The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics (1965)

Directors:

Chuck Jones
Maurice Noble (co-director)

Writer:

Norton Juster (original story and screenplay)

Release Date:

31 December 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Family | Romance

Plot:

A simple line attempts to woo his true love, a dot, away from the unkempt squiggle she prefers. But...

Plot Keywords:

Line | Dot | Squiggle | Surrealism | Abstract Film

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Robert Morley

...

Narrator (voice)

Directed by
Chuck Jones
Maurice Noble		(co-director)

Writing credits
Norton Juster		(original story and screenplay)

Produced by
Les Goldman	....	producer
Chuck Jones	....	producer

Original Music by
Eugene Poddany		(music)

Production Design by
Maurice Noble

Camera and Electrical Department
Buf Nerbovig	....	camera planning

Animation Department
Philip DeGuard	....	backgrounds
Ken Harris	....	animator
Don Morgan	....	backgrounds
Tom Ray	....	animator
Phil Roman	....	animator (as Philip Roman)
Richard Thompson	....	animator (as Dick Thompson)
Don Towsley	....	supervising animator
Ben Washam	....	animator
Don Morgan	....	layout artist (uncredited)

Other crew
Don Foster	....	typographics

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1965) (USA) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

The Dot and the Line (Australia)
The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics

Runtime:

10 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | USA:Approved

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

To give the squiggle an unkempt appearance, the animation drawings were inked on rice paper. The ink bled, creating a textured line that was then Xeroxed onto cel.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: Once upon a time there was a sensible, straight line, who was hopelessly in love, with a dot.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Great Performances: Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens - A Life in Animation (#29.4)" (2000)

Exceptional effort to maximize the limits inherent in limited animation quite successfully

This short won an Academy Award and justly so. While others have said the scripted narration is not terribly good, I disagree. There are one or two excessively florid points, but Robert Morley's marvellous reading covers those and overall, the scripted narration is good. The animation succeeds in part because of the narration. Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble have every right to be well pleased with this cartoon. Why it isn't in print, I don't understand. Highly Recommended.