Rainbow Dance
| Rainbow Dance | |
|---|---|
Opening titles | |
| Directed by | Len Lye |
| Written by | Len Lye |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | Rupert Doone |
| Cinematography | Frank Jones |
| Music by | Rico's Creole Band |
| Distributed by | GPO Film Unit |
Release date |
|
Running time | 4 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Rainbow Dance is a 1936 British animated colour film, directed and written by New Zealand-born animator Len Lye. It was commissioned by the British Post Office, produced by the GPO Film Unit[1][2][3] and was filmed using the Gasparcolor process.[4]
Synopsis
A man is holding an umbrella in the rain. Then, he starts dancing, and as he does, the backgrounds completely change. Then, he starts dancing near the ocean, with a woman and fish following. Then, he plays tennis with cel-animated circles as another man watches. A colorful array of shapes follow, and the man sits and thinks, as the shapes come back and images come off the score sheet. The music ends, and a man's voice says: "Post Office Savings Bank puts a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for you", followed by "No deposit is too small for the Post Office Savings Bank".
Cast
- Rupert Doone as dancer
Reception
Sight and Sound called the film a "syncopated, startlingly experimental animation ... dreamy avant-garde dramatisation of young love cruelly dashed by a faulty address, N or NW."[5]
Jamie Sexton wrote for the British Film Institute: "The advanced effects, visual motifs and music that Lye used on this short film can be seen as a precursor to today's music videos."[4]
In Art Monthly, critic David Trigg wrote: "It may seem rather quaint to modern eyes, but Lye's use of jump cuts and extreme close-ups was way ahead of its time – so much so that this Post Office advertisement was even lauded by the British surrealists."[6]
Home media
The film is included on the DVD We Live in Two Worlds: The GPO Film Unit Collection Volume 2.[5]
References
- ^ "Rainbow Dance". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
- ^ Horrocks, Roger (2001). Len Lye: A Biography. Auckland University Press. pp. 210–217. ISBN 978-1869402471.
- ^ Anthony, Scott; Mansell, James, eds. (2011). The Projection of Britain: A History of the GPO Film Unit. BFI. p. 131. ISBN 978-1844573745.
- ^ a b Sexton, Jamie. "Rainbow Dance (1936)". screenonline.org.uk. BFI Screen Online. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
- ^ a b "Rainbow Dance". Sight and Sound. 19 (5): 87. May 2009. ProQuest 1836583.
- ^ Trigg, David (February 2011). "Len Lye: The Body Electric". Art Monthly (343): 19–20.
External links
- Rainbow Dance at IMDb
- Watch Rainbow Dance at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision