White Mane(Crin Blanc: Le Cheval Sauvage)

White Mane From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search White Mane




Promotional poster

Directed by Albert Lamorisse

Produced by Albert Lamorisse

Written by Screenplay:

Albert Lamorisse

Commentary:

James Agee

Albert Lamorisse

Saul J. Turell

Story::

Denys Colomb de Daunant

Narrated by Frank Silvera

Les Marshak

Starring Alain Emery

Music by Maurice Leroux

Cinematography Edmond Séchan

Editing by Georges Alépée

Distributed by Films Montsouris

Janus Films

Release date(s) March 1953

Running time 47 minutes (France)

31 minutes (USA)

Country France

Language French



White Mane (French: Crin-Blanc and Crin Blanc, Cheval Sauvage) is a 1953 short film directed by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse.



The forty-seven minute short, filmed on location in the marshes of Camargue, France, won numerous awards on its release, including the Short Film Palme d'Or Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The film also became popular with children and was marketed for them. The story tells a fable of how a young boy tames a wild white stallion called White Mane.



Contents [hide]

1 Plot
PlotIn the marshes of Camargue, France, a herd of wild horses roam free. Their leader is a handsome white-haired stallion named White Mane (Crin Blanc in French).




A group of ranchers capture the wild stallion and place him in a corral. Yet White Mane escapes. A boy named Folco (Alain Emery), who lives with his fisherman grandfather, watches intently as White Mane escapes, and he dreams of one day handling White Mane. The ranchers once again try to capture White Mane and fail. Folco asks the men if he can have the white horse. Yes, says one of the men, "but first you have to catch him, but your fish will grow wings before you can manage that."



Later Folco comes across White Mane in the marshes, and he tries to rope him. However, White Mane gallops and drags Folco in the water for quite a while. Folco refuses to let go of the rope and almost passes out. White Mane relents and the two become friends.



White Mane returns to his herd and another horse challenges him for dominance. White Mane loses the fight and returns to join the boy.
The ranchers return and try to spook White Mane by setting fire to the area he and his herd live in. Folco jumps on White Mane (for the first time) and rides him bareback across the marshes of Camargue, over the sparse dunes to the sea. The ranchers give chase and surround them, but they refuse to be caught. With Folco on his back, White Mane rides into the sea. The film ends as the narrator states that White Mane took Folco to an island where horses and children can be friends forever.

2 Cast
CastAlain Emery as Folco, the boy


Pierre Bestieux

Denys Colomb Daunant

Alain Colomb Daunant

Charles Fouhetty

Jean-Pierre Grenie as Narrator (French language)

Charles Guillaume

Pascal Lamorisse

Pierre Moureaux-Nery

Francois Perie

Laurent Roche

Frank Silvera as Narrator (English language)

Les Marshak as Narrator (English language)
3 Background


3.1 The horse
The horseMain article: Camargue (horse)


The story is based on real horses that are found in the Camargue region in southeast France. For centuries, possibly thousands of years, these small horses have lived wild in the harsh environment of the wetlands of the Rhône delta, the Camargue marshes, developing the stamina, hardiness and agility for which they are known today. They are the traditional mount of the gardians – Camargue "cowboys."



Camargue horses galloping through water, as does Crin Blanc in the film, are a popular and romantic image of the region.


3.2 Filming locations
Filming locationsMain article: Camargue


The film was shot entirely on location in the southeast region of France;[citation needed] specifically the Petite Camargue (little Camargue), Bouches-du-Rhône, France, a marsh area located south of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two branches of the Rhône river delta.



4 Critical reception
Critical receptionThe film, since its first release in 1953, has generally received favorable reviews from critics. When the picture was rereleased in late 2007 by Janus Films, Terrence Rafferty in The New York Times, Terrence said the short "is among the world’s most famous and most honored films for children... But kids’ stuff [it is] not... The tone of [the] film is that of open mouthed wonder." In White Mane, Rafferty wrote, "you sense, as in few other films, the real terrors of nature... And Lamorisse, [the] movie show, really was a remarkable artist: one of the cinema’s best poets and a fearless explorer of the scary and exhilarating outbacks of the imagination."[1]




Philip Kennicott in The Washington Post liked the mise en scène, writing "there are perfectly worthy reasons to keep [the film] in circulation. Visually, [it is] masterful." However, Kennicott argues that the film takes place in a world of lies. He wrote, "A boy and his horse are hunted down by adult ranchers — while a narrator makes vague promises of a better world to come. The beautiful imagery of [the film] is deployed in support of a moral system — a blunt promise of rewards for good behavior — not much more sophisticated than that of Santa and the Easter Bunny. Ah, the time-honored tradition of adults indoctrinating kids in a world-view that will lead only to bitter disappointment, unless the kids refuse to grow up."[2]


5 Distribution
DistributionOn March 19, 1967, it was paired with the 1959 US short "The Boy Who Owned a Melephant" as an episode of the television anthology series The CBS Children's Film Festival.[3]




