BRUNO TAKES A TRIP

This agreeably whimsical story--about how Bruno, who can't afford the fare, sends himself and his crow Hans to the country in a box--was one of the slighter episodes in Broger's Bruno (1975); and at first Kalow's deeply colored, black-outlined, pop-childlike pictures seem out of synch with the quiet absurdity we remember. Also, having first met Ronald Himler's mustached and bowler-topped little man, it's hard to adjust to this plumper, little-boyish Bruno. Still, the sight of Bruno's parcel walking along the city sidewalk, of Bruno making himself at home in the freight car, and of his happy visit with his two country friends, has a benign, if mild, appeal. And the incident ends with a satisfactory further twist, as Bruno invites his friends to visit him and soon three parcels, hand in hand, ""set off happily down the road.