Paul Grimault (French:[ɡʁimo]; 23 March 1905 – 29 March 1994) was one of the most important French animators. He made many traditionally animated films that were delicate in style, satirical, and lyrical in nature.
His most important work is Le Roi et l'oiseau, which ultimately took over 30 years to produce. He began it as La Bergère et le Ramoneur (The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep) in 1948 and it was highly anticipated, but Grimault's partner André Sarrut showed the film unfinished in 1952, against Grimault's wishes. This caused a rift between partners and a stop in production. In 1967, Grimault got possession of the film and subsequently was able to complete it in 1980 under a new title, Le Roi et l'oiseau, incorporating some footage from the original and re-hiring the original animators, together with some new, younger ones. There are many names for it in English that have been used in various releases, including: The King and the Bird (literal), The King and the Mockingbird, The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird and The King and Mr. Bird (1980).
He also collected his best shorts in a retrospective compilation movie, La table tournante (1988), which is included in the deluxe edition of Le Roi et l'oiseau. For a detailed bibliography, see this reference.[1]
In 1936 Grimault founded, with André Sarrut, Les Gémeaux, which was the second significant French animation venture, following the work of Émile Cohl, which had closed years earlier.[2] During World War II, American films being unavailable, its films found a captive audience. The studio produced a number of shorts, then closed its doors in 1952 following the expense of making La Bergère et le Ramoneur, which was the first feature-length French animated movie.
Grimault was part of the agitprop group Groupe Octobre. At this group he met Jacques Prévert, with whom he went on to collaborate on several animated films, most notably Le roi et l'oiseau.
Le petit Soldat, 1947 * (International prize, Venice Biennial 1948, Grand Prix of the Prague and Rio festivals, 1950)
La Légende de la soie, 1950 * (short for the silk industry)
Pierres oubliées, 1952
Enrico cuisinier, 1956 (mixed with live action, with Pierre Prévert)
La faim du monde (ou La faim dans le monde), 1957/58 (re-edited version for children, Le Monde en raccourci, 1975)
Le petit Claus et le grand Claus, 1964
Le diamant, 1970 * with Jacques Prevert, complement to L'AveuofCosta-Gavras
Le chien mélomane, 1973 * with Jacques Prevert
Le fou du Roi, 1987–1988 * (made for La Table Tournante)
Commercials:
Le Messenger de la Lumière (The Messenger of Light) – for a light shop
La Légende de la Soie (The Legend of Silk) – paid for by the silk industry
Sain et Sauf (Safe and Sound) – for Danon yogurt
Terre! (Land ho!) – for an optician
Other work:
La séance de spiritisme (The spiritualist seance) (1931, live action advertisement by Jean Aurenche with stop-action animation by Grimault and Jacques Brunius)
Two animated TV pilots (Chasseurs pécheurs and Les Sportifs de la Préhistoire), 1970
Animated sequences projected during the show C'est la guerre, Monsieur Gruber (It's war, Mister Gruber) by Jacques Sternberg, at the Odeon theater, during the Comédie-Française
