This filmed version of the theatrical, 2-person play was brought to life by the animation. The stunt behind the play was that a married couple entered a bedroom with a four poster bed. Through a number of scenes, they live out their entire married life. The film cleverly used animation by John Hubley to open up the play and go out into the world. The animation was profound and moving (perhaps even more so than the live action), its design was new and brilliant, and its execution was superior to almost anything on the animation circuit at the time. (So superior was it, that some animators in Zagreb, Yugoslavia confiscated a print circulating there and studied it for weeks, running the animation sequences over and over. The end result was the creation of the Zagreb animation studio.) The film is out of circulation. You can't get it on video and you don't see it in retrospective screenings. Perhaps someone will get a print on the market. If they do, animation lovers should see it for historical context. They should also see it to learn what animators did with animation 50 years ago and are not doing now.
Review of The Four Poster
