A Viagem de Balão

First, I am happy to see that this film has been re-released to video and perhaps a DVD is to follow. As a follow up to THE RED BALLOON I like the French title VOYAGE EN BALLON better than STOWAWAY IN THE SKY. This is a gentle film that floats you across the French countrysides and town church steeples. One of the six classic Albert Lamorisse films for children this was his first full length feature and sequel to THE RED BALLON. Once again starring Lamorisse's son Pascal in the lead role, this time stowing away in a 60-foot tall orange balloon his grandfather made. The two journey across France in an adventure that is brilliantly and colorfully photographed. The only disappointment is that the balloon should have been red (a reincarnation of the balloon from the first film), but perhaps orange was a better choice against the French backdrop. If you loved THE RED BALLOON, this is a must for you.

Albert Lamorisse was a specialist of works aimed at the children's market;his first movies were shorts :'Bim" (a collaboration with Prévert),"Crin blanc" generally considered his towering achievement,and "Le Ballon Rouge"which is much more popular abroad than in France (although the story was in many textbooks in the early sixties).

"Le Voyage En Ballon ",although Pascal ,its young hero ,was taken away for a journey around the world by balloons,is not really a sequel.

Much more modest in scope,it's the story of an old scientist and his grandson (the little star of his precedent short) who travel all above France , from north to south in a balloon.It was a technical tour De force ,for it was filmed in "Helivision" movie camera on a helicopter,a technique which was reportedly used later in the James Bond saga.No optical effects,quite a feat!

The budget was certainly rather comfortable at a time when color and wide screen were not that common in France ;the cinematography is of course splendid and the score is up to scratch .The best scene is perhaps that of the stag ,pursued by hunters with hounds ,which is saved by the aeronauts;there are nice shots of Notre Dame De Paris and of the Château De Chenonceaux ("is it a bridge or a castle?);on the other hand,the scenes where old scientists appear and claim that the balloon is in jeopardy get in the way.Like the stodgy long professor's lecture at the beginning ,it's mostly filler.

This is the main problem which wasn't in any way apparent in 1960,when most of the French would not go by plane,let alone by balloon;as Lamorisse 's first efforts were shorts,they were not boring in the long run;this 80 min work is monotonous in the end and it's dubious it may appeal to today's brats as it did half a century ago.It does not possess the poetry of "Crin Blanc " and "Le Ballon rouge " ,which still fascinates today.Compare the endings of this movie and that of the wild horse,both taking place by the sea.

That said ,"Le Voyage En Ballon" might possess considerable appeal for grown-ups who have kept their child's soul.

Lamorisse died in an accident in 1970,age 58, during a shooting in Iran.

After the huge success of THE RED BALLOON in this country Jack Lemmon bought the US distribution rights of Albert Lamorisse's next film VOYAGE EN BALLON. But instead of releasing a dubbed version here he hired Broadway veteran S. N. Berhman to write a script & re-recorded the film's soundtrack with himself reading this script. Berhman's script takes away all the mystery from Lamorisse's little movie & negates its visual composition. Lemmon's cacophony throughly trashes Jean Prodromides' beautiful score. As a topper Berhman's script has references to adult sexuality (this in a children's movie) which are meant to be sophisticated & amusing but are not. Won't some one please give us the original?

Like its many lengthy tracking shots that hover over Paris and the Parisian countryside, the quality of this film crept up on me. I'm watching Lamorisse's films in the recently released Criterion collection and this is easily my favorite apart from The Red Balloon. Its characters/acting can be a little silly at times, but this just gives the film a sense of whimsy. The beauty on-screen here really captured me. It wasn't until halfway through the film that I started to become aware of how much I was enjoying it - it has a hypnotic quality. I felt like I was in a sidecar on the balloon (how they got some shots blows my mind).

This is a very nice movie to be enjoyed with kids on a quiet weekend.