For more videos related to this film, check out our curated playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQnigF_xmZGvngKRaTRNrq2UMYwlMREp The Black Cauldron (80 min) Synopsis: Daydreamer Taran wishes he were a great warrior and hero, instead of a lowly assistant pig-keeper in charge of Hen Wen, a very pampered pig who turns out to be clairvoyant. Hen Wen is captured by the fearsome Horned King, who hopes that he might use the pig’s oracular powers to discover the whereabouts of the legendary Black Cauldron – which has the evil power to birth an army of undead warriors, thereby enabling the Horned King to rule the world. As Taran rushes to rescue Hen Wen, he gains an unlikely traveling companion in the mischievous creature Gurgi. At the Horned King’s castle, Taran manages to free Hen Wen, and escapes along with the captives Princess Eilonwy and the minstrel Fflewddur Fflam. Together, the new friends must find the Black Cauldron and prevent the Horned King from realizing his evil plan. Cast: John Hurt (Horned King), Grant Bardsley (Taran), John Byner (Gurgi), Susan Sheridan (Eilonwy), Freddie Jones (Dallben), Nigel Hawthorne (Fflewddur Fflam), Phil Fondacaro (Creeper). Directed by Ted Berman and Richard Rich. Released on July 24, 1985. US Theatrical Reissue: March 21, 1990 (under the title Taran and the Magic Cauldron) US Home Media Releases: August 4, 1998 (VHS); October 3, 2000 (DVD/VHS); September 14, 2010 (DVD); May 4, 2021 (Blu-Ray) Trivia: • Frames: 115,200 • The first animated feature to be filmed in 70mm stereo-surround Technirama since Sleeping Beauty. • The production can be traced back to 1971, when the Disney Studio purchased the screen rights to Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain. When Joe Hale was named producer in 1980, he rewrote the script, capsulizing the sprawling story and making some changes. • Video cameras gave animators and directors an immediate and inexpensive record of what their efforts might look like. Computers also made inroads in the manipulation of solid inanimate objects on screen. The dimensions and volume of objects were fed into a computer and then their shapes were perfectly maintained as their movement was generated by programming. Disney’s venerable multiplane cameras were updated with computers to expedite and control aperture settings and time exposures. • Another technological breakthrough was the development of the APT (Animation Photo Transfer) process. The first major change in the Studio’s method of transferring the artist’s drawings to a cel since photocopying replaced hand inking 20 years earlier, the APT greatly improved the quality of the animator’s art. David W. Spencer was awarded an Academy Award for his development of the APT process. • In all, the animated film was 12 years in the making—five years in actual production—at the cost of over $25 million. • This was the first animated Disney film made in cooperation with Silver Screen Partners II. The Copyright Laws of the United States recognizes a “fair use” of copyrighted content. Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act states: “Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.” This video and the “Animation Compendia” YouTube channel in general may contain certain copyrighted works that were not specifically authorized to be used by the copyrighted holder(s), but which we believe in good faith are protected by federal law and the fair use doctrine for one or more of the reasons noted above.