Tralfaz Sunday Theatre: When The Pie Was Opened

“Surreal” may be the best way to describe one short produced for the British Ministry of Food in World War Two.

When the Pie Was Opened (1941) follows a sad little girl, who fantasizes about the blackbird pie served to the king in a famous nursery rhyme. Even if people ate blackbirds (and her father tells her they don't), meat was in shortage during the war, so the girl’s mother tosses together potatoes, cauliflower, turnips and lord-knows-what into a vegetable pie. Yum, yum! The happy girl chows down on it to end the short.

Besides the weird day-dream sequence, which includes the king dropping a pie plate (with an immobile blackbird) in slow motion, there is American blues juxtaposed with a British kiddie chorus, sound effects of farm animals, hacksaws, marching, and shouting children in the background, with plenty of close-ups.