VINCENT (1982)

“Vincent Malloy is 7 years old.

He is always polite and does what he is told.

For a boy his age, he’s considered as nice.

...but he wants to be just like Vincent Price.”

Turning 63 years old today is director Tim Burton. Today’s Must See Movie is one of the filmmaker’s earliest works, the short film VINCENT (1982).

The best way to describe VINCENT is Dr. Seuss possessed by Edgar Allen Poe through the narration of Vincent Price.

Tim Burton made the macabre tale while working as a conceptual artist at Disney. Shot in the style of German expressionistic films of the 1920s, the six minute stop motion poetry story is a love letter to Burton’s idol Vincent Price.

Price returned the affection on stating that VINCENT was "the most gratifying thing that ever happened. It was immortality...better than a star on Hollywood Boulevard.”

The film screened at festivals and Disney played the animated short on limited screens in front of the Matt Dillon vehicle TEX (1982). Although the movie is not currently available on Disney+, the film is a bonus feature on the 2008 special edition of A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993) as well as part of the very awesome DVD anthology Cinema16: American Short Films (2006).

VINCENT can also be found on YouTube - https://youtu.be/fxQcBKUPm8o

It is an interesting time capsule. In addition to showcasing the young talent of Burton, it also gives some nice winks to elements we will see in his future work.