Death To The Tinman

A macabre fairy tale in black-and-white without fairies is superficial enough to be frivolous, like an amputee’s rom-com.

Bill and Jane love each other. They live in The Miracle Capital of America and Bill’s dad is the chief miracle worker, otherwise known as an evangelist pastor.

Bill has an odd friend, called Paul, an older guy, who, according to his version of events, was so handsome as a young man that girls queued up. Now he’s bald and ugly, with big teeth, which he shows off by laughing like a donkey.

Bill starts having accidents with an axe and loses both his arms. Paul fashions fake ones out of tin. Bill is the bravest firefighter in town and the other firefighters hate him for it. After he loses his legs – he keeps crashing his flying machine – and somehow the rest of his body, he becomes an entire tin man from head to toe. He still loves Jane, but she can’t cope with his wizard of oddness and goes off with someone else, who looks like Bill, pre-metal.

The film is a cartoon with people. Its not-making-sense goes with the magical mystery withoutfairiestale thing, yet retains a self-congratulatory ambience, as if telling the audience, if you’re not on board this crazy train, you’ve gone rusty, loser!