The Obedient Flame (1939) Online

Norman McLaren was a very prolific Canadian animator who was born in the UK. Most of his films would be described as 'arty' and are pretty much unknown here in the States. However, I've seen several of his films on various DVD collections and I like these sorts of shorts--and was thrilled to see a seven disk set of his work. This particular short is from the first disk.

This is one of several McLaren films that make you wonder if they really needed to put every single available film in the collection. After all, "The Obedient Flame" was an industrial film meant to educate housewives on the use of gas in their stoves! Exciting stuff, eh?! There were many animations of gas, ovens, pipes and the like--all accompanied with some dull but informative narration. And as a result, I was practically suicidal by the time it was complete. Why, oh, why was this included on the DVD?!