Monsieur Pointu

September 8, 2023 in Canadian Films, Independent film makers, Pixilation films | Tags: , , , , , | 1 comment

Directors: André Leduc & Bernard Longpré
Release date: 1974
Rating: ★
Review:

Monsieur Pointu is a clown played by Paul Cormier, who also provides the short’s fiddle soundtrack. The clown tries to play the fiddle, but this turns out harder than it seems.

‘Monsieur Pointu’ consists of general clown routines, exaggerated and augmented by animation. André Leduc’s and Bernard Longpré’s pixilation animation is quite impressive, although the black screen also helps with all the tricks.

Unfortunately, their command of pixilation is much better than their comic timing, and literally none of the antics is funny. In fact, the action is very tiresome, and with its twelve minutes the short overstays its welcome extensively, especially if you don’t like clowns anyway, like me.

Watch ‘Monsieur Pointu’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Monsieur Pointu’ is available on the DVD ‘Best of the Best – Especially for Kids!’

The Owl Who Married a Goose: An Eskimo Legend

September 6, 2023 in ★★★★, Canadian Films, Films by female artists, Independent film makers, Sand animation films | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Caroline Leaf
Release date: 1974
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

‘The Owl Who Married a Goose: An Eskimo Legend’ was the first film acclaimed animator Caroline Leaf made for the National Film Board of Canada.

Done entirely in sand animation (in fact, Caroline Leaf was one of the very first animations to explore this technique for an entire film) the short tells about an owl, who marries a goose, but cannot follow her life style, with disastrous results. The legend is told and sung by real inuit, who also provide the goose’s and owl’s voices. As their Inuktitut language remains untranslated, one is lost in what is said, but luckily Leaf’s charming animation tells it all.

With its simple designs, effective animation and original soundtrack ‘The Owl Who Married a Goose: An Eskimo Legend’ created quite a stir, and the film surely is one of the most Canadian the NFB ever made. After this film Leaf set off to a great career as one of the most interesting of independent animation film makers, creating such intriguing masterpieces like ‘The Street’ (1976) and ‘Two Sisters’ (1990).

Watch ‘The Owl Who Married a Goose: An Eskimo Legend’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘The Owl Who Married a Goose: An Eskimo Legend’ is available on the DVD ‘Best of the Best – Especially for Kids!’

Evolution

September 4, 2023 in ★★½, Canadian Films, Independent film makers | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Michael Mills
Release date: 1971
Rating: ★★½
Review:

‘Evolution’ is Michael Mills’ cartoony take on the biological concept. The short features several fantasy creatures, starting with single cells in a pond (which all look like eye balls).

Mills depicts the origin of sex, the struggle of life, and the colonization of land, but none of his images are remotely serious, and most scenes consist of short gags. Unfortunately, the short is not too funny, and feels a little empty, ending quite abruptly and disappointingly.

Five years later Bruno Bozzetto did a much better job when depicting the same subject in his Boléro section of ‘Allegro non troppo’ (1976)

Watch ‘Evolution’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Evolution’ is available on the DVD ‘Best of the Best – Especially for Kids!’

Bankiet (Banquet)

September 1, 2023 in ★★★, cut-out animation films, European films, Films by female artists, Independent film makers, Poland | Tags: , , , , , | 1 comment

Director: Zofia Oraczewska
Release date: 1976
Rating: ★★★
Review:

In ‘Banquet’ a bunch of waiters and chefs are preparing a huge banquet for a large number of guests. But when the guests arrive, the banquet turns out to be very different than expected.

‘Banquet’ has a mixed design: the waiters and chefs are rather classic cartoony figures, while the meals and the guests are collages partly made out of photo material.

Jan Skorża’s cut-out animation is fair, if not outstanding, and the whole film is a little too empty to be memorable. I guess the Polish film makers were less in their game when trying an attempt at humor.

Watch ‘Banquet’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Banquet’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Anthology of Polish Animated Film’

Zupa (Soup)

August 30, 2023 in ★★★, European films, Independent film makers, Pixilation films, Poland | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Zbginiew Rybczyński
Release date: 1974
Rating: ★★★
Review:

In ‘Soup’ avant-garde film maker Zbigniew Rybczyński shows his fondness of repetitive use of live action material to create startling new images.

