The recent release of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) has renewed the Tim Burton fever. The wonderful job the director has done bringing the narrative into the 21st century has not only brought back the teen goth in this author, but a great curiosity about his beginnings and evolution as an artist.
It doesn’t feel like that long ago that Corpse Bride (2005) was in cinemas, yet, it feels like yesterday. The more of his you watch, the more you understand his vision and his artistic persona. However, if you go back far enough, your mind will be positively blown, and not necessarily in a good way. To save you that trip or, at least, make it as smooth as possible, here’s a summary of his first works, everything before Disney’s Hansel and Gretel (1983).
Tim Burton’s First Steps
Experimenting in the 70s
At the tender age of 13, Tim Burton made his first animation project: The Island of Doctor Agor (1971). It was an adaptation of H. G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau. Sadly, this piece has since been lost, so there is no more record of it than the confirmation of its existence by Burton himself in the book Burton on Burton (2006).
Luckily, such has not been the fate of Prehistoric Caveman (1971), Burton’s second short film. This piece shows the adventures and misadventures of a caveman in the most rudimentary of ways. One can’t help but think about Frankieweenie’s Victor and his love for making films with his dog (1984 and 2012). A very similar situation is that of Burton and the toy that leads this chaotic, stop-motion-ish story whose existence is more about experimentation than any actual storytelling.
Burton’s next short film, also from 1971, is Houdini: The Untold Story. This case is a mixture between both of the previous ones. While there is some available content online, there is only about half a minute of the 4-minute footage online. This snippet shows that, far from insisting in stop-motion, or any time of animation for that matter, Burton experimented with different mediums to tell his stories. This time, it is silent films in black and white, with the tumbles and sudden cuts that characterise the first few years of cinema history. The very small piece of content seems to be comedic and a bit crazy, much like the Méliès’ humorous optical illusions. Or is this part of Tim’s Dreams (1972)? Are they one and the same?
The importance of keeping record
There is an embarrassingly small amount of content about the first projects of pre-teen Burton. This is sad, but also to be expected considering the format and the exploratory nature of the films. Shorts like 1997 (1974), King and Octopus Animation (1979) and the aforementioned works, are impossible to find online. The little you can get, will be very likely overexposed and with zero definition. While these pieces are not the most popular of his career, they could serve to connect certain style choices or understand some storylines at a deeper level.
Luckily, the dry spell of movie evidence ends in 1979 with Doctor of Doom, a horror comedy co-directed by Burton with Jerry Rees. To say that this film is chaotic would be falling short. It looks like a group project between friends who just want to have some fun. This joy is contagious. Soon, you’ll be smiling through the fog of your confusion, wondering why you ever decided to watch this at all, but not quite regretting it completely.
Stalk of the Celery Monster (1979) is the next animation short film that Burton created. Here we find for the first time his signature drawing style: characters with exaggerated features. There is even an evil dentist with incredibly similar looks to that of the evil aliens in Mars Attacks! (1996). The sound, if there ever was a complete track, has not been completely preserved, which is a pity since whatever little is left seems like a pretty decent composition.
The tumble of the 80s
The Rees-Burton duo is back in 1982 with Luau, a more ambitious film of half an hour this time. Thirty minutes that represent the worst nightmare of political correctness and decency. A content that might not have turned heads then, but is severely frowned upon now, and with good reason.
The whole short is covered by a thick layer of incel sexism. From objectifying women to the point of using their ass as background for the initial credits, to normalising women fighting for the attention of a nauseating douchebag. In addition to the portrayal of men behaving like caveman as a source of fun and joyful entertainment. Or women desperately begging for a man that treats them like dirt to date them again. Furthermore, that layer of sexism has a pungent coating of racism, where stereotypes like mispronunciations of English and other race-targeted patronising clichés are used as frequent resources for humour.
Overall, if the goal of this film was to offend people rather than to entertain, they nailed it. No wonder this is Burton’s last collaboration with Rees. After creating this thirty-minutes-too-long video, it’s definitely best to call it quits and try one’s fortune solo.
Ending on a sweet note
Tim Burton’s Vincent (1982) is Burton’s first fully realised short film. It is a Quixotesque story with prominent gothic influences such as Shelley’s Frankenstein and Poe’s stories. And in case that hasn’t convinced you to watch it, narrated by none other than gothic legend Vincent Price. This short film, narrated in the form of a poem, is absolutely beautiful. Its melancholic spirit haunts Vincent’s descend into madness, an atmosphere that reminds of Burton’s latter work Corpse Bride (2005).
What’s your take? Have you enjoyed this trip down memory lane? Have you watched any of these works?
This is the first (in a chronological order of his career, third in the chronology of this website) of many articles that delve into Tim Burton’s career. If you are a fan of his, don’t miss out on the rest! They’ll keep showing up in our latest section: Into Tim Burton’s Rabbit Hole.
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