The Red Balloon and Other Stories Criterion Collection Review: The Fred Balloon

Everyone remembers seeing The Red Balloon as a kid, either at school or on TV. The Criterion Collection gives us a chance to relive that and discover four other films by Albert Lamorisse.

As remarkable as it is that he gave an inanimate balloon personality, his other films are equally remarkable. White Mane has brilliant footage of real animals, and a friendship between a horse and a boy. Both that and Bim, the Little Donkey are also bittersweet stories about how bullies want to take away children’s friends. Bim, at least, has a happy ending and one of the bullies learns.

Stowaway in the Sky and Circus Angel are features. Stowaway is a travelogue from the sky, though they take some breaks on the ground. Keep in mind that every stunt you see in it had to be practical.

Circus Angel is the only one with an adult protagonist. He’s a bit more of a troublemaker than the children heroes, but with the same sense of whimsy Lamorisse brings to all his films.

In the Blu-ray transfers, you see the grain of the film. Red Balloon highlights the bright colors of all the balloons against a gray city. Stowaway has the same grain but in widescreen and many different settings.

The black and white films look exquisite. They are so crisp and every shade of white horse, white sand, white clothes, white angel wings, everything is distinct. You can see the wires helping Circus Angel fly but what can you do? Hong Kong movies continued to have visible wires long after.

The new bonus feature includes Red Balloon star and Albert’s son, Pascal Lamorisse sharing his memories of the films he appeared in, and being on set for others. He concludes by addressing the tragedy that befell his family.

There are two archival interviews with Albert on talk shows. One allows kids to ask him questions and they’re pretty insightful ones. A 2008 special has Pascal take his daughter to revisit locations, and she discovers more archival materials from her grandpa.