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United Productions of America

United Productions of America
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United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio active from the 1940s through the 1970s. Beginning with industrial and World War II training films, UPA eventually produced theatrical shorts for Columbia Pictures, notably the Mr. Magoo series. In 1956, UPA produced a television series for CBS, The Boing-Boing Show, hosted by Gerald McBoing Boing. In the 1960s, UPA produced syndicated Mr. Magoo and Dick Tracy television series and other series and specials, including the popular Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol. UPA also produced two animated features, 1001 Arabian Nights and Gay Purr-ee, and distributed Japanese films from Toho Studios in the 1970s and 1980s. Gerald McBoing Boing (2005-2007) is a more recent television series based on UPA's memorable character and licensed and co-produced by Cookie Jar Entertainment and Classic Media, for Cartoon Network.

UPA Pictures' legacy in the history of animation has largely been overshadowed by the commercial success and availability of the cartoon libraries of Warner Bros. and Disney. Nonetheless, UPA had a significant impact on animation style, content, and technique, and its innovations were recognized and adopted by the other major animation studios and independent filmmakers all over the world. UPA pioneered the technique of limited animation. Although this style of animation came to be widely used in the 1960s and 1970s as a cost-cutting measure, it was originally intended as a stylistic alternative to the growing trend (particularly at Disney) of recreating cinematic realism in animated films.
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Filmography of United Productions of America (13 films)

Display filmography as list

Production

Mr. Magoo
Mr. Magoo (1997)
, 1h27
Directed by Stanley Tong
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Themes Medical-themed films, Films about disabilities, La cécité, Children's films
Actors Leslie Nielsen, Kelly Lynch, Matt Keeslar, Nick Chinlund, Stephen Tobolowsky, Ernie Hudson

Mr. Quincy Magoo (Leslie Nielsen), a wealthy canned vegetable factory owner, goes to the museum to attend a party. While there, Waldo (Matt Keeslar), Mr. Magoo's nephew, spies a woman named Stacey Sampanahoditra (Jennifer Garner), whom he develops a crush on. Later that night, jewel thieves Luanne LeSeur (Kelly Lynch) and Bob Morgan (Nick Chinlund) steal the museum's beautiful ruby "The Star of Kuristan" and escape on a boat to Austin Cloquet (Malcolm McDowell), Bob's boss.
ESPY
ESPY (1974)
, 1h34
Directed by Jun Fukuda
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Action, Adventure
Actors Hiroshi Fujioka, Kaoru Yumi, Eiji Okada, Tomisaburō Wakayama, Yūzō Kayama, Masao Kusakari

The film deals with the recruitment of racecar driver Jiro Miki (Kusakari) and his dog, Cheetah, to a group of people who use ESP, psychokinesis, and other special mental abilities to fight crime. The major villain is Wolf (Wakayama), whose behavior stems as a result of the prejudicial murder of his father over his father's psychic abilities.
The War of the Gargantuas, 1h27
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Origin Japon
Genres Science fiction, Action, Horror
Themes Films about animals, La fin du monde, Films about computing, Kaiju films, Films about magic and magicians, Seafaring films, Transport films, Films based on science fiction novels, Films about cephalopods, Frankenstein films, Giant monster films, Cyberpunk films, Arme nucléaire, Disaster films
Actors Russ Tamblyn, Kumi Mizuno, Kenji Sahara, Kipp Hamilton, Nobuo Nakamura, Haruo Nakajima

As the film opens, a small boat is seen chugging through stormy seas. A giant octopus appears from the ocean and seems bent on killing the sole crew member on deck. Suddenly, the octopus releases the man and retracts its tentacles from the boat. Relieved, the sailor peers out the porthole to see Gaira, a large green man-like creature, fighting the octopus. After easily defeating it, Gaira turns his attention to the boat and sinks it.
Frankenstein Conquers the World, 1h34
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Horror
Themes Films about animals, Dinosaur films, La fin du monde, Films about computing, Kaiju films, Films about magic and magicians, Seafaring films, La préhistoire, Transport films, Films based on science fiction novels, Films about cephalopods, Frankenstein films, Giant monster films, Cyberpunk films, Arme nucléaire, Disaster films
Actors Nick Adams, Kumi Mizuno, Haruo Nakajima, Tadao Takashima, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kenji Sahara

The prologue is set in Nazi Germany during the final days of World War II. A Kriegsmarine Officer, flanked by three Commandos, barges into the laboratory of a Dr. Riesendorf with orders to seize the immortal heart of the Frankenstein Monster, on which Riesendorf is busy experimenting. The heart is summarily transported by U-Boat to be passed off to their Japanese allies via the Atlantic. In the Indian Ocean, off the Maldives, the U-Boat meets up with a Japanese Imperial Navy submarine to make the exchange. They are sighted by an Allied Forces scout plane and bombed, but not before the Kriegsmarine pass the heart (contained in a locked chest) to the Japanese, who take it back to Hiroshima for further experimentation. But just as the experiments are about to begin, Hiroshima is bombed by the Allied Forces, and the heart and the experiments vanish in the atomic fireball.
Invasion of Astro-Monster, 1h36
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Origin Japon
Genres Science fiction, Action, Adventure, Romance
Themes Films about animals, Dinosaur films, Space adventure films, La fin du monde, Kaiju films, Films about magic and magicians, Seafaring films, La préhistoire, Transport films, Films set in the future, Animaux préhistoriques, Films about dragons, Films about extraterrestrial life, Giant monster films, Space opera, Godzilla films, Films about extraterrestrial life, Alien invasions in films, Disaster films
Actors Akira Takarada, Nick Adams, Kumi Mizuno, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Akira Kubo, Haruo Nakajima

