Transition

   11

An Image from the Film

The dead warrior was one of the cauldron-born. © The Walt Disney Company

I didn't work on Disney's The Black Cauldron, so you'll gain no filmmaking insights from me this time around. Oddly enough, this was a very important film for The Walt Disney Company, and although it didn't exactly burn up the box office charts when it opened, it served an even greater purpose. However, we'll get to that later.

What I did find interesting back in the early 1980s was a change in attitude at Disney's animation department. Curious about the film, I thought I might stop in for a chat with animation boss Ed Hanson. I had known Ed for years while working at the studio. Ed had been director Wolfgang Reitherman's assistant ...

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