We'll start by looking at the build-up and suspense. The anthropomorphic penguin and notorious jewel thief Feather McGraw has been renting a room at Wallace's house, using his landlord and a pair of robotic "Techno Trousers" to steal a diamond from a museum. After the heist, he locks Wallace and Gromit in a wardrobe and prepares to leave (Wallace is confined to the Trousers, Gromit is forced in at gunpoint). Gromit then tampers with the electronics in the trousers, causing them to go haywire so they can escape from the wardrobe.
What follows is both tense and hilarious, as Gromit pursues Feathers across the top of a model train which runs through the house. That alone is bizarre enough, but the scene continues to throw surprises and complications: Wallace manages to disarm Feathers and get out of the Trousers, but ends up being on the train with Gromit; Feathers detaches the locomotive and sends the carriages down an incomplete track, so Gromit has to quickly pick up a box of spare track and rapidly lay it out in front of him. Eventually, the Techno-Trousers wander onto the track and Feathers crashes into them, allowing Gromit to capture him.
One of the things which sells the scene is the score by Julian Nott. The fact that the background music is so tense for a scenario that's so silly just sells it. The way the scene is shot makes it look like the characters are covering a lot more ground than they really are, which adds to the surreal nature of these shorts.
Credit to the Wallace & Gromit YouTube Channel for the video.
Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow for my next pick.
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