As soon as Tintin started to become popular, after the war, the idea of taking his adventures to the big screen came up. Unfortunately, the attempts made so far make us appreciate even more the albums Although, we have to understand that these movies aren't really part of Hergé's works, since he never contributed to them in any way. However that may be, they are still accounts of the specificity of Hergé's creation.
Some dubious beginnings...
As soon as 1946, the company "Les Beaux films" created slides from most of the already existing albums. In 1947 the Belgian filmmakers João B. Michiels and Claude Misonne made the movie inspired by The Crab with the Golden Claws with animated puppets picture by picture. Needless to say it wasn't an incredible successIt was only by the end of the 1950's that, with the success of the albums, came the idea of making movies with actors.
Movies with actors
It is on an Ostende beach that a friend of Hergé's discovered the one that was to be Tintin on the big screen: Jean-Pierre Talbot. Despite everybody's willingness and a small success in the beginning, the movies didn't really make history.
The first movie, Le Mystère de la toison d'or (The Golden Fleece's Mystery), dates back to 1961. An old friend of Captain Haddock, Temistocle Paparanic, dies and bequeaths him his ship "La Toison d'or". In Istanbul he discovers that it's just an old wreck. Nevertheless, a certain Anton Karabine offers him 600 000 pounds for it. Intrigued by so much interest, Tintin and Haddock follow him to find out that, a few years before, Paparanic and his crew had made a coup in Tetaragua, in Latin America, and had occupied the country for three days. Being pursued, Paparanic escaped with the central bank's gold. The treasure is to be found on the ship, the bars covered with black paint forming the rail.
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Dutch: Kuifje en het Geheim van het « Gulden Vlies » - French: Tintin et le mystère de la Toison d'or
The second long footage, Tintin et les Oranges Bleues (Tintin and the Blue Oranges), was filmed in 1964. Calculus has just published a book about hunger around the world and appeals to the scientists everywhere to help him try to fight it. His Spanish colleague, Antemar Zallamea, sends him a parcel containing a blue orange, which is said to be able to grow on desert soil. Calculus goes to Spain to meet Zallamea, but the two men are kidnapped. With the help of a bunch of kids Tintin and Haddock release the two scientists, who were sequestered by an Emir who wanted to take over the discovery.
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Dutch: Kuifje en de blauwe Sinaasappels - French: Tintin et les oranges bleues
From these two movies were made two photo-albums with the scenario.
The cartoons
The idea of making cartoons from the adventures of Tintin wasn't new. Already, from 1959, the company Belvision had started to make seven cartoons for TV from the scenarios of Greg, the creator of "Achille Talon". However, these cartoons didn't always stick to the original story. Having had good commercial success, Belvision made two full-length films for movie theatres.
For the first movie, dating back to 1969, the choice was directed towards Prisoners of the Sun. Important technical facilities were displayed and Jacques Brel wrote a song especially for this movie. However, some important changes were made to Hergé's original scenario (again by Greg). What's more, the content of The Seven Crystal Balls was shortened at the beginning of the movie in a quite annoying manner. In the end, the movie was rather disappointing and quite distant from Hergé's work.
Click here to listen to Zorrino's Song written by Jacques Brel (MP3 file 2390K)
In 1972 the second full-length Tintin cartoon came out: Tintin et le lac aux requins (Tintin and the Lake of Sharks). To avoid the pitfalls of the adaptation of an album, the cartoon was based on an original scenario by Greg. The story takes nearly only place in Syldavia. Calculus has just invented a sort of three-dimensional photocopier, capable of reproducing any object. Rastapopoulos has accumulated stolen art works in his hiding place under a lake and tries to steal the photocopier. With the help of Niko and Nouchka, two young Syldavs, Tintin will succeed in trying to ruin his plans. From the movie will be made an album. Once again, the result was a little disappointing. The movie was far from Hergé's style and the charm of the albums.
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Catalan: Tintín i el llac dels taurons - Dutch: Kuifje en het Haaienmeer - French: Tintin et le lac aux requins - Galician: Tintín e o lago dos tiburóns - German: Tim und der Haifischsee - Greek: Η ΛΙΜΝΗ ΜΕ ΤΟΥΣ ΚΑΡΧΑΡΙΕΣ - Portuguese: Tintim e o lago dos tubarões - Spanish: Tintín y el lago de los tiburones - Swedish: Tintin och Hajsjön
Until now, we haven't seen any more of Tintin on the big screen. Steven Spielberg did buy the rights to make a movie but it seems that he found it too hard to make one. Recently, the companies Ellipse and Nelvana produced cartoons for TV and succeeded quite well. Even if, once again, the scenarios aren't the same as the originals and the charm of the albums isn't really there, they still have the merit of having made a whole generation of young Americans discover Tintin
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