We’re going back to the 1970s with Hans Christian Andersen’s Stories From A Flying Trunk, which is part of ‘The British Film’ collection.
‘The British Film’ collection was launched by Network Distributing in April 2013 as part of a five-year plan to release over 450 vintage British films through a deal with Studiocanal, one of Europe’s leading distribution and production companies. Many of the films have never been available to own and will benefit from new transfers, affirming Network Distributing’s commitment to classic British cinema.
Stories From A Flying Trunk is certainly a surreal film to say the least, objects have a mind, and voice, of their own, the kitchen scene near the beginning of the movie is rather bizarre. But we start with Hans Christian Anderson (played by Murray Melvin) flying along the trunk through the clouds to our first story that he discovers through a basement window.
Stories From a Flying Trunk a Collection of Three Bizarre Interpretations
The household objects come to life with the aid of stop-frame animation and have a conversation whilst the honour seems oblivious to what’s happening, even the matches tell a tale of the time they were trees and the abuse of being broken and torn apart in pieces as they are cut down and made in to matches
In a true 1970s movie the film captures the charm of three Hans Christian Andersen’s classic stories from with a spellbinding blend of choreography, stop-motion and live action, which all works wonderfully throughout the film to give it it’s rather unusually appeal to the viewer.
Moving along we come across “The Little Match Girl“, about a little girl who is on a lonely trek to meet the Queen, a very moving story and one which has some visuals in the night with the vibrant red of the little girls coat to the greenish lighting on parts of the London streets, that gives a feel of fantasy but still in reality.
The last story that we are introduced to is one of more strangeness on par with the first story in Hans Christian Andersen’s Stories From A Flying Trunk, a story of vegetables that become ballet dancers, yes you read that right.
Starting out in the form of stop-frame animation, we are then taken in to the world of ballet as the vegetables become ballet dancers and the ballet is performed by the dancers of The Royal Ballet who were choreographed by Frederick Ashton for the film, absolutely superb.
With Stories From A Flying Trunk being transferred to DVD from the original film elements the quality of the look of the film is good, maybe not the same quality people are used to these days with the use of CGI and 4K movie making, but it looks great and thankfully it is in its theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, which many older transfers don’t seem to be.
Hans Christian Andersen’s Stories From A Flying Trunk was written and directed by Oscar-nominated Christine Edzard (Little Dorrit, Tales of Beatrix Potter), Stories From A Flying Trunk is available on DVD now, RRP £9.99 and is released courtesy of Network’s ‘The British Film’ collection.
Strange Tales
Movie title: Stories From a Flying Trunk
Movie description: Stories From A Flying Trunk is certainly a surreal film, to say the least, objects have a mind, and voice, of their own, the kitchen scene near the beginning of the movie is rather bizarre.
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 28m
Author: Hans Christian Andersen
Director(s): Christine Edzard
Actor(s): Murray Melvin, Ann Firbank, Tasneem Maqsood
Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Musical
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
