Great (Isambard Kingdom Brunel) (1975)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Bob Godfrey

Writers:

Richard Taylor (script) &
Bob Godfrey (script) ...

Genre:

Documentary | Animation | Short | Musical

Plot:

An animated film about the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who spearheaded numerous engineering marvels of the early 19th century...

Plot Keywords:

Steamship | Tunnel | Engineering | Promoter | Corset

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Richard Briers	...	(voice)
Harry Fowler	...	(voice)
Barbara Moore	...	(voice)
Angus Lennie	...	(voice)
Peter Hawkins	...	(voice)
Dick Graham	...	(voice)
Imogen Claire	...	(voice)
Cyril Shaps	...	(voice)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Certification:

UK:U

Company:

Bob Godfrey Movie Emporium

Trivia:

The live-action railway footage used as the basis for one segment was used a few years later in unmodified form for a television ad in the US.

Quotes:

Queen Victoria: Ah, Mr Brunel, what are you designing now? Something we shall find amusing, I trust?
Isambard Kingdom Brunel: How about something six times larger than anything like it before?
Queen Victoria: Oh, Isambard!
[Looks at blueprints. Disappointed]
Queen Victoria: Oh, it's a ship.

Deserves to be far better known

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.