The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three Others

It's going to be a few months until next year's Oscar shortlists are announced, and I've got four potential contenders for the Live Action Short Oscar race here. They were all adapted from Roald Dahl's bibliography by Wes Anderson, who previously adapted Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox. They share a combined company with Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, Rupert Friend, Richard Ayoade and Ralph Fiennes, the last of whom pops up as Dahl himself in all four shorts. All of them are available on Netflix now.

They all share the same disregard for "show, don't tell." We get vivid action narrated directly from Dahl's text but rarely see any of it. They're practically stage plays with appropriately theatrical production design by Adam Stockhausen. The abundant narration is a double-edged sword as I'll explain. But let's introduce the shorts now.

The Rat Catcher: The narrator (Ayoade) recounts how he and his friend, Claud (Friend) encountered an unusual ratcatcher (Fiennes) in a desolate town. This Rat Man believes the best way to catch a rat is to become one. His unsettling appearance is evident of that. The unseen rat population upstages the Rat Man's attempts to eradicate them. The Rat Man's human audience isn't impressed, either.

Its narration is probably the most intrusive of the collection. We not only see and hear the Rat Man's creepiness, but we see and hear the narrator describe his creepiness too. It's pretty redundant. Worst of all, it's kind of stiff. It's still striking when the Rat Man produces a rat - portrayed by a prop and stop-motion - for a demonstration. You won't forget it even if you can't tell what happened. It's a weird film.

Poison: This short story was once adapted for Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1958. In it, Harry Pole (Cumberbatch), a British man in Colonial India, has a problem. There's a Common Krait, an extremely venomous snake, on his stomach. The narrator, Woods (Patel) summons Dr. Ganderbai (Kingsley) to help extract the snake. But Harry has a bit of a gratitude problem, afterwards.

This is easily the tensest of the shorts. Cumberbatch sells us Harry's situations with his body language alone. The narration perfectly establishes the Krait's threat. There's palpable desperation as Woods and Ganderbai ponder their options. Its ending involves a shocking outburst from Harry that practically leaves Ganderbai dejected. The abruptness of the ending speaks for itself. 

The Swan: The Narrator, Peter Watson (Friend) walks us through an eventful Saturday morning in his young life. That day, he (Asa Jennings) gets taken for a day of "fun" by two bullies, Raymond and Eddie. Peter is an avid birdwatcher, so one of the bullies goes hunting with his new rifle. Things get weirder after the bullies shoot a swan.

This has the best narration of the shorts. It's all a long monologue as Friend portrays all three characters. The rest of the cast is filled by stagehands and a stoic Jennings. It's an impressive performance as while we, thankfully for once, can't see the action, Friend's range perfectly conveys the characters. We feel for Peter when he pleads for the swan's life, while we detest the bullies for their cruelty. It all leads to a weirdly abrupt ending.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.: The Swan was published in the collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six Others. This is the centerpiece to both Dahl's and Anderson's collection. This is over twice as long as the other three, clocking in at around 39 minutes, while the others are 17 minutes.

What's it about? Henry Sugar (Cumberbatch) is a rich man who wants to be richer. He finds a medical report by one Dr. Chaterjee (Patel) about Imdad Khan (Kingsley), who professed he could see without his eyes. Henry trains himself to do the same so he could cheat at cards. He wins millions of dollars but loses the satisfaction of money. That's basically it.

Let's elaborate anyway. Its theatrical gags are plentiful and amusing. They don't even bother hiding the visual effects that let Khan's Guru (Ayoade) float, for example. Its nested story approach, going from Dahl to Henry to Chaterjee to Khan to Chaterjee to Henry is an interesting one. Its deadpan acting is played for drama at the end of Chaterjee's story. While Henry's Heel Face Turn is mostly narrated, him giving his money away to strangers thankfully speaks for itself. Overall, its technical and narrative style makes it the most memorable of the shorts. This is the likeliest Oscar nominee of the bunch.

They're all pretty good shorts. They could have been better if the action spoke for itself more. Still, they aren't boring, so they should make for a good home matinee. My next review will be of one movie. What a concept.