes, and the Chronicles of Prydain live action storyboard pitch reel

   
Since 2016, Disney repurchased the film rights for Prydain Chronicles, and no further announcement was made. probably shelved. 

Considering.... 

Disney is doing the stand outs, the well knowns first: the crown jewels of the Disney animated feature canon for movie theaters and Disney+.   However, some of the lesser, obscure and cult films of Disney's animated feature canon don't seem to make it to get the treatment. 

  

Here a storyboard pitch reel for a live action Prydain film by Jared Crossley and Justin Kunz pitched to Disney.

cool.

The animated film may be a cult classic, there are those who think The Black Cauldron (1985) improved over the books, others say it's not a good representation of the books. 

As for me, I'm admittedly torn between the two.  

  Even though the story was rushed, I love the 1985 animated film still has a place in my heart since the early 2000's when my dad first rented that movie from Blockbuster video.  

I would love to see more movie adaptations of the books, if true to the books and done right. 

Cameos in Disney's The Black Cauldron (1985)

     funny caricature of animator Phil Nibbelink as one of the Horned King's huntsmen yelling at creeper.

                                                                             

and here he is with director Ted Berman in The Disney Channel's Walt Disney Studios' Showcase episode: Backstage at Disney (April 1983) 

in the fair folk sequence of The Black Cauldron, Tinkerbell makes and appearance next to Princess Eilonwy on the right.

                      Wait a minute! is that Witch Hazel from Trick or Treat (1952) in a slightly different costume far on the right of this image?

                                                                      Wow.

                                   I remember, on the Skull Rock Podcast that that Joe Hale 

                              mentioned he had a caricatured appearance as one of the fair folk.

that might be him on the far left in this screen snapshot, If I am not mistaken.

Merry Christmas

 

                                                                    

The Walt Disney Productions' 1974 and 1975 Annual reports

 Presented here are some pages from the Walt Disney Productions Annual reports from 1974 and 1975.

 You can see in these pages that The Rescuers (1977) was in production 

and both The Fox and the Hound (1981) and The Black Cauldron (1985) was in early preparation.

 As for The Black Cauldron's script development, Rosemary Ann Sisson is mentioned to have written the film's script. (It makes me wonder, how does her early script compare to Lloyd Alexander's rejected script and the final finished film?)

and what is also interesting is that The Black Cauldron had a different title: The Cauldron. 

                                                      1974 Walt Disney Productions Annual 

                                                       1975 Walt Disney Productions  Annual