Crin blanc: Le cheval sauvage (1953)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Albert Lamorisse

Writers:

Albert Lamorisse (original scenario)
Denys Colomb Daunant (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

13 January 1954 (Denmark)

Genre:

Short | Drama | Family

Plot:

A boy comes across a white-haired wild horse in the Camargue. Ranchers seek to capture the horse, but it escapes...

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Camargue | Freedom | Wild Horse | France

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins

Cast

Alain Emery	...	Folco, the boy
Laurent Roche
Clan-Clan
Pascal Lamorisse
Francois Perie
Charles Guillaume
Alain Colomb Daunant
Denys Colomb Daunant		(as Denys Colomb de Daunant)
Charles Fouhetty
Pierre Bestieux
Pierre Moureaux-Nery
Jean-Pierre Grenier	...	Narrator (original version) (as J. P. Grenier)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Frank Silvera	...	Narrator- English

Directed by
Albert Lamorisse

Writing credits
Albert Lamorisse		(original scenario)
Denys Colomb Daunant		(adaptation) (as Denys Colomb de Daunant)
Albert Lamorisse		(commentary) and
James Agee		(commentary)

Produced by
Albert Lamorisse	....	producer

Original Music by
Maurice Leroux		(music score) (as Maurice Le Roux)

Cinematography by
Edmond Séchan

Film Editing by
Georges Alépée

Sound Department
Regine Artarit	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Nicole de Bourgues	....	assistant camera (as Bourgues)
Jean-Louis Malige	....	assistant camera (as Malige)
Moureaux-Nery	....	assistant camera
Pervenchon	....	assistant camera
Rosfelder	....	assistant camera

Production Companies

• Films Montsouris

Distributors

• L'Alliance Générale de Distribution Cinématographique (1953) (France) (theatrical)
• Stadtkino Verleih (1953) (Austria) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1953) (USA) (theatrical) (English narration)
• Arthur Mayer-Edward Kingsley (1953) (USA) (theatrical)
• Childhood Productions (1967) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed) (re-release)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1967) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Janus Films (2007) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Sound & Media (2008) (UK) (all media) (non-theatrical)
• Park Circus (2008) (UK) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Cafegroove (2008) (Japan) (theatrical) (restored version)
• Crest International (2008) (Japan) (theatrical) (restored version)
• Atypfilm (2009) (Czech Republic) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Crin blanc (France) (short title)
White Mane (USA)
White Mane: The Wild Horse (International: English title)
Wild Stallion

Runtime:

47 min | USA:40 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:0 (canton of Vaud) | USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Australia:G | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Camargue, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Company:

Films Montsouris

Movie Connections:

Featured in Le fils de Gascogne (1995)

Interesting B&W images from the man who did "The Red Balloon"...

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.