ryanbrennan wrote:
I almost forgot, as a warm-up we watched the Jiri Trnka 1949 stop motion classic THE EMPEROR'S NIGHTINGALE, narrated by Boris Karloff.  Maybe I was too tired or just not in the right mood but I found the film tedious at 55 minutes.  I can only imagine what the 72 minute Czech version would have been like. 

Yes, it was tedious. But I have to say that Trnka's stop motion easily beats out both the Puppetoons and Ray Harryhausen's fairy tales. Amazingly fluid, with smooth animated-camera movements that far outshine those in the Puppetoons.

It's too bad the story was so incredibly dull, and I can't imagine another 17 minutes added to it.