A young lad (Louis Paul) returns home from school, feeds his pet canary a sugar lump then heads to the fair where he takes a shine to a goldfish that's the prize in a roulette competition. He can't afford to play but a man (Gilbert Hugues) comes along afterwards and to the obvious chagrin of the fish, determines he is going to do a bit of spread betting so he can win it at all costs! Amusingly, the fish is having done of this and is steadfastly remaining inside of it's rocky hideaway inside the tank. Failing to convince it to come out, the man must make do with another. Luckily for the youngster, a slight incident with the gent costs him the empty bottle he was carrying, so the man gives him a few Francs and he has a go on the wheel. This time, the fish is much more forthcoming - it practically swims into his net! Now we enter "Tweety Pie" and "Sylvester" territory as he takes it home, only for it to be enthusiastically welcomed by a neighbouring cat. Some fun acrobatics now ensue that sees the fish manage to jump from the bowl and now, lying on the table top is easy pickings for the interloping cat. Will the cat prefer the fish or the now frantically distracting canary that seems to be buying his golden friend time until their friend returns from school? Well? Now we get quite a surprise, the chirpy music picks up pace and the boy gets home from school with a gift for the tank. There's no dialogue, just a gently accompanying score and that works fine for this slightly too long, but engaging quirk of nature.
8 Reviews
Great Oscar-winning short
lgbg061219 September 2002
This Academy Award winning short film can rank among the greatest of the genre. Told completely without dialogue, it is a visual treat about a young boy who buys a gold fish, lovingly places him in a bowl then goes off to school, leaving the gold fish unprotected and a window carelessly open. After a while, a neighboring orange tabby comes poking around, comes in through the window and heads slowly for the bowl. The fish apparently knows something is going on and becomes very excited. As the cat comes very near to the bowl, the fish jumps out. The cat catches the fish, drops him back in the bowl and exits through the window he came in just as the boy, not knowing what has happened, gets back. This was amazingly filmed with real animals; how Cousteau got these animals to behave in this manner is remarkable. I only wish this film were available now for people to see; I only saw it once, in 1959 when it was originally released, but it has remained unforgettable.
I would love to see this again
frogboy11 June 2006
I remember seeing this in a the Salem movie theater (where I used to attend "Kiddie Matinée"s almost every Saturday) in Dayton, Ohio when I was a young boy and have never forgotten it. It simply amazed me and my friends. I do wish there were some way I could see it again! I have tried to find some compilation of shorts or something like that to no avail. I only recently discovered that it was a Cousteau film and that blew my mind even more. How the heck he accomplished this is beyond my understanding. The fish is ACTUALLY IN THE CAT'S MOUTH at one point, if I remember correctly! If anyone could help me find a way to see it again I would be extremely grateful!
A film about prejudice
oscarsuper817 May 2004
This excellent short shows a simple story about a boy from a Japanese family living in Paris. The first thing you notice is that the boy is not treated very well by their mates. But the film has surprises because it intends to show you that everybody prejudges. The boy buys a golden fish (aka The Golden Fish, an Oscar winner 1959)and takes it home, throws it into a bowl and leaves. Later on, a cat comes into the house, you believe it will eat the fish, and there you are wrong, because the cat not only fails to eat the fish but saves its life. I think what film director Edmond Sechant wanted to say is that everybody prejudges. Before anything happens you assume that the cat is the villain of the story. I know it may be a little naive but when you see it you feel good, it makes you feel good. I think this film tries to say more than a simple story about a golden fish, it is dealing with racism and any kind of prejudices. Well, at least this is the way I understand it. Of course I may be wrong. I own a copy of this film on Super 8 which is part of my collection (I don't sell it) but if you are interested you can try searching it on the Internet. You only need to dust your old Super 8 Projector. Good hunt. Oscar.
I guess there weren't many competitors for this category in 1960!
planktonrules18 March 2017
"The Golden Fish" is a French film by Edmond Séchan that is, at best, very ordinary...but which somehow won the Oscar for Best Short Film. Perhaps it was a very off year for the category...all I know is that the film never really impressed me one way or the other.
It's told almost completely without words and is a brief snippet from some kid's life. He goes to the fair, he wins a goldfish, takes it home and bad things happen. The part about the cat was telegraphed many times...to the point where it seemed heavy-handed. The music sounded very 'muddy'...hopefully if you do see it you'll find a better quality print. Overall, worth seeing to see what was Oscar-worthy back in the day but otherwise a film that is very easy to skip.
It's told almost completely without words and is a brief snippet from some kid's life. He goes to the fair, he wins a goldfish, takes it home and bad things happen. The part about the cat was telegraphed many times...to the point where it seemed heavy-handed. The music sounded very 'muddy'...hopefully if you do see it you'll find a better quality print. Overall, worth seeing to see what was Oscar-worthy back in the day but otherwise a film that is very easy to skip.
one of the best "children's" films ever
david-coberly18 March 2003
I saW this film while at Birmingham Southern College in 1975, when it was shown in combination with the Red Balloon. Both films are similar in their dream-like quality. The bulk of the film entails a fish swimming happily in his bowl while his new owner, a little boy, is away at school. A cat enters the room where the fish and his bowl are, and begins to warily stalk his "prey." The boy begins his walk home from school, and the viewer wonders whether he will arrive in time to save his fish friend. The fish becomes agitated by the cat's presence, and finally jumps out of the bowl! The cat quickly walks over to the fish, gently picks him up with his paws, and returns him to his bowl. The boy returns happily to his fish, none the wiser.
The ending is amazing in both its irony and its technical complexity. It is hard to imagine how the director could've pulled the technical feat back in 1959 -- it seems more a trick for 2003.
