| Grendel Grendel Grendel | |
|---|---|
 VHS film cover | |
| Directed by | Alexander Stitt |
| Screenplay by | Alexander Stitt |
| Based on | Grendel by John Gardner |
| Produced by | Phillip Adams Alexander Stitt |
| Starring | Peter Ustinov Arthur Dignam Keith Michell |
| Narrated by | Peter Ustinov |
| Cinematography | John Pollard |
| Music by | Bruce Smeaton |
Production company | Victorian Film |
| Distributed by | Satori Corporation Umbrella Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | AU$550,000 (est.)[1] |
Grendel Grendel Grendel is a 1981 Australian animated film written, directed and designed by Alexander Stitt and starring Peter Ustinov. It was based on John Gardner's novel Grendel.[2] The music was composed and conducted by Bruce Smeaton and has been released on the 1M1 Records label.
Like Gardner's novel, the film is a retelling of part of the epic poem Beowulf from the monster Grendel's point of view. Grendel (voiced by Ustinov) is by turns a thoughtful and contemplative character and a rampaging monster who attacks the mead hall of an early Danish kingdom, biting the head off of one would-be defender. This was the second full-length fully animated film ever made in Australia (coming after 1972's Marco Polo Junior Versus the Red Dragon).
- ^ Stratton, David (1980), The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, p. 312
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (2009). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons (3rd ed.). New York: Checkmark Books. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-8160-6600-1.