Michael Draine's Twisted Vista
Frazetta: Painting With Fire
(Razor Digital) DVD $19.99
In the early ‘60s, former comics artist
Frank Frazetta revolutionized the moribund
field of fantasy illustration with a stream
of paperback cover paintings distinguished
by unprecedented technique, drama, and
intensity. The works of Edgar Rice Burroughs
and Robert E. Howard reached vast new
audiences, lured by Frazetta’s apocalyptic
landscapes populated by ferocious warriors,
grotesque monstrosities,and fantastically
sensual women.
Frazetta’s vision remains as culturally
relevant as ever, evinced by the extent to
which his paintings influenced Zach Snyder’s
film adaptation of the Frank Miller graphic
novel, 300.
In a 92m. documentary informed by a fan’s
passion and attention to detail, director Lance
Laspina lifts the curtain on an artist who has
largely avoided the public eye. Interviews
photographed in appropriately smoky umbers
find the artist by turns nostalgic, self-effacing,
and intimidating. Frazetta seethes with rage
as he recalls the gross mistreatment of a
thyroid imbalance which incapacitated him
from 1986 to 1994: “Eight years of horror…
I mean HORROR.”
An oil painting done at the age of eight
reveals the depth of Frazetta’s inborn gift;
footage of the 72-year-old master drawing
drawing with his left hand (his right arm has
suffered microtremors since a 1995 stroke)
portrays indomitable willpower. Frazetta has
recovered from a subsequent stroke which
affected his speech during the interviews
recorded for this program.
Artists including Michael Kaluta, William
Stout, Berni Wrightson, Brom, and Simon
Bisley each describe the transformative effect
of their first exposure to Frazetta. Several
commentators lament Frazetta’s tendency
to rework published paintings, which he
still practices. Compare the initial Cat Girl
(above right, 1966) with the lush transforma-
wrought upon the same canvas.
The silver-haired, yet eternally boyish Al
Williamson reflects on collaborating with
Frazetta in the ’50s. Tragically, Williamson
has since manifested Alzheimer’s disease.
Though Frank’s wife, Ellie, skirts the camera,
her presence permeates the film, both as
an anchor throughout Frank’s emotional
storms, and as an innovative publisher/busi-
ness partner. Frazetta’s offspring reflect with
with pride and fondness upon their father’s
achievement.
The film covers oft-overlooked portions of
the artist’s career, such as his brushes
with Hollywood. Directors John Milius and
Ralph Bakshi come across as vacuous
blowhards, an impression confirmed by
lackluster clips from Milius’ Conan and
Bakshi’s Fire and Ice. Regrettably, British
animator Richard Williams’ breathtaking
“Jovan: The Power,” a 1978 TV commercial
which brought Frazetta’s Against the Gods
to life is not included.
Potential controversies, such as the story
that Frazetta was blacklisted by former
employer Al Capp, are left untouched.
Likewise, James Warren, publisher of the
black & white horror comics Creepy, Eerie,
and Vampirella, is conspicuous by his
absence. In the 1964-66 interval between
the Ace ERB paperbacks and the Lancer
Conan series, Warren magazines were
Frazetta’s most impressive forum. Warren’s
sale of an unreturned Frazetta original in
1989 may account for his Trotsky-like
absence from the documentary.
The program is presented 1.33:1, with
interviews occupying a windowboxed 16:9
frame. A high bit-rate provides excellent detail
and accurate color. The art galleries on the
second disc unfold like slide shows, without
unfold like slide shows, without requiring		Music Review Index
constant remote clicks.
Painting With Fire succeeds on numerous
levels: a tribute; an introduction to today’s
vital yet still largely unacknowledged world		Twisted Cinema
of fantasy art; and as meditation on age,
illness, and mortality.
Michael Draine
All artwork © 2007 Frank Frazetta
www.frazettaartgallery.com
www.cinemachine.net
Painting with Fire is also available from
Blue Underground as a bonus disc to the
animated feature Fire and Ice.