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Rock & Rule
Catalog Number
MV800728
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Primary Distributor (If not listed, select "OTHER")
Catalog Number
MV800728
Primary Distributor (If not listed, select "OTHER")
Release Year
Country
77 mins (NTSC)
N/A | N/A | N/A
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Second Distributor
Rock & Rule (1983)
Additional Information
Additional Information
Sound you can see in the movie you can feel!
The Beauty... The Beast... The Beat!
A rock & roll singer searches for eternal life in this animated musical fantasy set in a post-nuclear dystopia. Similar to the earlier Heavy Metal (1981) in tone, this film attempts to incorporate mythical themes and mutant beings with music by Cheap Trick, Deborah Harry, Iggy Pop, and other popular acts of the time, with mixed success. Clive Smith's film was a disappointment at the box-office, but has since attracted a minor cult following.
Rock & Rule (known as Ring of Power outside of North America) is a 1983 Canadian animated musical science fiction fantasy film from the animation studio Nelvana. It was produced and directed by the company's founders, Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and Clive A. Smith. The film features the voices of Don Francks, Greg Salata, and Susan Roman. It was the studio's first feature film and the first one produced entirely within Canada.
Centering on rock and roll music, the film includes songs by Cheap Trick, Chris Stein and Debbie Harry of the pop group Blondie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Earth, Wind & Fire. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States populated by mutant humanoids. With John Halfpenny, Patrick Loubert, and Peter Sauder at the helm of its screenplay, Rock & Rule was a heavily derived spin-off of Nelvana's earlier TV special from 1978, The Devil and Daniel Mouse. Its distributor, MGM, acquired United Artists at the time and the new management team had no interest in it. As a result, it was never released in North America except for a limited release in Boston, Massachusetts. It received minor attention in Germany, where it was screened at a film festival. it was funded in part by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which had obtained the Canadian TV rights. A hard-to-find VHS was released at that time, followed by a laserdisc release. The film developed a cult following from repeated airings on HBO and Showtime and the circulation of bootleg VHS copies at comic book conventions booths (with Ralph Bakshi named as director). In 2005, Unearthed Films released a special 2-disc edition DVD of the film.
Prior to its completion, Rock & Rule was picked up by U.S. film studio MGM/UA in April 1982.[3]
Controversy and reaction[edit]
Because of scenes involving drug use, implied devil worship, mild sexuality, and some profanity, the film could only be marketed to an adult audience. No soundtrack album was ever released (though some of the songs appeared as B-sides on subsequent singles by the musicians involved with the film). Commentary on the Special Edition DVD partially lays the blame for the film's lack of release in the U.S. on MGM. The DVD claims that management at MGM changed and the new overseers of the project were not as enthusiastic about the film as their predecessors. This caused script revisions and other changes which damaged the flow of the story, delayed its release date and raised costs. In the end, MGM was still unhappy with the film, so it was shelved.
Critic Janet Maslin of The New York Times commented: "The animation [...] has an unfortunate way of endowing the male characters with doggy-looking muzzles. In any case, the mood is dopey and loud."[4] This has been cited by fans as an odd critique, since the characters were meant to be humans affected by radiation, resulting in them looking like dogs, cats and mice.
Though it had a limited theatrical release, the film soon developed a cult following in the United States as a result of late-night airings on the cable channels HBO and Showtime
Prior to its completion, Rock & Rule was picked up by U.S. film studio MGM/UA in April 1982.[3]
Controversy and reaction[edit]
Because of scenes involving drug use, implied devil worship, mild sexuality, and some profanity, the film could only be marketed to an adult audience. No soundtrack album was ever released (though some of the songs appeared as B-sides on subsequent singles by the musicians involved with the film). Commentary on the Special Edition DVD partially lays the blame for the film's lack of release in the U.S. on MGM. The DVD claims that management at MGM changed and the new overseers of the project were not as enthusiastic about the film as their predecessors. This caused script revisions and other changes which damaged the flow of the story, delayed its release date and raised costs. In the end, MGM was still unhappy with the film, so it was shelved.
Critic Janet Maslin of The New York Times commented: "The animation [...] has an unfortunate way of endowing the male characters with doggy-looking muzzles. In any case, the mood is dopey and loud."[4] This has been cited by fans as an odd critique, since the characters were meant to be humans affected by radiation, resulting in them looking like dogs, cats and mice.