In late 2007, the film, along with director Albert Lamorisse's later short The Red Balloon (1956), was restored and rereleased by Janus Films. The film was remastered by Janus Films in 35mm format.[4]



A four-minute clip of the film is on the rotating list of programming on the cable television network Classic Arts Showcase.[citation needed


5.1 Video and DVD
Video and DVDA version of the film was released in the United States on June 30, 1993 by Columbia TriStar Home Video, under the label "Children's Treasures Present."[citation needed]




Homevision released the film in video, combined with Albert Lamorisse's fantasy short The Red Balloon on June 13, 2000.[citation needed]



The Criterion Collection released a laserdisc of the film in 1986, produced by Criterion, Janus Films, and Voyager Press. Included in the disc was Lamorisse's The Red Balloon. Criterion released a DVD of the film in 2008.[5]


6 Awards
AwardsWins


Cannes Film Festival: Palme d'Or, Best Short Film, Albert Lamorisse; 1953.

Prix Jean Vigo: Prix Jean Vigo, Short Film, Albert Lamorisse; 1953.

Nominations

British Academy of Film and Television Arts: BAFTA Film Award, Best Documentary Film, France; 1954.
7 References
References1.^ Refferty, Terrence (November 11, 2007). "Two Short Fables That Revel in Freedom". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/movies/11raff.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin. Retrieved December 1, 2007.


2.^ Hunnicott, Philip (November 23, 2007). "'Red Balloon' and 'White Mane': Childhood Colored by Adult Cynicism". The Washington Post: p. C01. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/22/AR2007112201315.html.

3.^ The CBS Children's Film Festival 1967 (fan site). Archived from the original on April 24, 2012.

4.^ White Mane at Janus Films; web site includes trailer of film. Last accessed: December 3, 2007.

5.^ White Mane at Janus Films; web site includes trailer of film. Last accessed: December 3, 2007.
8 External links


External linksWhite Mane at the Internet Movie Database


White Mane at AllRovi

White Mane at Kiddie Matinee

White Mane at Janus Films; includes trailer of film
_______________________________________________________________________
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/22/AR2007112201315.html
Movies


'Red Balloon' and 'White Mane': Childhood Colored by Adult Cynicism

Network NewsX Profile



View More Activity





TOOLBOX

Resize Print E-mail Reprints

By Philip Kennicott

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, November 23, 2007



The average, hyperactive, plugged-in modern child is not likely to sit through the 1956 French classic "The Red Balloon" without a lot of fussing and whining. This almost legendary film, aimed at children and at adults who like to think they haven't lost their connection to childhood, is devoid of the usual trappings of today's kiddie cinema: no flatulence jokes, no aping the manners and language of infantilized adults, no spittle or snot or other fetish liquids of childhood. It is a cinematic love letter to a fantasy of Paris, seen through the eyes of a little boy who befriends a red balloon with all the wide-eyed, trusting innocence that a boy can shower on a puppy.



It won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and it is a mainstay of many critic's top 10 lists. It is now being rereleased, paired with the 1953 "White Mane," another film by director Albert Lamorisse. Each work clocks in at under an hour, and it's good to see them side by side, even if the earlier "White Mane" (about a boy's love for a horse) feels a bit like a clunky trial run for the more accomplished and austere narrative exercise that is "The Red Balloon."



Almost everyone who has seen one of these films ("White Mane" is decidedly the rarer of the two) remembers Lamorisse's work fondly. Both films are about young boys and the dangers and possibilities of friendship. In "White Mane," the drama plays out in an idealized world of simple fisherman with nary a whiff of anything modern in its pastoral landscapes. In "The Red Balloon," the hero is a schoolboy (Lamorisse's son, Pascal), the setting postwar Paris, untouched by the war or anything remotely un-French. Both films are considered gorgeous fables, simple stories but pregnant with sad commentary on the fragility of innocence and the tragic pragmatism of the adult world.

Critics have favored these films not just because they are beautifully shot, but because their very spareness allows for a lot of intellectual imposition and interpretation. The red balloon may be a Freudian sign of burgeoning sexuality -- a reading made plausible when a little girl with a blue balloon wanders into the film for a brief suggestion of romance. The balloon may also be a sign calling attention to the unseen hand of the filmmaker -- as if the director is saying, hey, through the miracle of film, I can make any inanimate object into a viable dramatic character. The film becomes a meta-commentary on the power of film. You can go much further with these lines of thought. You can write a graduate thesis on the subject.


This sort of interpretation is likely very annoying to people who want to remember the films as simple and pure. But watch them again, and it's clear they are anything but pure. Lamorisse's Paris is basically photographer Eug¿ne Atget's glistening and empty city peopled by characters straight out of the old "Madeline" children's books. It doesn't exist, it didn't exist in 1956, and it probably never existed, except in carefully constructed French fantasies. And Lamorisse's vision of peasant life in the South of France, in the Camargue, never existed either. These films take place in a world of lies.




