I'm not sure what Jean Painlevé was doing between 1939 and 1945, but it may have had something to do with the fact that he was the son of a Prime Minister of France, a scientist in his own right, a film maker, and there happened to be a war going on that was distracting people and sucking the lifeblood from such necessary projects as this one.
Get it? Well, I don't have sharp a sense of humor as the director, who filled this one with lots of Jazz music, from the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens, even as he starts out telling us about all the ugly, filthy disgusting creatures that infest our planet. Did this start out as a war documentary? Were the various disgusting creatures going to be followed by Hitler, and then came word that he was dead. "Alors!" says our auteur. "No need to waste all that footage. I'll just make it about.....bats. Or maybe haggis. No, I'll go with bats."
Boy is this one disgusting. The trouble is, like all of Painlevé's stuff, it's accurate.
Get it? Well, I don't have sharp a sense of humor as the director, who filled this one with lots of Jazz music, from the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens, even as he starts out telling us about all the ugly, filthy disgusting creatures that infest our planet. Did this start out as a war documentary? Were the various disgusting creatures going to be followed by Hitler, and then came word that he was dead. "Alors!" says our auteur. "No need to waste all that footage. I'll just make it about.....bats. Or maybe haggis. No, I'll go with bats."
Boy is this one disgusting. The trouble is, like all of Painlevé's stuff, it's accurate.