Great (Isambard Kingdom Brunel)

One of my favourite animations of all time "Great" combines humorous drawing and plot while actually telling you something about the life & works of Brunel.

It has many different styles of animation and uses archive photographs, comic drawings and live action. It has humour with a little innuendo but also poignancy in what his inventions actually cost Brunel in terms of his health.

The songs are hilarious, and very catchy. After seeing this film you can never look at Queen Victoria without smiling ever again. A well deserved Oscar.

As you can see from other reviews of this little masterpiece, "Great - IKB" is a splendid piece of work that is shamefully neglected.

I first knew of the film when I heard the song "It's A Big One" played on the radio when it was released in 1975. I was looking forward to seeing this film about Brunel (already a hero of mine and now 2nd Greatest Briton of All Time, folks!). I never heard any more about it and began to wonder if I'd just dreamt it.

Then in the 1980's Channel 4 broadcast it one Saturday afternoon. Of course I watched it and was amazed at the number of animation styles and the sophisticated humour that was packed into a short film. For example, the film starts with a run-down of Victorian heroes in the style of a football team: 'Boots' Wellington, 'Flash' Gordon, 'Knockers' Nightingale and 'Little Willie' Gladstone on the touchline with his black bag. You need to know your history to appreciate this stuff. There are even references to the size of Prince Albert's manhood (when Queen Victoria said in her diary that "Albert's beauty is most striking" she wasn't writing about his haircut).

When the film was shown again a few years later I set up my cassette player and recorded the soundtrack, just to make sure I could play it whenever I wanted. A good job I did as to my knowledge it has never been shown again and is not available commercially.

I often wonder if a series of these was planned and didn't come off? I think it was produced by British Lion which went bust in the mid-70's. This might explain why "Great - IKB" was a one-off and the lack of a video/DVD distribution deal.

I saw this by accident on TV over 20 years ago and could never find it again. Catchy and witty. Such a shame it's not commercially available ( there was a thread by history teachers desperately trying to lay their hands on a copy!). As previously stated, a Pythonesque animation of the life and works of the Great Victorian inventor. With some memorable songs (you might hate them, but be unable to get them out of your head, though)

I did find it on YouTube, but please note that the previous link given no longer works. It is currently on at http://youtu.be/whJvNNdQlTI or you can search Great: Isambard Kingdom Brunel; which worked as at Sept 30 2011; but could disappear any time . Catch it while you can!

This is a marvelous short subject on the life of the Victorian inventor Izembard Kingdom Brunel. Charming, witty and full of affection for its subject, Great is a delight. I wish I owned a copy.

Thanks to Amid on Cartoon Brew, I discovered this Oscar-winning animated short from 1975, directed by Bob Godfrey, on YouTube in three parts. As one can tell from the title, this is about the great British inventor Isambard Kingdom Brunel as illustrated by the animated musical numbers that dominate the nearly 30-minute short as well as many photos and live-action shots that are also depicted. Quite irreverent with the way Godfrey tells us what Brunel didn't invent as well as the many shots of a drawn Queen Victoria saying one thing or another. I found the whole thing quite entertaining even though not everything that came on the scene made complete sense to me. Still, one should give Godfrey credit for even attempting such a massive undertaking!