Bride and Groom

Newlyweds meet a nuisance in an enjoyable mix of cartoon comedy and real-life actors, including Roobarb legend Bob Godfrey.

I now pronounce you... animated! This delightful short marries cartoon logic with live actors, and was produced entirely by an amateur crew - thanks to a £120 grant from the BFI Experimental Film Fund. The groom was played by Bob Godfrey, who would go on to become an animation legend in his own right with the likes of cult kids TV classics Roobarb (1974) and Henry’s Cat (1983-1993).

Director John Daborn was the impetus behind the Grasshopper Group, a collective of amateur animators that made a number of short films, including the cel-animated The Battle of Wangapore (1955) - also on BFI Player. Bride and Groom was their second short using the ‘pixilation’ technique of filming live actors frame by frame, having been inspired by Norman McLaren’s Oscar-winning short Neighbours (Canada, 1952).