The Sea Horse (1935) User Reviews

Strangers in a Strange World

[cstotlar-1 · 8/10 · 29 January 2013]

I've wanted to see this film for a number of years and finally caught it! This work wears several hats - a scientific film exquisitely photographed about seahorses, a musical comment by Darius Milhaud that - at least for me - is a bit too overstated - and a superimposition of a real horse race. The timing is excellent (at about 20 minutes) and these tiny creatures become almost abstract in their environment. In fact they are almost surreal. What a pleasure, this gem. I don't know whether it has been translated but the French is direct, instructive and easy to follow with a knowledge of the language. Actually the images themselves could easily stand on their own.

Curtis Stotlar

A pioneering scientific film

[GrandeMarguerite · 7/10 · 20 August 2006]

The son of a famous mathematician and politician, Jean Painlevé started his film career while a natural history student at the Sorbonne. Both scientist and filmmaker, one of the first to plunge underwater with a camera to bring the sub-aquatic world to the screen, Painlevé captured the throes of a male seahorse giving birth in this short film. Painlevé was also a photographer (whose pictures are kept in some of the world's most famous art museums), a close friend to genius filmmaker Jean Vigo and belonged to the surrealist movement. His lyrical and instructive animal behavior films were frequently set to avant-garde scores composed by musicians like Darius Milhaud. Needless to say that his films are worth watching not only for their historical interest but also for their strange aesthetics acclaimed by some of his contemporaries like Luis Buñuel.

One of his best

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 29 March 2016]

"L'hippocampe, ou 'Cheval marin'" is a 15-minute black-and-white documentary from over 80 years ago and it was made by French documentary pioneer Jean Painlevé. It was one of his early works and at the same time one of his most famous and best in my opinion. Despite the year, this one already has sound, namely the filmmaker's narration. I may be a bit biased here, but I mostly enjoyed this one because of the animals it depicts. I always found sea horses one of the most fascinating and cutest water creatures. I believe many of Painlevé's films are really only for scientists and biologists (even if they are always informative) and may be a pretty boring watch to general audiences, but this one here is definitely easier accessible and a good watch for everybody.

Student Review

[boblipton · 10/10 · 29 August 2018]

This is perhaps, Painlevé's masterpiece. He has moved squarely into the talkie era and has the backing of a major studio; his name appears before the title. He is the star and he uses his star power as the dry-witted professor to talk about and show us the seahorse. He is fond of the odd creature. He admires its looks. He compares it to other animals, like chameleons and monkeys and King Charles Spaniels. He talks about its oddities like how the male famously carries the eggs about and gives birth to them. He uses his microphotography and time-differentiated camera to tell the story effectively.

Most importantly, he makes it clear how interesting seahorses are to him, and imparts some of that interest to his audience. That's what all great teachers do: they don't just tell you stuff, they get you interested.