In the 1960s, two astronauts, Fuji and Glenn, are sent to investigate the surface of the mysterious "Planet X". There they encounter advanced and seemingly benevolent human-like beings called the Xiliens and their leader The Controller. The aliens usher the astronauts into their underground base, and moments later the surface is attacked by a creature the Xiliens call "Monster Zero", but which the astronauts recognize as King Ghidorah, a planet-destroying monster that had attacked Earth once before. The monster eventually leaves, but the Controller states that Ghidorah has been attacking repeatedly, forcing them to live underground in constant fear. He requests to borrow the Earth monsters Godzilla and Rodan to act as sentries against Ghidorah's attacks, in return for the cure for cancer (the English dub says the formula can cure any disease). The astronauts return to Earth and deliver the message.
Gay Purr-ee, 1h25
Directed by Joseph Barbera, William Hanna, Abe Levitow
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Adventure, Musical, Animation, Romance
Themes Films about animals, Films about music and musicians, Films about cats, Musical films, Children's films
Actors Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, Paul Frees, Mel Blanc, Red Buttons, Hermione Gingold

The story is set in 1895 France and takes place predominantly in Paris. However, it begins on a farm in rural Provence. The lovely housecat Mewsette and the accomplished but shy mouser Jaune Tom are in love ("Mewsette"), but the former is frustrated with his plebeian ways (and those of the farm), to the point of calling him a "clumsy country clod". Inspired by the human Jeanette's stories of glamour and sophistication in Paris ("Take My Hand, Paree"), Mewsette runs away by taking a train to the big city ("Roses Red, Violets Blue"), where she encounters the slick con-cat Meowrice (Paul Frees). Taking advantage of the country kitty's naivete, he puts her in the care of the sultry Madame Henretta Reubens-Chatte, who promises to turn Mewsette into a dainty debutante known as "The Belle of all Paris". Unbeknownst to Mewsette, Meowrice is grooming her to be the mail-order bride of a rich American cat in Pittsburgh known as "Mr. Henry Phtt" ("The Money Cat"). Meanwhile, Jaune Tom and his sidekick Robespierre arrive in Paris, searching for Mewsette.
The Tell-Tale Heart
Origin USA
Genres Horror, Crime, Animation
Actors James Mason, Laurence Payne, Adrienne Corri, Dermot Walsh

The plot focuses on a murderer whose increasing guilt leads him to believe he can hear his victim's heart still beating beneath the floorboards where he buried him. Seen through the eyes of the nameless narrator, the surrealistic images in the film help convey his descent into madness.
Gerald McBoing-Boing, 7minutes
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Animation
Actors Marvin Miller, Marvin Miller

Le film est basé sur une histoire du Dr Seuss, et raconte les aventures d'un petit garçon qui ne parle pas, mais s'exprime par des bruitages.

Distribution

Prophecies of Nostradamus, 1h54
Directed by Toshio Masuda
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Action
Themes Seafaring films, Films about religion, Transport films, Films set in the future, Political films, Disaster films
Actors Tetsurō Tanba, Kaoru Yumi, Yōko Tsukasa, Akihiko Hirata, Katsuhiko Sasaki, Hiroshi Koizumi

In 1835, Gentetsu Nishiyama begins preaching the prophecies of Michel de Nostradame using a copy of his book, "Centuries." When Nishiyama gets persecuted by the Tokugawa Shogunate for supposed heresy, his wife and son flees with the book in hand, passing down the knowledge to future generations. At the onset of World War II, his descendant, Gengaku, is interrogated by an Imperial Japanese Army officer about the family's continued preaching of the prophecies, which predicted the rise of Nazism and the Axis defeat.
All Monsters Attack, 1h10
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Origin Japon
Genres Science fiction, Fantasy
Themes Films about animals, Dinosaur films, La fin du monde, Kaiju films, Films about magic and magicians, Seafaring films, La préhistoire, Transport films, Animaux préhistoriques, Films about insects, Giant monster films, Godzilla films, Children's films, Films about extraterrestrial life, Disaster films
Actors Hideyo Amamoto, Kenji Sahara, Haruo Nakajima

Ichiro Miki (Tomonori Yazaki) is a highly imaginative but lonely latchkey kid growing up in urban (and at that time, polluted) Kawasaki. Every day he comes home to his family's empty apartment. His only friends are a toymaker named Shinpei Inami (Eisei Amamoto) and a young girl named Sachiko (Hidemi Ito). Every day after school, Ichiro is tormented by a gang of bullies led by a child named Sanko Gabara (Junichi Ito). To escape his loneliness, Ichiro sleeps and dreams about visiting Monster Island. During his visit he witnesses Godzilla battle three Kamacuras and Ebirah, a giant sea monster. Ichiro is then chased by a rogue Kamacuras and falls into a deep cave, but luckily avoids being caught by Kamacuras. Shortly afterwards, Ichiro is rescued from the cave by Godzilla's Son, Minilla. Ichiro quickly learns that Minilla has bully problems too, as he is bullied by a monstrous ogre known as Gabara.
Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol, 53minutes
Directed by Abe Levitow
Genres Comedy, Musical, Animation
Themes Christmas films, Time travel films, Ghost films
Actors Jim Backus, Morey Amsterdam, Jack Cassidy, Royal Dano, Paul Frees, Joan Gardner

A l'occasion d'une représentation du "Conte de Noêl" sur la scène de Broadway, Monsieur Magoo endosse le rôle du détestable Mr Scrooge. Le fantôme de son vieil associé vient le hanter pour qu'il comprenne qu'il est encore temps de changer. Il lui annonce la venue de trois esprits pour la veille de Noël, chargés de lui faire prendre conscience de l'importance d'ouvrir son cœur (et son porte-feuilles...)