An iconic, Oscar winning film directed by a father and starring his son, with his daughter in a lesser part has a connection to an American President (though he wasn't at the time). What is the film, and who was the President to be?

Datsmeharse

Albert Lamorisse's 1956 "The Red Balloon" (Le Ballon Rouge) starring his son Pascal, and featuring Sabine Lamorisse. G.E. Theater host Ronald Reagan introduced the American television premiere in 1961. Lamorisse won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, which is ironic since the film was French and has no real dialogue. I'm not quite sure why the film wasn't even nominated for best live action short film, though until 1957 the category was split into 1- and 2-reel awards. 2 reels were about 24 minutes, so perhaps at 34 minutes it confused voters. "Le Strada" was given the first-ever competitive award that year for best Foreign Language Film, "The Red Balloon" wasn't nominated, "Gervaise" was the French entry that year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Balloon "The Red Balloon" was paired in the UK with Powell/Pressburger's "Battle of the River Plate". You can just imagine some dim distributor thinking "Red Balloon" would be a perfect match to a film from the guys who made "The Red Shoes" and "The Tales of Hoffmann". Jan 26 11, 10:08 PM

queproblema

Very interesting. Can Baloo still remember a movie he saw in 1956?? Have to say that's an odd pairing indeed--a war film and this little fantasy. Jan 27 11, 11:36 AM

Baloo55th

Yay!! Baloo can remember this odd pairing. The Battle film is one of the better war films, not taking a simple blood'n'guts us vs them stance, but having a more evenly balanced approach (remembering that as most of our forces were there because they had to be, so were many of theirs), and The Red Balloon is simply magic. I was won over by it without fully understanding it - not sure that I do now even. It actually made a brilliantly balanced show with the two different films. The Red Balloon is well recommended (available on DVD now...). Jan 27 11, 11:52 AM

Datsmeharse

It's on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwaNFp4T-3I&feature=related Most American kids between 45-60 have seen it I think, they showed it in many schools here. "Battle of the River Plate" was known as "Pursuit of the Graf Spee" here, and it is excellent. Jan 27 11, 1:28 PM