Komposition in Blau

Technically speaking, KOMPOSITION IN BLAU is an amazing film--especially for 1935. While color film is something we all expect, back in 1935, this was still a relatively new process and many cartoons were still made in black & white. Heck, the first 3-color Technicolor feature (BECKY SHARP) debuted the same year as KOMPOSITION, so as I said, it was all pretty new. Yet despite this newness, the colors were so vibrant and beautiful--even more than 70 year later.

As for the film itself, it's a very, very simple idea though the execution was have taken ages to complete. Various geometric shapes (mostly rectangles and circles) appear and move throughout the film and seem to dance to the classical music that is being played. It is rather hypnotic and considering that it had to be filmed frame by frame, it is quite an accomplishment. The trouble, though, with such a film is that while adults will appreciate the effort and enjoy it, kids will probably be bored and wonder where all the cute anthropomorphic animals are!! Because of this, don't be surprised if you show it to kids and they are less than thrilled--they'll just have to wait to see it when they are a bit older.

I watched the short film Blinkity Blink recently and the idea is similar as here – animated figures and shapes moving roughly in time to music but unlike the jazz of that film, here we have a classic piece and it is done some decades before that film. The strength of this film is on several levels but the first to me is that it really accurately replicates the way you would move your hand if you were listening to this piece yourself; you lift your hand on the up notes, glide it sideways when moving across the musical range and down when down, the speed and abruptness of the hand movement all the time matching the music. As you would so does the film and the movement of the animated shapes really matches the piece very well indeed.

It helps of course that the animation is very pleasing to watch. Nearly 80 years after it was made, the colors still make an impact and it is important to force yourself to remember that this was made at the very dawn of color film and it does indeed feel like the film is bursting forth with everything pent up during the black and white era. The animation is effect aside from maybe one or two rough edits in there, but otherwise it is smooth, totally matches the music and is incredibly pleasing to sit back and watch.

"Composition in Blue" truly struck me. This was Fischinger's first film in colour, and you can tell. By the way he uses the colour, you would think that they were all going to disappear tomorrow, and the world would be left in black and white, with this film the only remaining evidence of its coloured past. One moment that I particularly remember is from the beginning. A group of red and blue blocks pile on top of each other. I've always liked the bizarre, wavy effect that happens when you combine blue and red. The way Fischinger does that here, with the blocks moving closer to the screen, had a hypnotic effect on me. It was truly beautiful.

This is a truly amazing film, very early full color work. It is not Fischinger's first in color, Kreise (1933) a.k.a Circles and Muratti Greift Ein (1934) a.k.a Muratti Marches On (a cigarette commercial) were both in color, but the color may not have been as full as in this film. The music is from the overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor by Otto Nicolai. His wife, Elfreide did a short segment in the middle. The film is mostly colored boxes moving in tight synchronization to the music, at the climax there is some striking painted work that foreshadows some of his great work to come, like Allegretto. This film was a sensation in Germany and the attention brought him a contract with Paramount which allowed him to escape Nazi Germany.

A correction to the "early color film" review here, which states "His wife, Elfreide did a short segment in the middle." While Elfriede, his wife, assisted him in the studio in Germany along with others, she did not create any sequences for any of his films. There are other myths about her being a collaborator, but those are false. Fischinger did not collaborate on his films. Numerous books, essays and articles support this, as well as an interview with their daughter Barbara.

Another note - this film and his color Muratti commercial Muratti greift Ein! Were taken by an agent and screened in Hollywood. Those two films resulted in a contract offer from Paramount, thanks to Ernst Lubitsch.