Wallace and Gromit in A Close Shave (1995)

Director:

Nick Park

Writers:

Bob Baker (written by) &
Nick Park (written by)

Release Date:

15 October 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Crime | Family

Plot:

Wallace falls for Wendolene, a wool shop owner, while Gromit is framed for the sheep rustling.

Plot Keywords:

Rustler | Male Female Relationship | Third Part | Crying | Evil Robot

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 15 wins

Cast

Peter Sallis	...	Wallace (voice)
Anne Reid	...	Wendolene Ramsbottom (voice)

Directed by
Nick Park

Writing credits
Bob Baker		(written by) &
Nick Park		(written by)

Produced by
Peter Lord	....	executive producer
Colin Rose	....	executive producer: BBC
Michael Rose	....	producer
Carla Shelley	....	producer
David Sproxton	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Julian Nott

Cinematography by
Dave Alex Riddett		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Helen Garrard

Art Direction by
Phil Lewis

Art Department
Trisha Budd	....	assistant art director: props
Tim Farrington	....	scenic artist
Richard Higgs	....	graphic designer
Michael Salter	....	storyboard artist
Jason Spencer Galsworthy	....	model maker
Zennor Witney	....	model maker

Sound Department
Paul Hamblin	....	dubbing mixer
Adrian Rhodes	....	dubbing editor
Jack Stew	....	foley artist

Visual Effects by
Jeff Cliff	....	mechanical models
Linda Langley	....	model sculptor
Del Lawson	....	model technician
John Parsons	....	model coordinator
John Wright	....	mechanical models
Stella Bogh	....	digital compositor (uncredited)
Pete Hanson	....	studio manager: CFC (uncredited)
Alison O'Brien	....	visual effects producer (uncredited)
Kevin Phelan	....	scanning and recording producer: CFC (uncredited)
Tim Wellspring	....	visual effects coordinator: CFC (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
John Bradley	....	gaffer
Simon Jacobs	....	photographer
Sam James	....	camera operator
Ian Jewels	....	gaffer
Tristan Oliver	....	photographer
Frank Passingham	....	photographer
Paul Smith	....	camera operator
Nick Upton	....	camera assistant

Animation Department
Steve Box	....	key character animator
Gary Cureton	....	character animator
Sergio Delfino	....	assistant animator
Nick Park	....	character animator
Peter Peake	....	character animator
Loyd Price	....	character animator
Nick Upton	....	animation assistant
Ian Whitlock	....	assistant animator
Allan Yates	....	animation systems engineer

Editorial Department
Bridget Mazzey	....	assistant film editor
Tasmin Parry	....	assistant film editor

Music Department
Nic Raine	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Simon Rhodes	....	music scoring mixer (uncredited)

Other crew
Alan Gregory	....	technical crew
Bob Gregory	....	technical crew
Glenn Hall	....	technical crew
Harry Linden	....	floor manager
John Oaten	....	technical crew
Peter Thornton	....	production consultant

Thanks
Tara Bacon	....	thanks
Lisa Bilbe	....	thanks
Mike Booth	....	thanks
Elizabeth Buttler	....	thanks
Douglas Calder	....	thanks
Ben Cook	....	thanks
Charles Copping	....	thanks
Maxine Guest	....	thanks
Toby Hannam	....	thanks
Beverley Issacs	....	thanks
Curtis Jobling	....	thanks
Janet Legg	....	thanks
Beth MacDonald	....	thanks
Stuart Markovic	....	thanks
Jason Marshall	....	thanks
John McAleavy	....	thanks
Viv Paeper	....	thanks
Darren Robbie	....	thanks
Susannah Shaw	....	thanks
Arthur Sheriff	....	thanks (as Arthur Sherriff)
Barry Shutler	....	thanks
John Truckle	....	thanks
Adam Vernon	....	thanks
Sophie Wright	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Aardman Animations (as An Aardman Animation Production)
• BBC Bristol (in association with)
• BBC Children's International (in association with)
• Wallace & Gromit (in association with) (as Wallace & Gromit Ltd.)

Distributors

• BBC Bristol (1995) (UK) (TV)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (1995) (UK) (TV)
• Northern Arts Entertainment (1996) (USA)

Special Effects

• Computer Film Company, The (CFC) (optical effects) (as Computer Film Company)
• General Screen Enterprises (optical effects) (as GSE)

Other Companies

• Aardman Animations  thanks (as the Staff of Aardman Animations)

Also Known As:

A Close Shave (UK) (short title)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | Brazil:Livre | South Korea:All | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:U | USA:Unrated | Australia:G

Company:

Aardman Animations

Trivia:

The first Wallace and Gromit film where Wallace's is not the only voice.

Goofs:

Continuity: The porridge gun shoots at Wallace, and some of it lands on the wall. In the next shot, the porridge is gone.

Quotes:

[to Gromit, after he escapes from jail with the help of Wallace and the sheep]
Wallace: I suppose you'll have to skip the country, now. A fugitive, ay? You'll be hunted down like... well, a dog.

Movie Connections:

References Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers (1993)

The Best Yet......

Of all the W&G films A Close Shave is by far the best of all. Not only is the animation far more polished & detailed than its earlier predecessors, A Grand Day Out (1992) and The Wrong Trousers ('93). But in addition the story is far more engaging, light & humourous compared to the darker more mechanical nature of TWT (my least favourite of the three).

For the first time, A Close Shave introduces an extra dimension to the W&G pairing, in the form of Wendolene, a lady woolshop owner who Wallace falls in love with when both he & Gromit clean her shop windows.

With the addition of a female into the story we are given a little more character development concerning Wallace. The previous two stories only centred around his self-serving interests in cheese, inventions, making money and relying on his pet pooch to get him out of sticky situations. But in ACS we are offered a more rounded perspective of his personal life and his keeness to have a woman sharing his home at long last.

As the film progresses the relationship between the couple grows, in spite of all the dangers & hazards that they face along the way. And by the end of the film we are left on tenterhooks as to whether Wendolene will finally move in with W&G for good!

So not only is the animation and attention to detail significantly improved over TWT but so too is the characterisation and storyline. The voice of Wallace, Peter Sallis, is dependable & easy on the ear, even though he doesn't have much to say compared to the previous films.

But it is to Gromit where the real plaudits lie. Because he can't speak (or bark apparently!) we have to rely on his facial expression to understand how he feels & reacts to those around him. Because of the wonderful attention to animated detail Nick Park and his crew have spent, we can connect & relate very easily to Gromit's body language, especially within his eyes. I don't think I've ever seen such wonderful expressions since Laurel & Hardy. In fact the next time you have the benefit of seeing a L&H film take note of Ollie's facial expressions to-camera and you'll understand the comparison between him & Gromit.

Its now 6 years since the last W&G installment and it is to be hoped that Nick Park will do another follow up. I only hope he doesn't rely on lifeless cgi for his animation technique. On average it took NP between 2 to 3 years for each of the W&G episodes. But it was worth the wait. However, the Dreamworks Studio to which NP is affiliated, may not like having to wait such a long time for the next installment to be made, a may insist on using computer animation rather than clay to speed the production process up somewhat.

Chicken Run (2000), NP's first full-feature movie in conjunction with Dreamworks was, on the whole, ok. But the story seemed so formulaic & safe that you just knew the studio had "influenced" the production more than NP would have liked. And as a result you get a bland film built on hype. So I only hope the next W&G doesn't follow the same route otherwise the entire W&G franchise will be ruined for the sake of the mighty dollar yet again.

****/*****