If you can find it, watch it -- you won't be disappointed! And if you *do* find it, let me know so I can get a copy, too!
The ending is amazing in both its irony and its technical complexity. It is hard to imagine how the director could've pulled the technical feat back in 1959 -- it seems more a trick for 2003.
If you can find it, watch it -- you won't be disappointed! And if you *do* find it, let me know so I can get a copy, too!
The Golden Fish is about prejudice.
wan23-13 November 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I used this film in a religion class I was teaching. The golden fish is swimming happily in his bowl in an upper floor apartment. A young boy and his mother are away from home. The boy has been given money to buy milk. On the way home, he stops at carnival to play a game. Next to him stands a man in a black suit looking a little scary. The boy drops the bottle of milk. It breaks. The man in the black suit gives him money to replace the milk. This scene alternates with what is happening at home. A black cat climbs the fire escape and enters the apartment. He(?) discovers the fish bowl and watches it. The fish swims energetically and flips out of the bowl. By now, a bunch of teenagers in my class and I have fallen in love with the fish. The cat takes the fish in his mouth and we all hold our breath. The cat drops the fish into the bowl. The double story line includes the suspicious man in black and the suspicious black cat. Both inspire prejudice. Both are innocent. It was a great discussion starter in my class.
An absolutely remarkable short film, one of the best I've ever seen in my life!
llltdesq13 February 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This is a short film produced by Jacques Cousteau. There will be spoilers ahead:
This magnificent short deservedly won the Academy Award for Live Action Subject, beating Mysteries of The Deep and The Running, Jumping & Standing Still Film, among others.
The short begins routinely enough with inter-cut shots of a woman and a boy leaving work and school. Told essentially without words (you hear one sentence spoken by the man running a game of chance, but it's all but in audible and unimportant to the plot) the boy is shown feeding his pet bird and then going to get milk. He passes the woman, who is his mother, on his way out.
The boy passes a carnival/amusement park, watching first bumper cars and then a game of chance, where he spots a goldfish in a tank. The fish are the prizes. As the boy leaves, a bearded man dressed in black comes up and he too sees the goldfish, which now hides in a rock formation. The bearded man tries to win the game in order to get the goldfish. He wins at last, but the goldfish won't be coaxed out of the rocks The boy comes back while all this is going on and there's a fantastic shot of the boy's face as he looks in at the fish while the men try to get it out of the tank. The efforts to get the fish manage to break the bottle of milk the boy carries and the man in black very kindly gives the boy some coins to make up for the damage.
The boy gets change from the man running the game, places a coin late in the next round, wins and gets the goldfish, which swims right into the net for the boy, who takes it home as the bearded man looks on incredulously at the turn of events, holding a fish he doesn't really want.
Cut to the next scene: we see a cat in the morning, with mother and son leaving for work and school. In their apartment, the bird and fish are active, moving in time to the short's musical score, which is excellent throughout. The fish repeatedly leaps until one jump winds up with it on the counter, out of water.
The last four minutes or so of the short is like a race, as we see the boy leaving school, the fish out of water and the cat entering the apartment through an open window. The cat is at first fascinated by the bird, the look on its face apparently making its designs obvious. Then it spots the fish. Shots of the boy racing home from school are edited with shots of the drama in the apartment between the bird, the cat and the fish create a dramatic tension as to what the final outcome will be.
I won't spoil the ending, which is great. I wish I could figure out how they managed some of the interactions between the animals to get the footage they shot. The music, the editing and cinematography are fantastic! This is well worth tracking down. It should be in print. Most highly recommended.
This magnificent short deservedly won the Academy Award for Live Action Subject, beating Mysteries of The Deep and The Running, Jumping & Standing Still Film, among others.
The short begins routinely enough with inter-cut shots of a woman and a boy leaving work and school. Told essentially without words (you hear one sentence spoken by the man running a game of chance, but it's all but in audible and unimportant to the plot) the boy is shown feeding his pet bird and then going to get milk. He passes the woman, who is his mother, on his way out.
The boy passes a carnival/amusement park, watching first bumper cars and then a game of chance, where he spots a goldfish in a tank. The fish are the prizes. As the boy leaves, a bearded man dressed in black comes up and he too sees the goldfish, which now hides in a rock formation. The bearded man tries to win the game in order to get the goldfish. He wins at last, but the goldfish won't be coaxed out of the rocks The boy comes back while all this is going on and there's a fantastic shot of the boy's face as he looks in at the fish while the men try to get it out of the tank. The efforts to get the fish manage to break the bottle of milk the boy carries and the man in black very kindly gives the boy some coins to make up for the damage.
The boy gets change from the man running the game, places a coin late in the next round, wins and gets the goldfish, which swims right into the net for the boy, who takes it home as the bearded man looks on incredulously at the turn of events, holding a fish he doesn't really want.
Cut to the next scene: we see a cat in the morning, with mother and son leaving for work and school. In their apartment, the bird and fish are active, moving in time to the short's musical score, which is excellent throughout. The fish repeatedly leaps until one jump winds up with it on the counter, out of water.
The last four minutes or so of the short is like a race, as we see the boy leaving school, the fish out of water and the cat entering the apartment through an open window. The cat is at first fascinated by the bird, the look on its face apparently making its designs obvious. Then it spots the fish. Shots of the boy racing home from school are edited with shots of the drama in the apartment between the bird, the cat and the fish create a dramatic tension as to what the final outcome will be.
I won't spoil the ending, which is great. I wish I could figure out how they managed some of the interactions between the animals to get the footage they shot. The music, the editing and cinematography are fantastic! This is well worth tracking down. It should be in print. Most highly recommended.
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