''Rainbow Dance'' is a 1936 British animated film, created by New Zealand-born animation pioneer

Len Lye Leonard Charles Huia Lye (; 5 July 1901 – 15 May 1980) was a New Zealand artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture. His films are held in archives including the New Zealand Film Archive, British Film Institute, Mu ...

and released by the

GPO Film Unit The GPO Film Unit was a subdivision of the UK General Post Office. The unit was established in 1933, taking on responsibilities of the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit. Headed by John Grierson, it was set up to produce sponsored documentary films ...

. Lye's second film to be viewed by the public, it uses the

Gasparcolor Gasparcolor was a color motion picture film system, developed in Berlin in 1933 by the Hungarian chemist Dr. Béla Gáspár ( Oraviczbánya, Transylvania 1898-1973). It used a subtractive 3-color process on a single film strip, one of the earli ...

process. Credits also list Australian music pioneer

Jack Ellitt Jack Ellitt (20 May 1902 – 2001) was a British filmmaker, composer and musician. He was born Avrom Yitzhak Elitski to an orthodox Jewish Lithuanian family in Manchester and raised in Sydney from the age of 3. Career Ellitt’s career began wi ...

("Synchronization") and Frank Jones ("Camera").

Synopsis

A man (

Rupert Doone Rupert Doone (born Reginald Woodfield, 14 August 1903 – 4 March 1966) was a British dancer, choreographer, theatre director, and teacher in London. Biography Doone was born in Redditch, Worcestershire, from a Worcestershire family in reduced ...

) 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 the following: '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'.

References

External links

* 1936 films 1936 animated films British animated short films Films directed by Len Lye GPO Film Unit films British musical films 1936 musical films 1930s English-language films 1930s British films English-language musical films {{short-animation-film-stub