This is based on an old French-Canadian song where a blackbird gradually loses a part of it's body - but whichever part it loses then returns, in triplicate! Manna from heaven for Norman McLaren, who has created a charming and musical short animation depicting a cheery manipulation of shapes that resemble a bird at times, but as ever with this artist, can be jumbled up and re-aligned to make just about anything. Even when it is the recognisable merle, the body has the ability to annoy even the most agile of double-jointed creations by discombobulating itself at will. This has a cracking score (from Le Trio Lyrique) to accompany the on-screen antics and I think this might actually be my favourite from this imaginative Canadian.

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