Great (1976) is one of the late Bob Godfrey's most acclaimed films, winning an Oscar for best animated short. It's not hard to see why: this comedy biography of Isambard Kingdom Brunel manages to cram a great deal of wit and invention into its half-hour running time, making use of drawn animation, Gilliamesque cut-out animation, treated live action and a small bit of rotoscoping alongside plenty of laugh-out-loud moments.
I remember that Bob Godfrey's family recently tried to get a pay-per-view service for his films off the ground, and so are understandably strict about letting his work leak onto YouTube without their permission. I sometimes get requests from people asking me to provide copies of the films I cover on this blog, but I'm afraid that, in the case of Great, the answer will be a definite no.
I wish the Godfrey family the best of luck in introducing a new generation to classic animation such as this on their own terms.
If the Godfrey family made an app of all Bob's films I'm sure it would prove successful.
ReplyDeleteSaw this for the first time last night (I won't say how), and loved every second of it. After hearing so much and looking for so long, I was prepared for disappointment, but this utterly failed in doing that!
ReplyDeleteThe songs in it are fantastic, I'd happily buy a soundtrack album. Maybe instead of a pay-per-view service, a nice DVD box-set would be a thing to do?
You can now pre-order Digital HD downloads and Blu-Rays of Great from https://bobgodfreyfilms.com/store
ReplyDeleteThe year is 2021, the link above does not work, and Bob Godfrey's most famous movie is unavailable to view by anyone.
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