Histoire d'un poisson rouge

This Academy Award winning short film can rank among the greatest of the genre. Told completely without dialogue, it is a visual treat about a young boy who buys a gold fish, lovingly places him in a bowl then goes off to school, leaving the gold fish unprotected and a window carelessly open. After a while, a neighboring orange tabby comes poking around, comes in through the window and heads slowly for the bowl. The fish apparently knows something is going on and becomes very excited. As the cat comes very near to the bowl, the fish jumps out. The cat catches the fish, drops him back in the bowl and exits through the window he came in just as the boy, not knowing what has happened, gets back. This was amazingly filmed with real animals; how Cousteau got these animals to behave in this manner is remarkable. I only wish this film were available now for people to see; I only saw it once, in 1959 when it was originally released, but it has remained unforgettable.

A young lad (Louis Paul) returns home from school, feeds his pet canary a sugar lump then heads to the fair where he takes a shine to a goldfish that's the prize in a roulette competition. He can't afford to play but a man (Gilbert Hugues) comes along afterwards and to the obvious chagrin of the fish, determines he is going to do a bit of spread betting so he can win it at all costs! Amusingly, the fish is having done of this and is steadfastly remaining inside of it's rocky hideaway inside the tank. Failing to convince it to come out, the man must make do with another. Luckily for the youngster, a slight incident with the gent costs him the empty bottle he was carrying, so the man gives him a few Francs and he has a go on the wheel. This time, the fish is much more forthcoming - it practically swims into his net! Now we enter "Tweety Pie" and "Sylvester" territory as he takes it home, only for it to be enthusiastically welcomed by a neighbouring cat. Some fun acrobatics now ensue that sees the fish manage to jump from the bowl and now, lying on the table top is easy pickings for the interloping cat. Will the cat prefer the fish or the now frantically distracting canary that seems to be buying his golden friend time until their friend returns from school? Well? Now we get quite a surprise, the chirpy music picks up pace and the boy gets home from school with a gift for the tank. There's no dialogue, just a gently accompanying score and that works fine for this slightly too long, but engaging quirk of nature.

"The Golden Fish" is a French film by Edmond Séchan that is, at best, very ordinary...but which somehow won the Oscar for Best Short Film. Perhaps it was a very off year for the category...all I know is that the film never really impressed me one way or the other.

It's told almost completely without words and is a brief snippet from some kid's life. He goes to the fair, he wins a goldfish, takes it home and bad things happen. The part about the cat was telegraphed many times...to the point where it seemed heavy-handed. The music sounded very 'muddy'...hopefully if you do see it you'll find a better quality print. Overall, worth seeing to see what was Oscar-worthy back in the day but otherwise a film that is very easy to skip.

I remember seeing this in a the Salem movie theater (where I used to attend "Kiddie Matinée"s almost every Saturday) in Dayton, Ohio when I was a young boy and have never forgotten it. It simply amazed me and my friends. I do wish there were some way I could see it again! I have tried to find some compilation of shorts or something like that to no avail. I only recently discovered that it was a Cousteau film and that blew my mind even more. How the heck he accomplished this is beyond my understanding. The fish is ACTUALLY IN THE CAT'S MOUTH at one point, if I remember correctly! If anyone could help me find a way to see it again I would be extremely grateful!

I saW this film while at Birmingham Southern College in 1975, when it was shown in combination with the Red Balloon. Both films are similar in their dream-like quality. The bulk of the film entails a fish swimming happily in his bowl while his new owner, a little boy, is away at school. A cat enters the room where the fish and his bowl are, and begins to warily stalk his "prey." The boy begins his walk home from school, and the viewer wonders whether he will arrive in time to save his fish friend. The fish becomes agitated by the cat's presence, and finally jumps out of the bowl! The cat quickly walks over to the fish, gently picks him up with his paws, and returns him to his bowl. The boy returns happily to his fish, none the wiser.

The ending is amazing in both its irony and its technical complexity. It is hard to imagine how the director could've pulled the technical feat back in 1959 -- it seems more a trick for 2003.

If you can find it, watch it -- you won't be disappointed! And if you *do* find it, let me know so I can get a copy, too!