Puppet Films of Jiri Trnka Movie Review 19??

These stop-motion animation fairy tales containing some live-action scenes are probably a bit too stylized and slow-moving for young audiences, but older viewers--who may have a faint memory of seeing "The Emperor's Nightengale" on TV decades ago--are likely to be more receptive. The films were made from the '40s to the '60s, and so the images have that burnished quality of old Technicolor. Also included: "Story of the Bass Cello" (1949, 15 min.), "Song of the Prairie" (1949, 21 min.), "The Merry Circus" (1951, 11 min.), "A Drop Too Much" (1954, 14 min.), "The Hand" (1965, 18 min.), "Jiri Trnka: Puppet Animation Master" (1999, 12 min.).

Distribution

Image Entertainment, 20525 Nordhoff St., Ste 200, Chatsworth, CA 91311, Phone: (818)407-9100, Email: inquiries@image-entertainment.com, URL: http://www.image-entertainment.com

Available on DVD
Running time 156 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Fairy Tales, Puppets

Screenplay

Phyllis McGinley

Director

Jiri Trnka

Music

Vaclav Trojan