Jul 22, 2013

Lost Films "The Sailor and the Devil" directed by Errol Le Cain

I've been wanting to see Errol Le Cain's "The Sailor and the Devil" ever since I saw this still on Hans Bacher's website a few years ago. Animation researcher Garrett Gilchrist recently unearthed a copy of it, and although it is incomplete and the picture quality is poor, it offers a glimpse into the charm of this masterful short film.

Le Cain made "The Sailor and the Devil" in 1966 while working at Richard Williams' studio in London. He had only been working there for a year when Williams asked him to direct the film. Williams explained the idea behind the project in the documentary: "By [Le Cain] doing everything, he gets 10 years of experience in one film, and we get a film."

The result is refreshingly original. Le Cain has developed a unique movement style that combines jittery bursts of motion with visually pleasing dance cycles. When a storm arrives in a film or a skeletal wave tries to overwhelm a sailor, we encounter pure graphic art. Le Cain uses color, movement, design, and cinematic devices to create an exciting universe that could not exist outside of an animated film.

Le Cain was a major contributor to the production design of "The Thief and the Cobbler" and later became known as an illustrator of children's books He died in 1989 at the age of 47.

Among his many projects with Richard Williams, Le Cain designed the title for The Liquidator (1965):

A 1966 documentary shows Le Cain and Williams working on Sailor:

( via Michael Sporn)