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China Czechoslovakia Stop Motion Surrealism Totalitarianism

The Puppet Films of Jirí Trnka is a collection of animated video shorts by none other than Jirí Trnka. The main attraction of this package is a nearly full length film called "The Emperor's Nightingale", though everything on this disk is worth watching.

The Story of the Bass Cello is credited to Anton Checkov. It involves a small, Chaplin-like puppet/cellist that lusts after a small female-like puppet. It includes some nifty sets, some stolen clothing and a nice string/cello soundtrack.

The Song of the Prairie is something of a sarcastic, Western {as in the film genre} love story with puppet versions of all of your favorite cowboy stereotypes: the gambler, the crochety old man, the demure young, schoolmarm-like maiden, a bandito or two and, of course, a singing, cowboy hero.

The Merry Circus is fairly traditional animation that's done with paper cutouts rather than cells. Basically, it's a representation of exactly what the name implies. It does include some nice {strange} airbrush style graphics and some weird characters as well as some really impressive animation.

A Drop Too Much is about Bill Williams, the biker with a taste for strong drink and a real need to get back home to his girlfriend. It includes some very nice footage of a puppetcycle speeding down the highway at night as well as an anti-drinking and driving message.

The Hand is about a ceramicist puppet that's visited by a large hand. This "hand" person teaches our potter several difficult lessons in life and politics. The film gets nearly psychedelic in places and is nicely surreal with a bit of a dark and twisted edge to it. According to the included documentary, this was banned in Communist Czechoslovakia because of its statement about totalitarianism.

Jirí Trnka: Puppet Animation Master is a biographical documentary that will tell you a bit about just who Jiri is.

The Emperor's Nightingale is an adaptation of "The Nightingale" by Hans Christian Andersen. The U.S. version is narrated by Boris Karloff. The film begins with a live action introduction about a depressed and frustrated, over-protected young boy then cuts to the animation and the story "proper". It takes place in "China", way back when, and is basically the little boy's dream/fantasy about an Emperor's search for and subsequent capture of a nightingale. The Emperor learns a few lessons upon imprisoning the bird and, in the process of showing this, the film makes a statement about materialism, friendship, freedom, "a bird in the hand" and so on. The sets, costumes and so on are really ornate, with a nice "Asian", fairy-tale quality to them. The story is fairly "complex", especially given that it's a fairy tale.

A few of these films are a bit heavy on the cyan and just a trifle dark. Considering their age there's not a lot to complain about though. The puppets are nicely stylized and really elaborate and the idea that they are puppets adds an appeal all its own. Several of the shorts in this collection are made for children but the disk will appeal to animation fans of all ages.