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cin-e-rama: triptych format (three cameras, three projectors) employing a high, wide, deeply curved, three-panel screen, yielding a panorama that extended nearly to the limits of peripheral vision; introduced in 1952.
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Have You Seen This Chicken? In The Wrong Trousers, animator Nick Park crosses plasticine with Psycho, and comes up with a new species of film: claymation Hitchcock. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but Park's brilliant stop-action movie successfully combines the suspense of a Hitchcock thriller with the colorful clay of childhood. The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave are the second and third parts of Park's Wallace and Gromit trilogy (the first film was A Grand Day Out). Each 30 minute movie follows Wallace, a sweetly inept British inventor, and Gromit, his faithful and intelligent dog.
The painstakingly detailed sets make repeated viewings rewarding. Notice Gromit's eyes, slick with tears, when he leaves Wallace's house. Gromit's reading material includes Pluto's Republic, Electronics for Dogs, and a newspaper whose headline is "Dog Reads Paper." Gromit's eyebrows express a wide range of emotions, and Wallace's mouth forms perfectly English expressions. And the dreaded Techno-Trousers have a life of their own. Like The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave is a homage to film, but its source is more Spielberg than Hitchcock, which makes it a slightly lesser film. The major addition is the inclusion of a romantic storyline, which is executed wonderfully. I placed The Wrong Trousers in the shrine not only because I love it dearly, but also because it imaginitively extends the possibilities of the medium. I wholeheartedly recommend these films to anyone who hasn't seen them. They will take your breath away even as they make you yearn for a tasty spot of cheese.
Rating (1-5):
The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995) |
The most impresive aspect of The Wrong Trousers
is its cinematic verisimiltude. Park's use of lighting and zoom
shots create a sense of live action. The film's influences include
Hitchcock, Keaton, Chaplin, film noir, the Pink Panther and James Bond
series, and countless B movies.
Park finds the perfect villian in a penguin, whose deadpan stares, precise
mannerisms, and slapping feet convey a sense of efficient malice. As the
penguin moves into Wallace's house as a boarder and slowly takes over Gromit's role (and his room), Wallace is blissfully unaware of the bird's intentions.
Everything about the penguin is calculated: when Gromit is about to get
the morning paper, the penguin swipes it from under the dog's
nose, and then leans in for a pat on the head from a grateful
Wallace. When the penguin moves into Gromit's room, he replaces
Gromit's bone wallpaper with a fish motif. While Gromit tries to sleep,
the penguin blasts loud, cheerful music from his window.