Showing posts with label Animation. Show all posts
The Tale of the Fox [1930]
The Tale of the fox is a 1930 stop motion animation film by Wladyslaw Starewicz. It is based on the classic stories of the clever fox which all of us must have read/heard as a kid. It is the story of one such clever fox Reynard who outwits every other animal and make a fool out of them time and again. Almost every other animal in the kingdom became the victim of his Shenanigans. After every new complain, the king [Lion] sent one of his agents to bring the fox in front of him but when all of them failed to do so, King himself leads an army to attack the fox’s castle.
Starewicz had previously done short animations such as the cameraman’s revenge and the Insect’s Christmas but collaborating with Irene, his daughter, he made his first and only feature length animated film.
Wladyslaw Starewicz was one of the pioneers of animation cinema; he used dead insects to create puppet animation and successfully made “the cameraman’s revenge”. The Tale of the fox was a development in his craft where he made use of extremely expressive puppets, using voiceovers and a soundtrack. There are details which is admirable even after 7 decades. If you liked Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, you would understand the effort and brilliance of this film.
Starewicz was among the ranks of Walt Disney, his career started a decade earlier than Walt Disney and the influence of his work can be seen in some of the earlier works of Terry Gilliam and Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. Sometimes his puppets looked creepy and insane that resembled the mannerism of Zombies.
Starewicz did complete justice with the film; he understood the innocence of the story and never made it appear too evil but humorous. The fox is sharp, sly but at the same time adorably entertaining. There is also a twist ending which many of us won’t expect from a fairy tale, but here we have an interesting ending to the story.
It is a pioneer work of animation and it is surprisingly fun to watch. It was only the sixth feature length animation in history. It is a true classic of cinema which didn’t receive its deserving larger audience.
Movie Geek's Rating: ★★★½
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Pauvre Pierrot [1892]: first of its kind
I love to study history, and it can't be more fascinating than to know about the history of cinema. Silent films are the pioneers in Cinema and this post is dedicated to a significant silent film that may not have been talked about much.
Pauvre Pierrot is a silent film directed by Émile Reynaud. It was unique considering the time being, it was the first animation short film, first in color [hand painted], first with a background score and the first one with a narrative and plot.
What's The Plot?
Arlequin and Colombine are lovers, one night Arlequin sneaks into Colombine's house to meet her. Meanwhile Pierrot knocks at the door and the lovers hide, Pierrot starts singing in an attempt to woo Colombine but Arlequin scares him without making himself visible to Pierrot, thus the poor Pierrot had to go away.
Why is it important?
Though it has a run time of 4 minutes only, I find it interesting enough. It is interesting as an experimental film, imagine the joy people must have had on their faces watching a "story" on screen for the first time, A man, a woman and a second man being teased by the protagonist, that too in color; it must have been fascinating, like watching stars on earth. It is important to preserve history and admire it for its existence in the first place. Do watch it and you may like the idea too and feel the achievement it had been in 1892.
It is a french film and was released on 28th October 1892 and is directed by Émile Reynaud. You may be interested in another historical piece of work; Sallie Gardner at a Gallop.
