The Colour of Danger

Here’s another reason why Don Patterson should have kept his director’s job at Walter Lantz.

There’s a good colour change effect at the start of Termites From Mars (1953). As the Martian danger approaches in various gag situation, the sky turns darker and more ominous, becoming various shades of magenta.



Later Lantz cartoons wouldn’t have bothered with all this. They would have gone for the gag (ship becomes a sub, plane hides in a volcano, skyscrapers turn into huge gun barrels) and that’s it.

There’s no story credit on this short. La Verne Harding, Ray Abrams and Paul J. Smith are the animators.