O Cavalo Branco

Every French pupil of the sixties or even the seventies knows "Crin-Blanc",one of the major works of Albert Lamorisse who used to make films aimed at the children's market: "Bim Le Petit Ane" "Le Voyage en Ballon" and "le Ballon Rouge" are of the same kind.The French critic remains tepid as far as they are concerned,but abroad all are praised as masterpieces of moving poetry.

Let's take the golden middle:masterpieces,there are certainly not,but representative of an era ,the era of Doisneau's photographs and pupils in grey overall,they certainly are.

Whereas "le Ballon Rouge " depicted a graying urban landscape,"Crin-Blanc" takes place in Camargue with its wild horses ,including ,the wildest of them all,"Crin-Blanc ".But the two movies have the same conclusion: both Folco and Pascal cannot live in the men's world and both escape from their world,one flew over Paris with his magic balloon and the other returned to the (new christening?) waters of the river with his mythical horse.

In the mid-fifties, Albert Lamorisse produced two beautiful, but strangely distant films, "The RedBalloon" and "White Mane". "Red Balloon" has been available and remained somewhat popular, while "White Mane" all but disappeared. Its re-emergence is welcome, as it offers intensely compelling black and white imagery, cinematography that is a cross between Ansel Adams and Atget, in its rich tones, dramatic light, and epic feel.

Red Balloon, offers an interesting contrast. Paris is all muted earth tones and grays, with the balloons offering the only vivid colors. It is also interesting to remember that World War II was less than a decade earlier.

Little Pascal, the director's son, is seen in both films, always appealing never "cute", but somehow distant. We don't really know him except as "the little boy".

The two films are wonderful artifacts from a time when film was more art than marketing.

Not quite as great as The Red Balloon and not as well-known, but White Mane is almost as good and does deserve to be better known than it is. It is a gorgeous-looking film, with the marshlands being both handsome and austere(emphasising the wildness of the two main characters and their adventures) and the black and white photography really is some of the best I've ever seen. White Mane is sensitively scored with a lovely whimsical tone, while the narration is thoughtfully written and poetic, telling the story without trying to explain too much. White Mane has a very sweet and touching story, the wonder of childhood is really charmingly depicted and the film shows also the beauty of nature that will leave one inspired. What was also appealing was the relationship between the boy and the horse which is what anchors the film, a familiar idea but you really do feel the friendship and love between the two. The pacing is deliberate but that said White Mane never came across as dull personally, the relationship between the boy and the horse, the way the film looked and how easy it was to get into the story and its emotions were utterly transfixing. Albert Lamorisse's direction is sensitive and in keeping with White Mane's poetic tone and the acting is great, especially from Alain Emery. He looked adorable and gives a spirited and touching performance, there are scenes where he doesn't say a word but his body language, eyes and face are genuinely telling throughout. The horse was clearly well-trained as well, and the chemistry between the two of them was magic. All in all, immensely charming and beautiful but also sadly criminally underrated. The Red Balloon is slightly better but if you loved that film you will find a huge amount to love about White Mane. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Albert Lamorisse is mostly known for his beloved classic 'The Red Balloon', but before that he made this 'White Mane', which is almost as good. Although 'White Mane' is not absolutely perfect, it certainly is and feels authentic. I could say this is a must for anyone who loves horses. It is, that I can't deny. But in my book one doesn't necessarily have to love horses to enjoy this. It's all a matter of liking this sort of films.

This short film is about a wild stallion in a wild region of France and his friendship with a fearless and adventurous young boy. The film tells how they meet and how they develop their friendship. This boy becomes the only human really worthy of the stallion's trust.

The beauty of the cinematography is one of the best things about this. What we see is pure and natural, a "wilder" France not often seen in movies (that is, as far as I know). The boy is wonderfully portrayed by Alain Emery. The boy and the stallion have a perfect chemistry.

This should definitely be on Top 250.

Although this was an award-winning French film that won honors as Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival, there's really nothing that memorable about this B&W odyssey about a wild stallion and a small boy who tames it.

The background music is pleasant, the photography is pleasing enough and the boy is a natural actor, but the story seems to be lacking something in spirit and seems rather bland by the time it winds up its tale in 43 minutes with a rather ambiguous ending.

ALAIN EMERY is the boy, Falco, who befriends a white stallion in Camarque, arid lands in the south of France, much to the displeasure of a group of men who were trying to capture the animal themselves. Once the horse accepts him as a rider, he spends the rest of the film trying to avoid capture by the men on horseback who chase the boy and the horse all over the dunes and finally the beach, where boy and horse ride off into the waves.

That's the story. Whether it captures your attention completely or not is debatable, but it is definitely well made and worth seeing at least once.

Trivia note: The main page at IMDb specifies that the film was photographed in Eastman Color but the print shown on TCM was in black and white.