Rybczyński would perfect this technique in 1980 with the Academy Award winning short ‘Tango’, but ‘Soup’ already is intriguing and hard to describe. Rybczyński has tinted his source material in stark, contrasting colors, with reds, greens, yellows and blues really popping out of the screen.

The images show the daily routines of a married couple, until it is suggested that the man dies in a train crash. At that point the film burns down. The daily routines are strangely juxtaposed to each other, and there are some very odd touches, like a fork taking a bite out of cheek.

The alienating effect is greatly enhanced by the soundtrack. For sound designer Mieczysław Janik and composer Eugeniusz Rudnik have provided a highly disturbing score full of ordinary sounds amplified to a grotesque effect. For example, when the man brushes his teeth, this rather sounds like a fork scratching on a plate.

I don’t think ‘Soup’ is for everyone, but this intriguing film shows both Rybczyński’s unique approach to film making and the sheer creativity that Communist Poland was in the graphic arts in the 1960s and 1970s.

Watch ‘Soup’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Soup’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Anthology of Polish Animated Film’

Droga (The Road)

August 28, 2023 in ★★★, Black and White Films, European films, Independent film makers, Poland | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Mirosław Kijowicz
Release date: 1971
Rating: ★★★
Review:

‘The Road’ is a simple little black and white film about a man walking a road, but then he faces a fork in the road.

According to IMDb this is a parable on how choices have consequences, and I can see something in that. Nevertheless the film may be a little too simple, making its message rather vague and puzzling. For example, we only see the man from the back, and only the second choice he has is clearly motivated, with help from a text balloon. Nevertheless, ‘The Road’ is a charming example of the experimental approach to animation in Poland.

Watch ‘The Road’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘The Road’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Anthology of Polish Animated Film’

Butterfly Ball (Love Is All)

August 25, 2023 in ★★★★½, European films, Halas & Batchelor, United Kingdom | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Lee Mishkin
Release date: November 8, 1974
Rating: ★★★★½
Review:

This short video clip is an all favorite of mine, perfectly illustrating Roger Glover’s rather hippie-like hit song from his concept album for children ‘The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast’, which in turn is based on a poem with the same title.

Both the original poem, the record were designed by Alan Aldridge, and so is Halas & Batchelor’s animation film, with charming results. Harold Whitaker has turned these images into charming animation very well, and Lee Mishkin does a good job transferring the lyrics to faithful, if often surprising images.

Young Ronnie James Dio’s voice is given to a minstrel frog, who walks to the Butterfly Ball itself, together with a number of a masked animals. Three drunken salamanders provide some comic relief, as does a fat toad at the ball itself. The slightly surreal images are a delight throughout and the clip is over before you know it. I wish the whole record was transferred into animation this way.

Watch ‘Butterfly Ball (Love Is All)’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Butterfly Ball (Love Is All)’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Halas & Batchelor Short Film Collection’

It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown

August 23, 2023 in ★★★, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Phil Roman
Airing date: April 9, 1974
Stars: Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Marcie, Peppermint Patty, Sally, Schroeder, Snoopy, Woodstock
Rating: ★★★
Review:

The twelfth Peanuts special was another holiday special, this time celebrating Easter. As with all Peanuts specials the story evolves at a leisurely speed, this time mixing ca. three stories into very short cross-cutting scenes.

The first and most entertaining story is about Peppermint Patty trying to teach Marcie how to paint eggs, but this goes haywire, because Marcie has absolutely no clue on how to prepare the eggs. The second story is about Snoopy buying a birdhouse for Woodstock, who initially shivers in the cold rain. Then there’s a story arc in which Linus tells the gospel of the Easter Bunny, just like he did on the Great Pumpkin.

Several scenes take place in a department store, and some of them are charming, if totally independent of the main story material, like Peppermint Patty, Marcie and Snoopy dancing to some Christmas-themed music boxes. This gives the episode a rather disjointed, almost improvisatory feel.

Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack is great throughout, giving Snoopy and Woodstock an especially groovy soul-jazz theme, while the Easter Beagle is accompanied by a jazzy version of Beethoven’s seventh symphony.

Watch ‘It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown’ yourself and tell me what you think:

It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Peanuts 1970’s Collection Vol. 1’

It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown

August 21, 2023 in ★★ | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Phil Roman
Airing date: February 1, 1974
Stars: Snoopy, Woodstock
Rating: ★★
Review:

‘It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown’ is the first Peanuts special not to be directed by Bill Melendez. Instead, Phil Roman takes the director’s seat, after co-directing the previous episode, ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving‘ with Melendez.

There’s little wrong with Roman’s directing, except for an odd staging here and there, but ‘It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown’ is one of the weakest of the Peanuts episodes. Its story is incredibly straightforward, and lacks the little drama of the other episodes. This is mostly because the story is concentrated on Woodstock and Snoopy, instead of the children.

The episode starts with Woodstock trying to build a nest, and it’s this nest that drives the plot. The best parts of the episode deal with the power of imagination: Woodstock almost drowning in the bird bath and Woodstock riding an imaginary elevator. Also great is Snoopy as Woodstock’s attorney, issuing letters full of nonsensical Latin.

But the running gag in which Woodstock gets repeatedly wet falls rather flat, and one senses that more could have been made out of it. Also, the episode’s closing feels rather forced. In fact, the best aspect of the episode is its groovy soul-jazz music, which is a delight throughout the episode.

Watch ‘It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Peanuts 1970’s Collection Vol. 1’

Riblje Oko (Fisheye)

August 18, 2023 in ★★★, Croatia, European films, Independent film makers, Zagreb Film | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Joško Marušić
Release date: 1979
Rating: ★★★
Review:

This dark and surreal film starts with fishing villagers saying goodbye to their men who go out fishing on the sea. But when they’re gone, the fish suddenly come to the shore…

‘Fisheye’ is animated very well and knows a sickly color palette with its pale yellows, greens and blues on a black canvas. There’s some great moving perspective animation of the fishing village. The film contains a grim atmosphere, but in the end is too one-dimensional to make a lasting impression. The abrupt and inconclusive ending doesn’t help.

Watch ‘Fisheye’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Fisheye’ is available on the DVD ‘The Best of Zagreb Film: Be Careful What You Wish For and The Classic Collection’

Dnevnik (Diary)

August 16, 2023 in ★★★★★, Croatia, European films, Zagreb Film | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 comment

Director: Nedeljko Dragić
Release date: 1974
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:

This animated short is very akin to the later ‘Satiemania’ by Zdenko Gašparović. The film features drawings and paintings on a white canvas, which change and morph in a stream-of-consciousness-like fashion.

The short starts with rather Saul Steinberg-like images of a man walking, while changing into all kinds of forms, figurative and abstract. The man then changes into a driver, while all the metamorphosis continues. This part contains some spectacular perspective and moving background animation.

The films then shifts to a party scene, in which a very cartoony mouse and cat form a running gag. From this point the film seems to say something about modern life and modern Western commercialism. As the film progresses, the images get more and more agitated, as if depicting the stressful life in the modern city. The film ends with another walking figure, showing a lonely man on an island inside.

‘Diary’ is a tour de force of imagination, and the images never cease to amaze. Nevertheless, the film’s purpose remains puzzling and leaves the viewer with more questions than answers.

Watch ‘Diary’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Diary’ is available on the DVD ‘The Best of Zagreb Film: Be Careful What You Wish For and The Classic Collection’

Okey! (Okay!)

August 14, 2023 in ★★, Croatia, European films, Independent film makers, Zagreb Film | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Zlatko Plavinic
Release date: 1973
Rating: ★★
Review:

This is another very short gag cartoon from the Zagreb studio. In this short a man and a woman haggle for paid sex, or are they?

This cartoon features a monochrome ochre background, cartoonish designs, and dialogue in gibberish and loud nos. The single gag unfortunately is too lame for words.

