This is a fun, free-wheeling and lighthearted, pioneering work of color animation. The jazz score is upbeat, the color vibrant, the visuals silly. Filmmaking, advertising, music videos, and animation have come a long way since 1936, but I could imagine this little ditty fitting in nicely and being a treat in 1976 or 2019, so I guess it's kinda timeless.
4 Reviews
Sound, Color, and Motion
Hitchcoc28 April 2019
An experiment in color, using color negatives and jazzy music. Its rhythms are fun and engaging. The man dancing is very good, graceful, and precise. I know it takes a bit of personal involvement to accept this. I thought it was a decent effort.
Rainbow Dance is another entertaining experimental Len Lye short
tavm13 December 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Ranbow Dance is another great abstraction animated short by Len Lye. This time there's a silhouette of Rupert Doone dancing in front of a rainbow in the beginning. Doone plays tennis later on in the short. All this is combined in a collage of images of color and various money bills, coins, and press clippings. At the end is an announcement:"The Post Office Savings Bank puts a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for you. No deposit too small for the Post Office Savings Bank." The music is by Walter Leigh. Having seen most of these shorts on YouTube, I just can't get enough of these experimental shorts! I can't believe I stayed up all night just to see anything by Len Lye, who I haven't heard of until today when there was an item in the Cartoon Brew. Maybe, I'll look another Lye short up...
Joyful
Horst_In_Translation13 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
The 80-year-old "Rainbow Dance" is a 4-minute animated short film by filmmaker Len Lye from New Zealand. It is an earlier career effort from him and he was in his mid-30s when he made this little movie. It is very color, with radiant animation and a soundtrack that may get you in the mood to dance. I personally only did not manage to really enjoy it because it is an experimental movie and there was no real story in here. It is all about the atmosphere, a positive one in here, very positive. Several sports are referenced to by the characters we see. All in all, not a bad watch by any means, but also nothing really memorable. I hope Lye's other works leave a bigger impression on me. Not recommended.
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