Forget all you knew about Jain Peinlevé as a filmmaker. With this one here, he enters the territory of animated fiction, something I never expected to see from him looking at all the documentaries he made. The runtime is 13 minutes, which is similar to some of his other works, but the fact that he used color here and he usually didn't in the 1930s makes a difference. This is the story of Bluebeard, one that has been told many times by all kinds of filmmakers and Painlevé may actually be among the most famous who gave it a go. Sadly, while his documentaries were good, sometimes even outstanding, for their time, this one here isn't. The big American companies produced superior material in the 1930s already. But it is nonetheless interesting to see Painlevé try something different. Always nice to broaden one's horizon and it is not a problem at all if it doesn't work out like in this case. Not trying is the biggest failure.
3 Reviews
Not for the Kiddies...
petersmovieposters-3637725 August 2018
While I realize they were doing claymation in the silent era seeing one this early was a real surprise. Recounting the story of the brutish, serially married Bluebeard (obviously) it has the garish colors of a Silly Symphony, the production design of a Busby Berkeley musical, raw, 300 style ultra-violence, all set to an operatic score. I'm guessing French enfants were familiar with the Perrault story but man, oh. man, this is truly the grimmest of fairy tales. Know what to expect but definitely try to track this down.
What a Hideous Moustache!
boblipton31 August 2018
If you're familiar with Jean Painlevé's scientific shorts, like THE OCTOPUS, you're aware he has a weird sense of humor. Here he applies it to the grim and bloody fairy tale of Bluebeard, using Maurice Jaubert's oratorio and some not especially child-friendly claymation thanks to his friend Rene Bertrand and his three children.
I think -- think -- Bertrand was an engineer who worked on sound systems as early as 1914, but I can't find much more than that about him. certainly the name is not unusual-sounding, and attempts to Google it don't turn up much information. However, a reference to a "The French electrical engineer, mechanic and doll modeller" by that name in 1927 certainly matches the skill set here.
The claymation is as elaborate, if more so, than anything that George Pal was doing at this point, and very funny in a mordant way.
I think -- think -- Bertrand was an engineer who worked on sound systems as early as 1914, but I can't find much more than that about him. certainly the name is not unusual-sounding, and attempts to Google it don't turn up much information. However, a reference to a "The French electrical engineer, mechanic and doll modeller" by that name in 1927 certainly matches the skill set here.
The claymation is as elaborate, if more so, than anything that George Pal was doing at this point, and very funny in a mordant way.
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