''Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' is a 1975 film by director Raúl daSilva. It is a photoanimated-live action visualization of

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...

's 1798 poem of the same name, featuring a direct reading given by British actor Michael Redgrave. DaSilva's film has won multiple minor awards and recognitions and, according to daSilva, has been said to effectively render the otherwise-difficult poem comprehensible by even the youngest of readers.

Planning

Raúl daSilva's film introduces additional

sensory perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...

elements to Coleridge's ''Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' by taking the poem, which was written in a faux-archaic (purportedly

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

) form of English and visualizing it. This was accomplished with the help of Sir Michael Redgrave (who'd taught the epic poem as a young schoolmaster before becoming an actor) and with the additional use of sound and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

to enhance, support, and illustrate the poem's dramatic and often difficult language. The Wikipedia article on

photoanimation Photoanimation is a filmmaking technique in which still photos, artwork or other objects are filmed with the use of an animation stand. Photoanimation techniques have been used from the very early days of motion pictures. Cinema of the United St ...

explains the technique used for this film. It is a time-consuming, arduous procedure that includes the analysis and breakdown of the entire sound track and the planning of frame-to-frame exposure of all visual elements. Using the Oxberry master series animation stand the process took six months. The film took two years of production to complete.

Cast

Roland Curram Roland Curram (born 1932) is an English actor and novelist. Curram was educated at Brighton College and has had a long film, television and theatre career. His appearances include Julie Christie's travelling companion in her Oscar-winning film ...

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge *

Geoffrey Hutchings Geoffrey Hutchings (8 June 1939 – 1 July 2010) was an English stage, film and television actor. Early life and career Hutchings was born in Dorchester, Dorset, England. After attending Hardye's School, he studied French and Physical Educati ...

- The pilot's voice *Michael Johnson - Spirit's voice over the ship (prologue narrator) *

Miriam Margolyes Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus. The Tora ...

- Dorothy Wordsworth *

George Murcell Arthur George Murcell (30 October 1925 – 3 December 1998) was a British character actor. Life and career Born in Italy, he made his film debut in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's ''The Battle of the River Plate'' (1956), Murcell went ...

- William Wordsworth's voice * Michael Redgrave - The Ancient Mariner

International Film Festival Recognition

The film was entered into six international

film festivals A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

and won six prizes, five of which were in the first-place category. *

Golden Eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of p ...

(first place),

CINE Ciné film or cine film is the term commonly used in the UK and historically in the US to refer to the 8 mm, Super 8, 9.5 mm, and 16 mm motion picture film formats used for home movies. It is not normally used to refer to ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

Gold Medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

(first place), International Film & TV Festival of

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Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

(first place), possible * CINDY

Statuette A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cl ...

(first place) IFPA (Information Film Producers Association),

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

* CHRIS

(first place),

Columbus International Film Festival The Columbus International Film + Animation Festival is a Columbus, Ohio, United States annual film festival which is designed to encourage and promote the use of film and video in all forms of education and communication. It is the first and ol ...

* Certificate of Merit (general recognition of creativity),

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

Application

Raúl daSilva used the film in his classes as a teaching aid. Not only did students enjoy it, but their overall comprehension rose from fifty to one-hundred percent. They found it easier to understand the poem’s timeless message, many going on to reread the poem with a much greater degree of understanding. In his efforts to study students’ reactions he also showed it to a number of student groups—some as young as third grade—where it was equally enjoyed and understood. In the ensuing years Raúl received unanimous critical acclaim for his production, with letters coming from as far as

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

offering expressions of gratitude from English teachers. From that point it began to accumulate interest from the general public.

Television broadcast history

On June 11, 1978, an

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

affiliate in Rochester, NY scheduled the one-hour

program Program, programme, programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program management, the process of managing several related projects * Time management * Program, a part of planning Arts and entertainment Audio * Progra ...

for a prime-time slot opposite CBS’s popular news program, ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

''. The broadcast title for the film was ''The Strangest Voyage'' and included a short biography on the poem's

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. The fact that local newspapers ran front page stories on the broadcast might have helped as it allegedly completely eclipsed ''60 Minutes'' in viewer response. According to daSilva, the then-program manager reported that by the end of the broadcast the

telephone switchboard A telephone switchboard was a device used to connect circuits of telephones to establish telephone calls between users or other switchboards, throughout the 20th century. The switchboard was an essential component of a manual telephone exchange, ...

was flooded with calls from viewers expressing praise and gratitude for the broadcast. Similar reports came from the program’s sponsor, Columbia Banking, and according to their senior vice president marketing, hundreds of letters were received after the broadcast, many from people who said they planned on opening accounts at the bank.

Current history

The film has been distributed on VHS since 1985 and starting in April 2007 on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

. The film was released to a responsive commercial market despite the fact that it has never been promoted or advertised. A review in the April 1986 edition of ''

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

'' called it "a must for schools, and an excellent choice for public libraries."Hagloch, Susan B. 1986. ''Rime of the Ancient Mariner''. Library Journal. DaSilva plans to have the film circulated worldwide where it has thus far not been released, believing Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s intrinsic message about the sanctity of all life on Earth is just as important today as it has ever been.

DVD release

Raúl daSilva's Rime of the Ancient Mariner

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rime Of The Ancient Mariner (1975 Film) 1975 films 1975 animated films 1975 drama films British drama films Films based on works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Films about poetry Films directed by Raúl daSilva 1978 drama films 1978 films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films