‘Okay!’ is released on the DVD ‘The Best of Zagreb Film: Be Careful What You Wish For and The Classic Collection’

Molitva (Prayer)

August 11, 2023 in ★★★, Croatia, European films, Independent film makers, Zagreb Film | Tags: , , , , | 2 comments

Director: Radivoje Gvozdanović
Release date: 1972
Rating: ★★★
Review:

This is a very short cartoon not clocking even one minute in which a man gets bunt at a stake. When the flames reach him he starts to pray…

This is a one gag cartoon that is over before you know it and a great example of the quirky humor that prevailed in the Zagreb Film studio.

Watch ‘Prayer’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Prayer’ is available on the DVD ‘The Best of Zagreb Film: Be Careful What You Wish For and The Classic Collection’

Metla (Maxicat in Broom), Ručak (Maxicat in Lunch) & Šešir (Maxicat in the Hat)

August 9, 2023 in ★★★, Croatia, European films, Independent film makers, Zagreb Film | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Zlatko Grgić
Release date: 1971
Stars: Maxicat
Rating: ★★★
Review:

These are three very short episodes of the Maxicat series, which consisted of 24 episodes in total. These feature a very cartoony cat with a big nose experiencing Pink Panther-like adventures on a grey, featureless canvas.

In the first Maxicat finds a magical hat, in the second he eats spaghetti, and in the last he finds a flying broom. All three are short and classic gag cartoons with the dialogue-less action being accompanied by very jolly music. As these three episodes prove, Maxicat is an enjoyable series from the very creative Zagreb Film Studio from Yugoslavia.

Watch some Maxicat episodes yourself and tell me what you think:

These Maxicat episodes are available on the DVD ‘The Best of Zagreb Film: Be Careful What You Wish For and The Classic Collection’

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

August 7, 2023 in ★★★, Television programs | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Directors: Bill Melendez & Phil Roman
Airing date: November 20, 1973
Stars: Charlie Brown, Franklin, Linus, Lucy, Marcie, Peppermint Patty, Sally, Snoopy, Woodstock
Rating: ★★★
Review:

‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’, the tenth of the Peanuts television specials, is the third of the Charlie Brown holiday specials, this time devoted to Thanksgiving. As such it’s a little preachy, especially through Linus’s lines.

The episode’s main problem is caused by Peppermint Patty when she invites herself, Marcie and Franklin over to Charlie Brown’s house, when he’s not even supposed to be home. Luckily, Linus, Snoopy and Woodstock help out.

The episode’s highlight is the silent comedy of Snoopy and Woodstock setting up a dinner table in the yard. This part is accompanied by a charming soul song devoted to the little yellow bird. Actually, the background music is very charming throughout most of the episode, with Vince Guaraldi lively piano trio music, joined by Tom Harrell on trumpet and Chuck Bennett on trombone. Only when Snoopy and Woodstock are putting on Thanksgiving costumes, this is exchanged for some ugly electronic music.

As always with the Peanuts films, the pace is relaxed. The animation is fair, if not outstanding, and the characters charming, and faithful to Schulz’s original comic strip.

Watch an excerpt from ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Peanuts 1970’s Collection Vol. 1’

Küzdők (The Struggle)

July 31, 2023 in ★★★★, Black and White Films, European films, Hungary, Independent film makers | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Director: Marcell Jankovics
Release date: May 27, 1977
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

‘The Struggle’ is as short as Jankovics’s previous film, ‘Sisyphus’ (1974), and again in black and white. This time Jankovics uses pencil on a white canvas to depict a sculptor sculpting a human figure. But then the sculpture itself starts sculpting back…

Jankovics’s design is very realistic, and his animation of the highest quality, but the film is less interesting to look at than ‘Sisyphus’ because this time Jankovics shows more than he suggests. Nevertheless, this is a clever little film that like ‘Sisyphus’ shows that Jankovics was one of the greatest and most interesting animators ever.

