The Red Balloon w/The White Mane (1956 & 1953/Network U.K. Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B/B-     Sound: C     Extras: C+     Films: B-

 

 

PLEASE NOTE: This Blu-ray edition is only available in the U.K. from our friends at Network U.K. and can be ordered from them at the website address links provided below at the end of the review or at finer retailers.  This is a Region Free Blu-ray, but note that the supplements are in Standard Definition PAL format, so U.S. players may not be able to play those sections.

 

 

Among the best aspects of the early New Wave movements in World Film was a certain sense of naturalism and just before the advent of French New Wave, French Cinema was rebuilding itself post-WWII and producing very interesting works that deserve rediscovery.  One of the greatest triumphs of that period are two short films by Writer/Director Albert Lamorisse than are considered classics and also famous for being Children’s genre works.  The White Mane (1953) and The Red Balloon (1956) once again have been paired together in a home video release, but this time in Blu-ray.

 

Shot in black and white, The White Mane is the longer of the two films involving a young boy named Folco (Alain Emery) who finds the title horse (this was shot in the Camargue region in the South of France) and intends to stick with the beautiful creature no matter what.  There is little dialogue and some action, but it is an exercise in pure cinema that still has its moments and is one of the best films with a horse ever made, especially minus the kind of sentimentality this would have if it were a U.S. Reagan-era (and ideology) production, so expect a mature work instead of a sappy, dumb, manipulative work.

 

The Red Balloon is very similar in that it also involves a young boy, is a short, has little dialogue and is also shot in France, but now in color, this is more of a comedy and carries off more abstract ideas.  This time, we get Pascal (played by the real life son of the director, using his real life first name) as the title inflatable follows him all over the streets of Paris.  It is hilarious, influential, terrific and fun, managing to do more with one balloon than millions of dollars of digital effects do in just about any blockbuster you can think of.  Often a masterwork, the boy starts to realize he has power over the balloon and then other kinds in the neighborhood want to get it or destroy it.  There is more to it than that, but it is an enduring work that everyone should see and event he original Sesame Street referenced it in its own way.

 

 

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image in both cases is pretty good, though one is a little better than the other.  The black and white on Mane comes from a good print, but this is a little softer throughout than I would have liked.  Fortunately, this is a good print and though I wanted the Video Black to be a little richer and less slight motion blur, DVD could not pull off a look this good.  But the real news is the print and transfer on Balloon, which seems to come from a real dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor print.  The color is amazing, wide ranging and the image very stable, sharp and with hardly any softness or motion blur throughout.  Yes, there are a few bad frames here and there, but there are so many great demo-quality shots here that all serious home theater systems with Blu-ray need to have this disc.  In addition, it is one of the best representations in High Definition of Technicolor we have seen to date and will give the most expensive set-ups (monitors and projectors) a true test of how good their color reproduction really is.  Director of Photography Edmond Séchan lensed both films and delivers some truly unforgettable images in both cases.

 

The PCM 2.0 Mono in both cases are underwhelming and show the age of the audio, which sounds like it is transferred at a lower volume than one would like, so be careful of audio switching and the like.  Criterion previously issued both on DVD and the old 12” LaserDisc format, but they could not look this good as delivered on Blu-ray and the audio could not be that much different.  Maurice Leroux scored both films with subtle cleverness and adds to their effectiveness.

 

Extras are two standard definition documentaries in the PAL format only U.K. Blu-ray players will be able to play, though some U.S. machines might still get the French-only audio: Mon Père était un Ballon Rouge - documentary on Albert Lamorisse and L’enfant Qui Ne Souriait Pas - documentary on the main actor of Crin Blanc.  They are decent and should only be viewed after seeing the movies.  These were not available on the old Criterion releases, which only as a trailer on their DVD version.

 

 

As noted above, you can order this Blu-ray import exclusively from Network U.K. at:

 

http://www.networkdvd.net/

 

or

 

www.networkdvd.co.uk

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo