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Walerian Borowczyk Short Films and Animation – Arrow Academy (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Theatrical Release Dates: France, 1959 (The Astronauts), France, 1962 (The Concert), France, 1963 (Grandmother’s Encyclopaedia), France, 1964 (Renaissance), France, 1965 (Angels' Games, Joachim’s Dictionary), France, 1966 (Rosalie), France, 1967 (Mr. and Mrs. Kabal’s Theatre, Diptych), France, 1968 (Gavotte), France, 1969 (The Phonograph), France, 1977 (The Greatest Love of All Times), France, 1984 (Scherzo Infernal)
Directors: Walerian Borowczyk, Chris Marker (The Astronauts), Walerian Borowczyk (The Concert, Grandmother’s Encyclopaedia, Renaissance, Angels' Games, Joachim’s Dictionary, Rosalie, Mr. and Mrs. Kabal’s Theatre, Diptych, Gavotte, The Phonograph, The Greatest Love of All Times, Scherzo Infernal)
Cast: Michel Boschet, Ligia Branice, Anatole Dauman, Philippe Lifchitz (The Astronauts), Ligia Branice (Rosalie), Louisette Rousseau, Pierre Collet, Louis Jojot, Renata Astruc, Jacqueline Boivin, Edith Catry, Yvonne Landry, Kathy Luc, Maïté Mansoura, Mei-Chen (Mr. and Mrs. Kabal’s Theatre), Roberto, Ludo (Gavotte), Ljubomir Popovic (The Greatest Love of All Times)

Release Date: September 8th, 2014
Approximate running times: 12 Minutes 37 Seconds (The Astronauts), 7 Minutes 1 Second (The Concert), 6 Minutes 51 Seconds (Grandmother’s Encyclopaedia), 9 Minutes 18 Seconds (Renaissance), 12 Minutes 1 Second (Angels' Games), 9 Minutes 26 Seconds (Joachim’s Dictionary), 15 Minutes 7 Seconds (Rosalie), 77 Minutes 5 Seconds (Mr. and Mrs. Kabal’s Theatre), 8 Minutes 41 Seconds (Diptych), 10 Minutes 41 Seconds (Gavotte), 5 Minutes 41 Seconds (The Phonograph), 9 Minutes 38 Seconds (The Greatest Love of All Times), 5 Minutes 14 Seconds (Scherzo Infernal)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (The Greatest Love of All Times), 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Angels' Games) 1.37:1 (The Astronauts, The Concert, Grandmother’s Encyclopaedia, Renaissance, Joachim’s Dictionary, Rosalie, Mr. and Mrs. Kabal’s Theatre, Diptych, Gavotte, The Phonograph, Scherzo Infernal)
Rating: 18 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono French (All Films)
Subtitles: English (All Films)
Region Coding: Region B (Blu-ray)/Region 2 PAL (DVD)
Retail Price: £19.99

"For the first decade of his career, Walerian Borowczyk exclusively made short films, initially in his native Poland, but then mostly in France, where he settled permanently in the late 1950s. This disc includes the vast majority of the shorts that he made between 1959 and 1984, apart from ones that were originally intended to accompany specific features.

Far from being prentice work or optional extras, the shorts include many of his greatest films, such as the cut-out Astronauts, the reverse-motion Renaissance and the extraordinary Angels Games, a one-off masterpiece of the macabre that would alone establish Borowczyk as one of the cinema s most innovative artists.

In 1967, Borowczyk made his feature debut, a grotesque and surreal fantasy about the physically and temperamentally mismatched couple Mr & Mrs Kabal. Made with a tiny production team at a time when animated feature films were far scarcer than they are now, it s almost the polar opposite of a Disney film, with angular, mainly monochrome graphics bringing the Kabals universe to startlingly vivid life." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Mr. and Mrs. Kabal’s Theatre was sourced from the original 35mm interpositive and the original sound negative.

The shorts were transferred from the following sources (picture, sound), scanned in 2K resolution on a pin-registered Arriscan and graded using the Nucoda Film Master grading system. All materials were original 35mm elements.

The Concert (interpositive, sound negative)

Grandmother’s Encyclopaedia (camera negative, magnetic reels)

Renaissance (internegative, optical soundtrack)

Angels' Games (interpositive, magnetic reels)

Joachim’s Dictionary (interpositive, optical soundtrack)

Rosalie (finegrain positive, combined print)

Gavotte (internegative, optical soundtrack)

Diptych (camera negative, optical soundtrack)

The Phonograph (interpositive, optical soundtrack)

The Greatest Love of All Times (dupe negative, magnetic reels)

Scherzo Infernal (camera negative, magnetic reels)

The picture and sound of Holy Smoke!, The Museum and Tom Thumb were sourced from original 35mm prints.

The Astronauts was remastered in High Definition by the International Short Film Festival in Oberhausen, and transferred from a new 35mm print struck from the original negative at Eclair Laboratories.”

Walerian Borowczyk Short Films and Animation comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 46.5 GB

The sources for these shorts range from great to excellent. Flesh tones look correct, colors are nicely saturated, details look crisp (the live action moments have ever so slightly more clarity), contrast, black levels, and compression are consistently strong, and the image always looks organic.

Audio: 4.5/5

Each short film comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in French with removable English subtitles. The audio tracks sound clean, clear, and balanced throughout. And though there is minimal dialog, it's always clear. Also, sound is very important to most of these short films, and range-wise, all of these short films sound great.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an introduction with filmmaker Terry Gilliam (1 minute 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a segment titled Blow Ups (4 minutes 43 seconds, this extra contains drawings and paintings created by Walerian Borowczyk), three commercials directed by Walerian Borowczyk, Holy Smoke! (9 minutes 55 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), The Museum (1 minute 50 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital mono French with removable English subtitles), and Tom Thumb (1 minute 50 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital mono French with removable English subtitles), a documentary about Walerian Borowczyk’s Short Films and Animation with comments from Walerian Borowczyk (via an archive interview), filmmaker Andre Heinrich, producer Dominique Duvergé-Ségrétin and composer Bernard Parmegiani (via a vintage audio interview) titled Film is not a Sausage (28 minutes 21 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), reversible cover art, and a 32-page booklet (limited to first pressing) with cast & crew information, an essay titled The Magician written by Daniel Bird, an essay titled Two Films by Walerian Borowczyk written by Peter Graham, Director’s Statement for Mr. and Mrs. Kabal’s Theatre by Walerian Borowczyk, an essay titled Scratched into the Screen with a Blunt Fork written by Daniel Bird, Contemporary Reviews, an essay titled So Common Yet So Uncanny written by filmmaker Patrice Leconte, and information about the restorations.

Included with this release are two DVDs that have the same content as the Blu-ray included as part of this combo release.

Summary:

The Astronauts: A man builds a rocket ship in his basement, then flies it around town before venturing into outer space.

This was Walerian Borowczyk’s first short film after arriving in France, and since he was not a citizen at the time, he had to co-author it with Chris Marker, who is most known for his short film La Jetée, which later inspired the film 12 Monkeys.

The Concert: A husband and wife do an impromptu concert while they run around the house thrashing on each other.

This short would mark the first appearance of Mr. and Mrs. Kabal, who would later be the main characters in Walerian Borowczyk’s first film.

Grandmother’s Encyclopaedia: Three letters of the alphabet are explored: the letter A is for an Automobile, the letter B is for a balloon, and the letter C is for Chemin De Fer.

A simple narrative that was propped up by its creators boundless imagination.

Renaissance: Destroyed objects reassembled themselves.

This short is most remembered for its use of reverse motion, which gives the illusion that the destroyed objects are reassembling themselves. This short ends with an ironic twist: one of the objects was a bomb that, when put back together, destroys everything.

Angels' Games: A nightmarish factory removes the limbs of angels through various processing machines.

This short is easily the most memorable one included in this collection. And it also starts off with one of the most unusual openings to ever grace any film. The stark imagery and story content are reportedly a veiled reference to the Nazi concentration camps.

Joachim’s Dictionary: The alphabet once again makes an appearance, as each letter is backed by a visual for that word.

Rosalie: A woman is put on trial for killing her infant child.

This is another standout short that lingers in your mind long after it has ended. This is a live-action short that features Ligia Branice in the role of the woman on trial. She would appear in three of Walerian Borowczyk’s live-action films: Goto, Isle of Love, Blanche, and Behind Convent Walls.

Mr. and Mrs. Kabal’s Theatre: A day in the life of Mr. and Mrs. Kabal

Mr. and Mrs. Kabal return for a feature-length adventure that combines animation and live-action shots of attractive women in bikinis. This film opens and closes with appearances from Walerian Borowczyk, who in the opening sequence talks to Mrs. Kabal, who replies in her robotic voice. The opening moments are spent with the animator trying to decide how they want Mrs. Kabal to look as they give her a wide variety of heads that they quickly take away. From there, the Kabal go to the beach, and insanity ensues. One moment that springs to mind is when Mrs. Kaba comes out of the changing room at the beach and her breasts fall off. Needless to say, this film is truly bizarre, and another absurd moment includes a scene where Mrs. Kabal’s body swells up after she swallows a butterfly and her husband climbs inside of her. The most amusing motif in this film is how every time Mr. Kabal uses his binoculars, he sees a beautiful girl in a bikini. Unfortunately, his moment of pleasure is cut short every time he peeps and is caught by an old man, who lets him know he is now being watched.

Diptych: This is a documentary that revolves around a farmer and his dogs. Then the second half of this documentary shifts towards a series of colorful flower arrangements. The first part with the farmer is in black and white, while the latter half is in vivid color.

Gavotte: A man who just wants to sit down and relax is constantly interrupted by another man who keeps taking things like the chair he was sitting on away.

This short takes place in the 17th century, and the twist that I left out of the synopsis is that the two characters at odds with each other are both midgets.

The Phonograph: The title for this one pretty much sums it up: a phonograph plays music. This short uses stop motion to remove and load the new music selections.

The Greatest Love of All Times: This short documentary is about Serbian surrealist painter Ljubomir Popovic.

Scherzo Infernal: An angel angers God when she reveals she would like to be a prostitute, and a devil becomes an outcast when he reveals to his father that he wants to help others. One day the two outcasts meet, and their fornication creates another being.

This is easily the most perverse and sexually graphic of all the shorts included in this collection.

Over the span of twenty-five years in which these shorts were made and are featured in this collection, a wide variety of styles were employed, most notably the use of stop-motion and live-action images with animation. These shorts are all over the place, though several do foreshadow what is yet to come from Walerian Borowczyk.

Walerian Borowczyk Short Films and Animation is an exceptional release from Arrow Academy, highly recommended.