Innocent lies? Not necessarily. "The Red Balloon" may be the most seamless fusion of capitalism and Christianity ever put on film. A young boy invests in a red balloon, the love of which places him on the outside of society. The balloon is hunted down and killed on a barren hilltop -- think Calvary -- by a mob of cruel boys. The ending, a bizarre emotional sucker punch, is straight out of the New Testament.



Thus is investment rewarded -- with Christian transcendence or, at least, an old-fashioned Assumption. This might be sweet. Or it might be a very cynical reduction of the primary impulse to religious faith. In "White Mane," the sacrifice is even more explicit. A boy and his horse are hunted down by adult ranchers -- while a narrator makes vague promises of a better world to come.

The beautiful imagery of both films is deployed in support of a moral system -- a blunt promise of rewards for good behavior -- not much more sophisticated than that of Santa and the Easter Bunny. Ah, the time-honored tradition of adults indoctrinating kids in a worldview that will lead only to bitter disappointment, unless the kids refuse to grow up. Which seems to be increasingly the case.




If you're angry right now that the innocence of Lamorisse's message has been trampled beneath the boot of cynical criticism, good. That's the point. These are kiddie films, and adults shouldn't be there for the simple enjoyment of watching a story unfold. Perhaps the best adult response to these films would be critical detachment and a profound sense of relief: There they are, the old lies we tell kids, and thank goodness we don't believe them anymore.



There are perfectly worthy reasons to keep these films in circulation. Visually, they are masterful. And it's fascinating to see children's films in which children are not running the show, and there's no subversively sly adult meta-level filled with knowing jokes that fly right over the heads of the little ones. But in their very purity, in their resolutely adult vision of a child's supposed moral universe, these two films are profoundly manipulative.
Red Balloon and White Mane (72 minutes at Landmark's E Street Cinema) are not rated and contain peril and violence to animals.







__________________________________________________________________________



http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/White_Mane/70085456?trkid=496624
White Mane(Crin Blanc: Le Cheval Sauvage)


195340mNRRate 5 starsRate 4 starsRate 3 starsRate 2 starsRate 1 starNot InterestedClearSaving.....Our best guess for Edward:

4.9 stars.Average of 14,012 ratings:

3.3 stars ..A young boy (Alain Emery) grows entranced with a magnificent wild horse in a remote part of southern France after watching the local cowboys try to break it. Sensing that the lad's motives are different, the stallion slowly lets the young rider tame him. Director Albert Lamorisse shows nature at its most raw and powerful in an unforgettable tale of trust and freedom that was honored with the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes.

What a cinematic Black and White 40 minute masterpiece! I have no clue how Director Albert Lamorisse (The Red Balloon) managed to film White Mane - the photography of the horses and horseback riding are phenomenal. The story is simple: White Mane is a magnificent wild stallion, leader of the herd of...read more wild horses; Wranglers capture White Mane with his herd but he manages to escape, several times; an absolutely angelic looking (even dressed in white) young boy, Folco (Alain Emery), manages to befriend White Mane, and is able to ride him; after many chases these two escape the evil wranglers. Actually the ending is somewhat ambiguous - there are two possible outcomes of the final escape scene and you're left to your own conclusions. The young Alain Emery is obviously a very accomplished horseman - scenes of him riding bareback are stunning. The scenery of Southern France is beautiful - the moors, the swamps, the ocean are all captured by the camera during the chase scenes. The music soundtrack uses a full orchestra, with certain instruments representing White Mane, Folco, and the wranglers - sort of a theme for each. There's very little narrative, which is in French, however, there is a narrator that does a voice-over in English, which I thought worked really well. I felt White Mane is a real classic, and do highly recommend a viewing.
 
Whilst in grade school (Le Lac Region, FR), we all enjoyed Crin-Blanc, WHITE MANE: One of the works by adored Albert Lamorosse (films aimed at our poignant young imaginations) (see also, Le Ballon Rouge). His works are likened to imaginative poetry brought to life. Crin-Blanc was the wildest of a ve...read morery wild herd of Camargue horses (white mane flowing in the wind). Metaphorically, the boy who could not live in this world, escaped into the fantasy water world of the river with his mystical horse, Crin-Blanc. I am so happy this film has been made available by NF. 4 stars for the escape back to childhood. Coco C (June 17, 2010)
 
What a truly beautiful movie about the connection between a young boy and a white wild horse! The black and white cinematography is just stunning! I wish the film was longer than just a mere 40 minutes, but within that short time you begin to realize that perhaps horses need to run wild. There's a g...read morereat scene in which 2 white horses sparring and then the one which the young boy attempts and succeeds in taming this white maned horse, when grown men couldn't do. While it is about a boy and a horse, I don't think the ending is suitable for younger children. Really worth watching
 
I enjoyed this movie immensely! I appreciated the message and certainly the cinematography. The wildness of the land and the beauty was captured quite well. I wonder how they were able to film the animal scenes (much less the scenes of the young boy riding). The only thing I didn't like was the ...read moreending, as I didn't necessarily come to the same conclusion that was narrated. I struck me too much of the "your dog went to live on a farm where she'll be very happy" line. :( But it could have been interpreted in a different way also. I suppose that is left to the viewer to decide.