The Concert

In this Oscar nominated short film punctuated by cartoonlike sight gags, a self styled soloist performs a concert outside The Royal Albert Hall in London by "playing" the black & white stripes of a crosswalk which resembles a piano keyboard; he wins over passersby, including a constable and a group of more traditional musicians.

When a suited and booted gent is chauffeured to London’s Royal Albert Hall, we feel sure we are in for a gala concert. He is primmed and trimmed by his valet and then steps out - of a phone box onto a zebra crossing outside the building. What’s miraculous is that the black and white steps crossing the road correspond to piano keys and soon we are getting a nifty little dance! A passing policeman stops by to investigate, then a traffic warden, some other musicians - even some cars and buses take orderly positions on the street to enjoy the show. It takes a friendly pop at the grandiosity of concert performing and at luvviedom whilst also including a little bit of sitcom style character humour as Julian Chagrin engages in quite some agile stepping and a few local workers keep him in tune. It’s quite imaginative this, and worth ten minutes, I’d say.