This short animated film from Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica is, to me, something of a tightrope. On one end of the tightrope is Luis Bunuel, particularly his early work. On the other end is Terry Gilliam and the animation he did for Monty Python.While much of this is simple and crude, I feel like it may have been unique in its day. The idea of using existing cut outs for animation. Now, it has been done by Gilliam, the fine creator of Wondermark, and many others. But was it done before 1957? I am not aware of this.Perhaps most interesting is just how innocent the film is. Those who know Borowczyk for "The Beast" might have expected an entirely different animation.

Once Upon a Time (1957) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Incredibly imaginative animated film was a big award winner when originally released. The film starts off with an egg shaped creature and four lines coming together and then walking around. As they walk more and more pieces start to come together until the end when a creation finally reveals itself. This is a wonderfully entertaining short that I'm sure kids would love just as much as adults. The movie has a cute little soundtrack and I guess the word neat is the one I'd use to explain everything. Various shapes and forms are created throughout the film and the directors mix the animation in with live footage as well as still photographs. The sequences where the egg shape fills in on some photos is very well done as is the end bit with the Mona Lisa. Fans of the director or animation would be pleased to watch this one. Original title: Byl sobie raz.