Cirkus Hurvinek (1955)
Article 5527 by Dave Sindelar

Date: 1-13-2018
Directed by Jiri Trnka
Featuring the voices of Vratislav Blazek and Jiri Trnka
Country: Czechoslovakia
What it is: Puppet animated whimsy

A young child dreams he is performing in a circus with his father as the ringmaster.

I wasn’t initially sure whether I would be covering this one; I was unable to find a plot description, and a quick peek at the footage didn’t yield any immediate fantastic content. However, the fact that it was listed in Walt Lee’s guide made me decide to go ahead with it. It does have a certain amount of fantastic content; the pet dog does display a certain degree of anthropomorphism (especially during the dream sequence), and when the boy takes on the job of wild animal tamer, he encounters drawings of animals in a giant book that come to life, move, and talk. Some of the plot details are lost on me because the dialogue was in Czech, but in terms of its whimsical content, it’s fairly easy to follow. It’s not one of Trnka’s more striking works, but it’s certainly well done and quite entertaining. My favorite moment comes early on, where the young boy’s attempt to elude his father causes a certain amount of confusion to a bill poster.