Great (Isambard Kingdom Brunel)

I saw this by accident on TV over 20 years ago and could never find it again. Catchy and witty. Such a shame it's not commercially available ( there was a thread by history teachers desperately trying to lay their hands on a copy!). As previously stated, a Pythonesque animation of the life and works of the Great Victorian inventor. With some memorable songs (you might hate them, but be unable to get them out of your head, though)

I did find it on YouTube, but please note that the previous link given no longer works. It is currently on at http://youtu.be/whJvNNdQlTI or you can search Great: Isambard Kingdom Brunel; which worked as at Sept 30 2011; but could disappear any time . Catch it while you can!

Exactly why an Academy Award winning film of this caliber should be so sorely neglected and unavailable all these years I can't say, but this is one of the few times animation (of varying techniques), music, archive photos, and history have come together into something truly Great. Reminiscent of some of Terry Gilliam's animation for Monty Python's Flying Circus, but yet uniquely it's own beast. I whole-heartedly recommend this to anyone, providing you can find a way to see it. If you're looking for a copy, write me =).

"Oh; it's a ship..."

Bob Godfrey's free-wheeling, imaginative and irreverent look at the life and achievements of Isambard Kingdom Brunel benefits from eye-catching animation, upbeat songs, memorable set-pieces and an overall mood of infectious good humour. Although it's been years since I last saw it, several lines stick in my mind, including "Queen Victoria came to look, she said I'm tickled pink", a list of all the things Brunel didn't invent (including heroin, and, because this is a Bob Godfrey cartoon, a live-in bra!), a song about the diminutive inventor's taste in tall hats and a pre-punk rock and roller doing a very gritty song about the great man! At his best, Godfrey was capable of genius, and GREAT is proof of that. A DVD release is long overdue.

This is a marvelous short subject on the life of the Victorian inventor Izembard Kingdom Brunel. Charming, witty and full of affection for its subject, Great is a delight. I wish I owned a copy.

As you can see from other reviews of this little masterpiece, "Great - IKB" is a splendid piece of work that is shamefully neglected.

I first knew of the film when I heard the song "It's A Big One" played on the radio when it was released in 1975. I was looking forward to seeing this film about Brunel (already a hero of mine and now 2nd Greatest Briton of All Time, folks!). I never heard any more about it and began to wonder if I'd just dreamt it.

Then in the 1980's Channel 4 broadcast it one Saturday afternoon. Of course I watched it and was amazed at the number of animation styles and the sophisticated humour that was packed into a short film. For example, the film starts with a run-down of Victorian heroes in the style of a football team: 'Boots' Wellington, 'Flash' Gordon, 'Knockers' Nightingale and 'Little Willie' Gladstone on the touchline with his black bag. You need to know your history to appreciate this stuff. There are even references to the size of Prince Albert's manhood (when Queen Victoria said in her diary that "Albert's beauty is most striking" she wasn't writing about his haircut).

When the film was shown again a few years later I set up my cassette player and recorded the soundtrack, just to make sure I could play it whenever I wanted. A good job I did as to my knowledge it has never been shown again and is not available commercially.

I often wonder if a series of these was planned and didn't come off? I think it was produced by British Lion which went bust in the mid-70's. This might explain why "Great - IKB" was a one-off and the lack of a video/DVD distribution deal.