The Emperor's Nightingale

"The Emperor's Nightingale" is a Czechoslovakian film by Jirí Trnka and Milos Makovec. Apparently, some folks thought it merited a translation to English so that it could be sold abroad...and so they had Boris Karloff narrate the film and the characters themselves don't talk.

The film is a stop-motion picture and I marvel at both how long it took to make this as well as the quality. It is a nice looking film AND Karloff's narration is lovely. That being said, it's also very, very slow and is the sort of film that would make even the most well behaved child run about screaming out of boredom. Had they trimmed the film a bit, it would have worked better. It also would have worked better with an infusion of fun...which is sorely lacks.

Jiøí Trnka's best-known animation feature is an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's tale "The Emperor's Nightingale." More than a dazzling illustration of the story, it is a remarkable example of Trnka's favor for design in sets and costumes, a work he also did for other directors in the Czech film industry. Unfortunately, the story relies too much on narration (provided by Boris Karloff in the American version) as in Jan Švankmajer's "Alice", but while Švankmajer stylish approach to Lewis Carroll's bizarre tale makes up for the narrated option, in Trnka's case the designs do not compensate for Andersen's rather simple story of the value of finding beauty in the simplest things.

I was lucky enough to be able to rent this obscure gem last week, and I was highly impressed with the image quality, the gorgeous color tones, and the story. The animation is purely wonderful, very fluid and realistic. I don't mind Karloff's narration, I feel it brought another level of enjoyment to the story. The tale is simple, yet profound. It starts with a young boy being held prisoner by the expectations of his family and the customs of the day. The constant restrictions eventually make the boy quite ill, and during his fever, he dreams of a boy-king in China who is also a prisoner of custom and routine. This king has never been allowed to touch anything real in his whole life. Everything is created for him, even the flowers of his garden are only glass. Both the king and the sad boy learn a great lesson from a small ordinary bird. I won't give it away, you'll just have to watch it! This is a great movie for everyone who loves stories, animation, or just great art. You won't be disappointed in this one.

(Review is of the Karloff narrated US release) A stop motion puppet tale narrated by Boris Karloff.

The story is framed by the story of a boy who is restricted by rules and can't leave his home or the grounds of his house.

As he falls asleep he dreams the Hans Christian Andersen tale.

Its nicely animated in the puppet style that George Pal made a fortune on as Puppet tunes and of the fairy tales that Ray Harryhausen did early in his career. There is a tradition of sorts in Eastern Europe, but frankly its not my style since its so intensive most of the image tends to be static, and often there are simply static shots with narration over it.

It was nice but it bored me and I zipped through most of it on scan.

Don't get me wrong if you want to see a well done version of a fairy tale see this but it can be slow. I can't imagine this longer, which apparently it is, the print I watched being ten to fifteen minutes shorter then the full version.

MY question is which came first this or the Warner Brothers singing Michigan J Frog? Its something to see but not seek out.

An eloquent narration from Boris Karloff and Jiri Trnka's cute puppets can do little to overcome the turgid pace of this adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's story.