"Flåklypa Grand Prix," also known as "Pinchcliffe Grand Prix" is a Norwegian animated film from 1975. The hero is an eccentric inventor who builds an ingenious racing automobile. He is aided by his animal sidekicks, a mopey hedgehog and a perky magpie. Above is a short excerpt.
It is one of the most beloved and commercially successful films of all time in Norway, but it isn't as well known in other parts of the world.
Here's a trailer / teaser. It took Mario Caprino and his team of five artists almost 3.5 years to make the entire 88 minute film.
The animation technique was kept as a bit of a mystery to the audience and fellow artists. Some of the films that Mr. Caprino did leading up to Pinchcliffe were primarily accomplished with clever puppetry and animatronics. By the time Mr. Caprino did Pinchcliffe, he apparently relied more on stop motion. Some sequences of Caprino's films appear to have used blue-screen compositing, but otherwise it's all shot in camera. To modern audiences accustomed to digital effects, the results appear remarkably sophisticated.
The animation technique was kept as a bit of a mystery to the audience and fellow artists. Some of the films that Mr. Caprino did leading up to Pinchcliffe were primarily accomplished with clever puppetry and animatronics. By the time Mr. Caprino did Pinchcliffe, he apparently relied more on stop motion. Some sequences of Caprino's films appear to have used blue-screen compositing, but otherwise it's all shot in camera. To modern audiences accustomed to digital effects, the results appear remarkably sophisticated.
A full size replica of the car, known as Il Tempo Gigante was built to promote the film. The car has 550 horsepower and a real jet engine, but it can't be driven much because of EU restrictions.
Here's a link where you can purchase a DVD in PAL or NTSC format.
I thought I recognised the voice of the English narrator on Pinchcliffe. Derek Guyler was a popular comedy actor on British TV during the 60's and 70's. He also played the 'washboard'. If you look on Youtube, you can find clips of him playing it.
ReplyDeleteHere in Denmark that movie was immensely popular as well. I think it was the first movie I ever saw in the cinema, and I loved it.
ReplyDeleteMuch later the hip-hop one-hit-wonder band Multicyde used a sample from the soundtrack in their one hit back in the nineties. When it was played on the radio for the first time, it created a storm of calls from young people who remembered the movie from when they were kids. Before the end of that day, the radio hosts had managed to arrange a screening of the movie in Copenhagen, complete with a performance by Multicyde.