Le roi des aulnes (1929)
*** (out of 4)
A young boy and his father are riding a horse when the boy falls off and is severly injured. The father must get his child to a doctor and their journey leaves the boy near death and this is where he begins to see various items including The Erl King.
This film was directed by Marie-Louise Iribe and it's one of those movies that I admired much more than I actually enjoyed. By saying that I'm certainly not saying that this is a bad movie because it isn't but at the same time there's certainly more style than substance here, although I'm pretty sure that's what the director was going for.
The most striking thing about this film are the images, which really do leap off the screen. The boy witnesses all sorts of things from frogs to angels and various other creatures and the way they appear on the screen was quite striking and it is these images that keep you glued to the film. There really isn't much of a story on display here as that obviously took a back seat to the special effects.
Fans of the surreal will certainly want to check this 45-minute film out. Again, there's really not much of a story but the land of fairies makes for some great effects.