Though it had a limited theatrical release, the film soon developed a cult following in the United States as a result of late-night airings on the cable channels HBO and Showtime
Release Date: August 5, 1985 from MGM/UA
The Beauty... The Beast... The Beat!
A rock & roll singer searches for eternal life in this animated musical fantasy set in a post-nuclear dystopia. Similar to the earlier Heavy Metal (1981) in tone, this film attempts to incorporate mythical themes and mutant beings with music by Cheap Trick, Deborah Harry, Iggy Pop, and other popular acts of the time, with mixed success. Clive Smith's film was a disappointment at the box-office, but has since attracted a minor cult following.
Rock & Rule (known as Ring of Power outside of North America) is a 1983 Canadian animated musical science fiction fantasy film from the animation studio Nelvana. It was produced and directed by the company's founders, Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and Clive A. Smith. The film features the voices of Don Francks, Greg Salata, and Susan Roman. It was the studio's first feature film and the first one produced entirely within Canada.
Centering on rock and roll music, the film includes songs by Cheap Trick, Chris Stein and Debbie Harry of the pop group Blondie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Earth, Wind & Fire. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States populated by mutant humanoids. With John Halfpenny, Patrick Loubert, and Peter Sauder at the helm of its screenplay, Rock & Rule was a heavily derived spin-off of Nelvana's earlier TV special from 1978, The Devil and Daniel Mouse. Its distributor, MGM, acquired United Artists at the time and the new management team had no interest in it. As a result, it was never released in North America except for a limited release in Boston, Massachusetts. It received minor attention in Germany, where it was screened at a film festival. it was funded in part by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which had obtained the Canadian TV rights. A hard-to-find VHS was released at that time, followed by a laserdisc release. The film developed a cult following from repeated airings on HBO and Showtime and the circulation of bootleg VHS copies at comic book conventions booths (with Ralph Bakshi named as director). In 2005, Unearthed Films released a special 2-disc edition DVD of the film.
Prior to its completion, Rock & Rule was picked up by U.S. film studio MGM/UA in April 1982.[3]
Controversy and reaction[edit]
Because of scenes involving drug use, implied devil worship, mild sexuality, and some profanity, the film could only be marketed to an adult audience. No soundtrack album was ever released (though some of the songs appeared as B-sides on subsequent singles by the musicians involved with the film). Commentary on the Special Edition DVD partially lays the blame for the film's lack of release in the U.S. on MGM. The DVD claims that management at MGM changed and the new overseers of the project were not as enthusiastic about the film as their predecessors. This caused script revisions and other changes which damaged the flow of the story, delayed its release date and raised costs. In the end, MGM was still unhappy with the film, so it was shelved.
Critic Janet Maslin of The New York Times commented: "The animation [...] has an unfortunate way of endowing the male characters with doggy-looking muzzles. In any case, the mood is dopey and loud."[4] This has been cited by fans as an odd critique, since the characters were meant to be humans affected by radiation, resulting in them looking like dogs, cats and mice.
Though it had a limited theatrical release, the film soon developed a cult following in the United States as a result of late-night airings on the cable channels HBO and Showtime
Prior to its completion, Rock & Rule was picked up by U.S. film studio MGM/UA in April 1982.[3]
Controversy and reaction[edit]
Because of scenes involving drug use, implied devil worship, mild sexuality, and some profanity, the film could only be marketed to an adult audience. No soundtrack album was ever released (though some of the songs appeared as B-sides on subsequent singles by the musicians involved with the film). Commentary on the Special Edition DVD partially lays the blame for the film's lack of release in the U.S. on MGM. The DVD claims that management at MGM changed and the new overseers of the project were not as enthusiastic about the film as their predecessors. This caused script revisions and other changes which damaged the flow of the story, delayed its release date and raised costs. In the end, MGM was still unhappy with the film, so it was shelved.
Critic Janet Maslin of The New York Times commented: "The animation [...] has an unfortunate way of endowing the male characters with doggy-looking muzzles. In any case, the mood is dopey and loud."[4] This has been cited by fans as an odd critique, since the characters were meant to be humans affected by radiation, resulting in them looking like dogs, cats and mice.
Though it had a limited theatrical release, the film soon developed a cult following in the United States as a result of late-night airings on the cable channels HBO and Showtime
Release Date: August 5, 1985 from MGM/UA
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