Reviews & Ratings for
Une nuit sur le mont chauve More at IMDbPro »

5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
terrific, 13 February 2004

Author: llanoite from TEXAS

Lyrical, dark, exceptionally interesting animated film. Occasionally charmingly inarticulate but some very special images here. Inspiring work from an early woman director. Saw it last night as part of the Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film 1893-1941 series playing here in Austin. See it if you get a chance.

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Not as iconic as the Disney version, but certainly far better than the Soyuzmultfilm short., 24 October 2009

Author: TheAvantgardeguy from United States

Seven years before Disney showed their version of "A Night on Bald Mountain" in the 1940 classic "Fantasia", husband-and-wife team Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker released their take on the Russian legend, "Une nuit sur le mont chauve". Set to the Mussorgsky piece of the same name, the short depicts the ghastly events that take place on Bald Mountain: footprints appearing in the dirt, shadows taking on lives of their own, apparitions that materialize in thin air, and witches flying through the skies are just some of the other-worldly happenings that occur in the film. The short is animated through Alexeieff's signature 'Pin-Screen' technique, a process so painstakingly difficult that it ultimately never caught on with animation studios. While "Une nuit sur le mont chauve" was a financial flop, it was praised by critics and animation enthusiasts for its Avant-Garde, artistic qualities.

Many, including myself, have often compared this film to the Disney version. However, that would be an apples-to-oranges comparison. Both are very different, but good in their own ways: Where the Disney version followed a direct narrative and was more traditional in its horror imagery (e.g. skeletons, flames, ghosts, devils), Alexeieff's is more of a tone poem that utilizes shadows, wind, clouds, and atmosphere to convey eeriness and unease. Also, while Alexeieff's short is closer to the original Russian/Slavic folk-tales, Disney's shares more in common with German legend and has a more of a Medieval-Gothic motif to it. Another notable difference between the two versions is the absence of The Devil in the Alexeieff film. Despite these differences, both owe a lot to the German Expressionist films of the 1920's, more so Disney's than Alexeieff's. While Alexeieff's does have the dark, chiaroscuro atmosphere of the aforementioned Expressionist films, Disney's has more in common due to the twisted, jagged, exaggerated buildings (the Night on Bald Mountain sequence in 'Fantasia' was actually inspired by the 1926 German Expressionist film "Faust"). But in the end, Disney's remains the most iconic of the two films. Admittedly, while I wasn't a huge fan of Alexeieff's version, I'll give it a seven out of ten for it's innovative animation and disquieting, haunting atmosphere. It certainly beats the underwhelming Soyuzmultfilm version by a long shot.

3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
another pinscreen masterpiece, 10 September 2004

Author: Thomas Pfaff from Californie

I have seen this film several times. It is my favorite pinscreen animation by Alexander Alexeieff and his wife. It is a stunning piece of work and can be thought of as the ultimate demo for the pinscreen.

I wish the films were in better place or that some megolomaniac would do something similar on one of the remaining pinscreens.

See my notes for "The Nose" (La Nez) to see more information on the pinscreen and the couple who used it.

3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Mind-bending, 24 January 2004
Author: Dr. Nick*#3 from LA CA

Like the other reviewers, I caught this late at night, sat there stunned and mesmerized, and I've since tried to get my hands on it. It's the kind of thing the motion picture camera was invented for, but to go into detail would be pointless. Find it, somehow, and watch it.

4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
my comments are brief., 1 September 2000

Author: Stellaris from Seattle, WA

flipping channels, late at night, stumbled upon this obscure gem. i have been around a few blocks in my time, and this has to be one of the strangest, eeriest flicks i have ever seen. morphing, 3-dimensional shapes, bizarre and addicting. i want to buy this but can't find it anywhere. what tim burton would have done had he been alive in the thirties.

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
what a rush!, 15 May 2009

Author: mrdonleone from belgium

ever wondered why the BEEP Walt Disney made such a horrific sequence at the end of Fantasia? well, don't hesitate to watch Une Nuit sur le Mont chauve, because everything you thought was scary about that animated Disney sequence will now be altered in a real life short movie. here we see games with the death and corpses and witches more than the devil on the mountain himself. it's quite frightening, to be exact. it surely scared the hell out of me (really). the music and the nonstop animation with puppets go to an extreme corporation together, while they blend in a lot of troubling scout camp teachers and fire woods from the depths of hell. you want to be scared? go watch this short movie, it will change your definition of horror movies completely.

1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
I had no idea this wonderfully artistic process went back to 1933., 12 October 2008

Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

About a year ago, I saw a short film from Canada called Le PAYSAGISTE. It was made completely by the pinscreen process where little pinholes were painstakingly made in fabric in order to create an animated picture. I was mesmerized by this film from 1976 and no idea that the film maker had actually NOT created the process and that Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker had perfected the process over 40 years earlier with UNE NUIT SUR LE MONT CHAUVE.

Both films are quite lovely to look at but aren't exactly the style of animation that most people would love. It's extremely artistic but not commercially entertaining to the average audience. In an art museum it would play well, but for a group of kids or average theater goers, it's unlikely they'd enjoy the rather artsy style. I liked it quite a bit, though I admit it isn't something I'd like to see every day.

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