I've been trying to find information and pictures of this film for long time – and today I finally found some!
@ Plot outline and awards
@ Single still (last image on page)
@ Another still
@ Numerous small stills
Steam-powered computers may be old news now (this was released in 1970) but this remains the only one I know to have been made out of doilies.

And this is something else which I discovered very recentlyâ€|
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I've now read the book from which those images were scanned (Jayne Pilling's Animation: 2D and Beyond) and it is, I must say, a stunning, essential read for anyone vaguely interested in animation. Therefore, it is very depressing that it has been out of print for several years. If you ever come across it in a library, don't hesitate to have a flick through (unless, of course, you don't want to end up spending several weeks reading it properly). Here's another still from the same film, which I scanned from it myself.

I don't know if any other members of this board reside witin the British Isles, but if they do, they should go out right now out and see the new Ocelot feature, Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest. It's relatively weak in terms of story and script, but genuinely beautiful and genuinely funny in a way which so little of today's animation even attempts to be (although, bear in mind that I have seen neither Ratatouille nor Persepolis yet). Go to @ to find out where it is playing nearest to you, and download the super high resolution images from @ for a taster – @ also has a few stunners from it.

Writing about Michel Ocelot has given me pangs to re-watch one of his films or, if that isn't possible, to engage in some Lexaloffle gaming. I'm glad it wasn't possible, as that persuaded me into doing a level of Chocolate Castle between sessions writing and I've just now played the first level of Jasper's Journeys myself, using the gamepad I rescued from the bin! (My father is rather bin-happy, you see). My deepest huggles for including joystick support — I can't play games with the tiny arrow keys on my notebook, and this saves from having to use USB Overdrive. But where was I getting to? Oh yes. Firstly, the torches in the underground passageways. John's graphics for these are the most beautiful pixel-level animation I can ever remember seeing. How they light up the bricks around them is justâ€| Unbelievable. In the best possible way. I'm also addicted to the fushigi menu music and end up listening to it several times through before and after playing the game. The other thing is the bonus stages' combination of gold columns and panels with shiny black bricks which are ever-so-slightly blue-tinged, and this how this reminds me of the palace which the great red lion of the desert of coloured sand led Bastian to in Die unendliche Geschichte. In a roundabout way, this leads me back to the original topic, as there are two things in Azur et Asmar which are close to how I visualised this chapter — the scarlet lion, obviously, and the inside of Jénane's house.

I've also since discovered some further black and white stills taken from Les Trois inventeurs, at @ and experienced La Légende du pauvre bossu and two of Piotr Kamler's films for myself. And while I'm at, here's something else delightful which is only related by being so: @

Thanks for bringing this thread up again, spambot.

That last still is fantastic.