Norman McLaren was a very prolific Canadian animator who was born in the UK. Most of his films would be described as 'arty' and are pretty much unknown here in the States. However, I've seen several of his films on various DVD collections and I like these sorts of shorts--and was thrilled to see a seven disk set of his work. This particular short is from the first disk.
My knowledge of the French language is limited. I last took French classes 30 years ago and most of what I know now is based on my many hours watching French films with subtitles! So, while I quickly knew that "La Poulette Grise" meant "the Gray Chicken", my knowledge of the rest of the film was limited because although the McLaren collection is VERY complete (even including industrial films and experimental ones), there was absolutely no captioning of any sort--an odd omission. So, when the lady sang in French about some chicken, I was pretty lost and so I am not the best person to review this short. However, the artsy animation is very nice and shows a lot of depth and looks lovely.
My knowledge of the French language is limited. I last took French classes 30 years ago and most of what I know now is based on my many hours watching French films with subtitles! So, while I quickly knew that "La Poulette Grise" meant "the Gray Chicken", my knowledge of the rest of the film was limited because although the McLaren collection is VERY complete (even including industrial films and experimental ones), there was absolutely no captioning of any sort--an odd omission. So, when the lady sang in French about some chicken, I was pretty lost and so I am not the best person to review this short. However, the artsy animation is very nice and shows a lot of depth and looks lovely.
