BFI

A memorable example of Topical's refusal to admit defeat, this consists of what are effectively out-takes of various zoo animals. Unfortunately, as the opening title confesses, "something went wrong with our camera", resulting in a series of horizontally-stretched images looking not unlike the view into a distorting fairground mirror.

However, Topical's editors rightly concluded that this footage was too entertaining not to release, and so they assembled this compilation of rhinoceroses, giraffes, llamas and, most memorably, a hippopotamus with a wider-than-usual face-splitting yawn. In this instance, beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.

Michael Brooke

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