Grendel Grendel Grendel

"Grendel Grendel Grendel" is an animated film based on John Gardner's novel "Grendel" and starring Peter Ustinov. It was released in 1981.

Written, directed and designed by local designer Alexander Stitt, this was the second full-length fully-animated film ever made in Australia (coming after 1972's "Marco Polo Junior Versus the Red Dragon").

Like Gardner's novel, the film is a retelling of part of the Beowulf story from the monster Grendel's point of view. Grendel (voiced by Ustinov) is by turns a thoughtful and contemplative character and a rampaging monster who attacks the mead hall of an early Danish kingdom, biting the head off of one would-be defender. Despite occasional violent scenes such as this, the film appears to be targeted toward children as well as adults. There are several musical numbers and the overall tone is one of gentle humor. This humor is sometimes dark, and the ending, with the mortally wounded Grendel calling to his mother for help, is affectingly tragic. The animation is drawn in a colorful and highly simplified style reminiscent of construction paper cut-outs.

The music was composed and conducted by Bruce Smeaton and has been released on the 1M1 Records label.

ee also

*"Abra Cadabra", Alexander Stitt's second animated feature
*"Beowulf", the original source inspiration for both the film and Gardner's novel.
*A 2006 live-action adaptation of the poem, "Beowulf and Grendel".
*List of animated feature films

External links

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* [http://www.1m1.com.au/detail.asp?p=107 Soundtrack release by 1M1 Records]
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* [http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/g/grendelgrendelgrendel.html Detailed review at Stomp Tokyo]
* [http://colsearch.nfsa.afc.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=Number%3A41060;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10 Grendel Grendel Grendel at the National Film and Sound Archive]