The Tale of the Fox - Wladyslaw Starewicz (1930) Part 1/6 (English subtitles)

Original title: Le roman de renard

Note: I wrote 1930 because that's the date IMDb gives. Wikipedia, though, says it was released in 1937 in Germany and in 1941 in France. I doubt the 1930 date is accurate.

Quick summary from Wikipedia: In the kingdom of animals, the fox Renard is used to tricking and fooling everyone. Consequently, the King (a lion), receives more and more complaints. Finally, he orders Renard to be arrested and brought before the throne.

This is the legendary feature film by Wladyslaw Starewicz (or Ladislas Starevitch, or Ladislas Starewicz, or Ladislaw Starewicz, or Ladislas Starewitch, or Ladislaw Starewitsch). It is also his only one, and he directed it with his wife, Irène Starewicz. The story is an adaptation of a compilation or medieval French legends called "Le roman de renart". It's an entertaining story, a social satire, but most of all a landmark in early animation. I find the stop-motion truly remarkable, even by Starewicz's standards. The facial expressions and the movements are very smooth and fluid.

It had a good reception when it was first released, but as it was wartime people quickly forgot about it. They later exploited in under the form of shorts, since it contains many independent stories with one linking narrative.

I'm sorry about the subtitles, as they are crap. I couldn't find anything better. I tried to tweak some parts, but frankly, it was very hard and I got tired. I might reupload it when I've figured out how to do softsubs, and maybe then I'll have improved on them. I hope you can still appreciate the film.

IMDB credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021309/

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• the
• tale
• of
• fox
• roman
• de
• renard
• le
• french
• animation
• early
• stop
• motion
• complete
• full
• version
• soundtrack
• subtitles
• english

[FiletOfSole]

Many, many thanks for this. I love Starevich's work and I've wanted to see this for many years.

[MissBillieDove]

I had the same experience, and I waited quite long for a video of this film to surface after hearing about it only as a sort of legendary, mythical, unattainable film. I felt I beat the system when I found it!

If you're interested in Starewicz's work, I uploaded some other earlier shorts of his on my channel. I've also subtitled Fétiche en voyage de noces and Fleur de fougère, and I'll upload them soon. It'll all be tied up in a playlist once I've finished.

[ohhellolife]

The date is mostly true, actually. Animation for the film was complete by 1930; however, it wasn't until 1937 that Starevich had a complete soundtrack.

Thanks so much for posting this online; I saw it once in my History of Animation class and have been looking for it ever since!

[MissBillieDove]

That's nice to know. All the more impressive considering how early it was made.

It surfaced online only recently... I'd been looking for it as soon as I saw Fétiche, three years ago, and I figured I wouldn't be the only one to want to watch it!

[71studiofull]

Это очень хороший фильм, Страгевич делал его в одиночку при очень небольших возможностях тогдашнего кинематографа. Нужно будет полностью как-нибудь пересмотреть!

[jmaloneism]

Does anyone know how similar this is to the book? I keep getting confused as to the order of the story, as it switches between version!

[AtorTheFlyingEagle]

@Scotsdalepictures Please, Wes Anderson has nothing on Wladyslaw Starewicz. 

[schnook11]

Thank you thank you thank you--saw him at a film festival; he is the pre-cursor to stop-motion today. His scope was amazing. Thank you for recognizing a master!

[BlueNeon81]

Wow, the animation is way beyond stop-motion from King Kong... nice to see that animators did motion blur effects :)

[sigrr]

Thank you so much for uploading this! It's amazing!

[sigrr]

Thank you so much for uploading this! It's amazing§

[karler]

how did hey get that motion blue effect i cant wrap my head around it , 1930 , amazing

[LiimLsan]

they look like they get crushed by the pages - i wanna hear them scream it would help

[MWolfL]

Boy, if I wasn't taking Animation History (Cinema 106) I probably would've never heard of this film. Can't wait to see the whole thing.