Movies - A Close Shave

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	Movies - A Close Shave

A Close Shave is a 1995 animated film directed by Nick Park at Aardman Animations in Bristol, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit. It was his third half-hour short featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace and his quiet but smart dog Gromit, following 1989's A Grand Day Out
and 1993's The Wrong Trousers
.

To celebrate the film's premiere on 24 December 1995, BBC Two's Christmas presentation that year (broadcast from the 24th to 26th) featured Wallace and Gromit. The main ident featured the two eating Christmas dinner, with a large blue 2 (the channel's logo) situated in the middle of the table, covered with flashing Christmas lights. Several Christmas themed stings, also involving Wallace, Gromit, and the 2, were shown between programmes. The animation of these idents appeared slightly different from other Wallace and Gromit shorts.

Following in the footsteps of its predecessor The Wrong Trousers, in 1995 A Close Shave won the Academy Award for an Animated Short Film.

Summary

In this short, Wallace and Gromit are running a window-cleaning business, and their work brings Wallace into contact with wool shop owner Wendolene, who he becomes besotted with, but also gets them involved in a sheep-rustling scheme run by Wendolene's sinister robot dog Preston.

As before, the 30 minutes are packed with sight gags and exaggerated physical comedy, as well as a few subtle film parodies. Voice acting was before the sole duty of Peter Sallis (the voice of Wallace), as Gromit is always silent. In 'A Close Shave', Wendolene was introduced, and was a second speaking character for the series, voiced by Anne Reid.

Trivia

In-jokes and references

Here are a few subtle jokes from the film.

Shaun may have got his name because his name is similar to the word 'shorn', which he is in Wallace's latest invention.

The name of the heroine, Wendolene, is similar to "Windolene" - a window-cleaning solution.

The name of Wendolene's scheming pet with a dark secret, Preston, is the name of Nick Park's home town in Lancashire.

In Gromit's jail scene, the writing 'FEATHERS WAS ERE' is a reference to the penguin lodger Wallace took in during the previous film, The Wrong Trousers
, Feathers McGraw. Feathers tried to steal an expensive diamond but was foiled by Wallace and Gromit and jailed (although he was actually jailed in a Zoo, and Gromit is shown as being in an actual Gaol). However, as Feathers McGraw is a known criminal, seen on wanted-posters even before he tries to steal the diamond, it can be assumed, that he has been in an ordinary prison earlier in his career and not impossibly in Gromit's cell.

Graffiti on Gromit's prison table has many references to prison escapes, including The Great Escape
(with an accompanying drawing) as well as Papillon. The table and graffiti are visible for less than one second before they are obscured by Gromit placing the present on the table.

Also in the jail scene, Gromit is reading a book called 'Crime And Punishment' by 'Fido Dogstoyevsky'. Crime and Punishment is a classic novel written by Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky, so the author name on Gromit's book is a double-pun on the original author's name. The spine of the book also has a penguin on it that looks like Feathers McGraw, with the words "A Penguin Classic", another double-pun, which also derives from the name of the book publisher Penguin Books.

When Wallace receives a call for window-cleaning service, his method of getting to his motorbike and out onto the road is a direct homage to the Thunderbirds TV series (specifically, the way Virgil Tracy gets to Thunderbird 2 and into the air). Pastiche music in the style of Barry Gray's Thunderbird's music support this spoof.

When Gromit plummets down a precipice, the side-car he is travelling in turns into an aeroplane at the touch of a button. Gromit first avoids certain death, then uses the plane to attack Preston's truck. The side-car aeroplane is reminiscent of the gadgetry used by James Bond in his various films. Coincidentally the death-defying escape down the precipice is mirrored in the opening scene of GoldenEye
which opened in cinemas one month before A Close Shave was first shown.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for A Close Shave ]

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