L'Encyclopedie de grand-maman en 13 volumes

Grandmother's Encyclopedia (1963)

*** (out of 4)

Another interesting animated short from Borowczyk with this one showing three things from the first three letters of the alphabet. I'm really not sure of the history behind this film or if it was originally meant to be a series of films but apparently this was the only one completed. The film runs just over six minutes with the majority of the running time dealing with an automobile and a balloon. Both sequences are very entertaining and the director's imagination is all over the place as this is certainly some of the most unique animation that I've seen. There really aren't any laughs or drama but instead just a real treat for the eyes. Full title: Encyclopédie de grand-maman, L' .

After finding Les astronautes (1959-also reviewed) to be very good,I decided to open the Arrow set,and continue to explore the short cartoon era of Borowczyk.

View on the film:

The lone title in what appears to have been a planned series of shorts covering all the letters of the alphabet, writer/director Walerian Borowczyk runs along A-C with a continuation of his animation motifs,with "Boro" taking a snap inside the inner workings of a camera (a major recurring theme in his cartoon credits.)

Continuing to work on the cut-out animation style, Boro smooths some of the rough edges down in sending a balloon over grandmothers encyclopaedia.