The Critic

The Critic (1963)

An old man at the movies narrates over an abstract cartoon with vocal displeasure, to the annoyance of his fellow audience members.

Date of release
1963-05-20
TMDB
6.6 / 10 (42)
Runtime
4m
Genres
Animation, Comedy
Director
Ernest Pintoff

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 1 · Nominations: 1. Including: Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film

The Critic is an American 1963 short animated film by Ernest Pintoff and Mel Brooks. It won the Oscar for Short Subjects (Cartoons) in 1964.

Background

The film was reportedly inspired by an actual incident. In 1962, Mel Brooks attended a screening of an abstract animated short by Norman McLaren, where he overheard another audience member, an old immigrant man, "mumbling to himself" about the lack of a plot. Brooks was inspired to create a film out of this experience.

Brooks contacted Ernest Pintoff, who had experience producing animated works such as Flebus. They agreed to create a short film based on two points: the visuals of the film had to be fashioned in a style similar to that of McLaren, and Brooks would have no specific warning of the content. He intended to improvise his monologue.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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