Rainbow Dance

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Rainbow Dance
Opening titles
Directed byLen Lye
Written byLen Lye
Produced by
StarringRupert Doone
CinematographyFrank Jones
Music byRico's Creole Band
Distributed byGPO Film Unit
Release date
  • 1936 (1936)
Running time
4 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Rainbow Dance is a 1936 British animated colour film, directed and written by New Zealand-born animator Len Lye. It was commissioned by the British Post Office, produced by the GPO Film Unit[1][2][3] and was filmed using the Gasparcolor process.[4]

Synopsis

A man is holding an umbrella in the rain. Then, he starts dancing, and as he does, the backgrounds completely change. Then, he starts dancing near the ocean, with a woman and fish following. Then, he plays tennis with cel-animated circles as another man watches. A colorful array of shapes follow, and the man sits and thinks, as the shapes come back and images come off the score sheet. The music ends, and a man's voice says: "Post Office Savings Bank puts a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for you", followed by "No deposit is too small for the Post Office Savings Bank".

Cast

Reception

Len Lye, while using figures in silhouette, is still moving freely in an abstract world of his own imagination.[5]


Home media

The film is included on the DVD We Live in Two Worlds: The GPO Film Unit Collection Volume 2.[6]

References

  1. "Rainbow Dance". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  2. Horrocks, Roger (2001). Len Lye: A Biography. Auckland University Press. pp. 210–217. ISBN 978-1869402471.
  3. Anthony, Scott; Mansell, James, eds. (2011). The Projection of Britain: A History of the GPO Film Unit. BFI. p. 131. ISBN 978-1844573745.
  4. Sexton, Jamie. "Rainbow Dance (1936)". screenonline.org.uk. BFI Screen Online. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  5. The Scotsman - Monday 12 December 1938