Watch ‘The Struggle’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘The Struggle’ is available on the Blu-Ray of ‘Son of the White Mare’

Sisyphus

July 28, 2023 in ★★★★, Black and White Films, European films, Hungary, Independent film makers | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Marcell Jankovics
Release date: 1974
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

‘Sisyphus’ is a very short animation film, which is indeed about a man pushing a large rock up a steep hill.

The animation is done in black pen on white paper, and there’s no background art whatsoever. Most impressive is Jankovics’s animation: his command of the human form is formidable, and of the suggestion of muscles pushing up an enormous weight absolutely convincing. What’s even more wonderful is that the man is rendered in various variations of abstraction, from quite realistic to only suggestive splashes of ink. The soundtrack, with its very heavy breathing and growning, maybe a little too much, but this short is a wonderful example of the marvelous things animation can do.

Watch ‘Sisyphus’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Sisyphus’ is available on the Blu-Ray of ‘Son of the White Mare’

Dreams on Wings

July 26, 2023 in ★★★★, European films, Hungary, Independent film makers | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Marcell Jankovics
Release date: 1968
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

‘Dreams on Wings’ is an advertising film, but a most beautiful at that.

All the animation is done in watercolor paintings in very bold colors. Moreover, there’s a lot of metamorphosis, with images hardly staying static for more than a few frames. In one sequence, for example, an image of a galloping centaur changes into an arrow, which changes into a jet, which morphs into an airplane, which form the words Air India, etc.

Also the countries Air India flies to are depicted in the most poetic fashion. For example, Switzerland is depicted by mountains made of chocolate, and Egypt by a camel with a pyramid hump. The colorful images never seize to amaze, and the fun is enhanced further by a lively soundtrack by János Gyulai Gaál.

‘Dreams on Wings’ is available on the Blu-Ray of ‘Son of the White Mare’

Cockaboody

July 24, 2023 in ★★★★, Independent film makers | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Directors: John & Faith Hubley
Release date: 1973
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

In ‘Cockaboody’ John and Faith Hubley returned to the techniques and world of ‘Moonbird‘ (1959). Once again they recorded the voices of their own children, this time the toddlers Emily and Georgia, while playing. The soundtrack is thus by design completely improvised and as children’s conversations go, all over the place.

John and Faith Hubley illustrate the dialogue with delightful drawings that augment the fantasy of the two girls. For example, when Georgia goes into a tantrum, it takes the form of a green tiger threatening her older sister. Or when Georgia utters the original word ‘cockaboody’, which gives the film its title, it’s transformed into a mysterious duck-like creature.

The watercolor background art convincingly depicts the Hubley’s house as one big place to play in. Throughout the film, we remain with the two little girls, for one little scene in which we see the mother’s reaction to the loud noises the two toddlers produce.

‘Cockaboody’ may be a rather random film, starting and ending nowhere, but in between we have a lovely ride together with the two children.

Watch ‘Cockaboody’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Cockaboody’ was released on the DVD ‘Selected Films of John and Faith Hubley 1956-1973’, which came with the March/April 2014 issue of magazine ‘The Believer’

остров (The Island)

July 21, 2023 in European films, Independent film makers, Russia, Soyuzmultfilm | Tags: , , , , | 1 comment

Director: Fyodor Khitruk
Release date: 1973
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

‘The Island’ is a short gag film in which a bearded castaway is stranded on a tiny island.

Khitruk explores this traditional cartoon setting, and brings it into new directions. The man longs to be rescued, but nobody helps him, though the ocean turns out to be very crowded, indeed. In fact, in the end, the man is far worse off than he was in the beginning.

Khitruk’s cell animation is effective, his designs are charming, and his timing is excellent. But the film is more than just a mere series of gags, as Khitruk satirizes man’s aggression, greed, emptiness and folly. It’s signifying that the only person helping the main protagonist, is one who has even less than the castaway he helps. Thus ‘Island’ is more than just a little gag film, it’s a humorous essay on the human condition, and it’s not an optimistic one.

Watch ‘The Island’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘The Island’ is available on the DVD ‘Masters of Russian Animation Volume 2’

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 918 other subscribers
Bookmark and Share

Categories