I just watched this beautiful short 1956 film for the first time last night. I loved it for the scenes of Paris. It's now available from Netflix, and I discovered this morning that you can also watch it online here.

There's also apparently a new version, Flight of the Red Balloon, not yet available from Netflix.

Chris,
There is also a beautiful book about the story, compiled with black&white stills from the movie, but the ballon was always carefully colored bright red.
I saw it at a friend's house in SF. That and, next to it, a book of Eugène Atget's pics of Paris with quotes by Proust convinced the teenage me that I belonged to Paris.

Yes the new version is on PPV on Comcast at the moment.

quote:

convinced the teenage me that I belonged to Paris

I can certainly understand that!

Thanks for this link, Chris. It's the first time I ever watched it, too. Loved iT.

I have loved this movie for many years, from the time when I used to be a school librarian / media specialist, and would show it to the kids on 16 mm film. I'm so happy that it is now out on DVD. I want to get it for my grandchildren, and hope that children in the iPod / video game era will still appreciate it.

There is a companion release by the filmmaker Albert Lamorisse, White Mane about a horse from the Camargue. Also in the same Criterion DVD batch of classic children's movies (this one Canadian, not French) is Paddle to the Sea.

- Roz

Chris - thanks for pointing me in the direction of a wonderful half hour's worth of fantasy! I remember seeing this once many years ago, but had forgotten the details.

I do remember seeing and riding on some of those open back buses on my first trip to Paris, too! That was a lOOOOOOng time ago.

Judy

Our kindergarten classes show this short film to our kinders every year.

I love it and have it in a cassette tape prior to DVDs...

Thanks for posting this link. I watched it in awe - it was perfectly charming!!

One anecdote : last year, Orsay museum in Paris asked some movies directors to make each one a film, in which the museum could be seen. ( I don't remember all, but I know Jim Jarmush, Olivier Assayas ...) . The chinese director Hou Hsiao Hsien made one, with a hommage to "Le ballon rouge", called "Le voyage du ballon rouge" , with Juliette Binoche