Animation
This collection of vintage cartoons is not only a loopy primer on animation history; it is also an offbeat reflection of western "civilization" in the early 20th century. The racism in "Little Black Sambo," and the overt sexuality of Betty Boop are all-the-more shocking when you think that this is what grandma and grandpa were growing up watching! From the works of the worlds very first animator, Emile Cohl, to Walt Disney himself, Johnny Legend has compiled a twisted list of early animations that are guaranteed to surprise, delight and amaze.
Director
The stick man Fantoche is looking for a home, but there doesn't seem to be any room anywhere, not even in Hell.
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Émile Cohl produced independently an animated series titled "Les Aventures des Pieds Nickelés". There were four series of these produced, all released between 1917 and 1918.
Director
A man dreams he loses his hat at sea, drowns and gets swallowed by a huge fish.
Director
To the rhythm of a frenzied choreography, acrobatic matches come to life on a black background. Leaving their matchbox, they line the film in circular, concentric movements. In an almost aquatic momentum, the squadron of little bits of wood mould the contours of a character, a run-of-the-mill smoker, before transforming into a funny harness. The film ends when the matches, again transformed, take on the appearance of a distinguished man who, after several attempts, finally finds a way of lighting his cigarette.
Animation
Part of Émile Cohl's Newlyweds series, based on George McManus' comic strip.
Director
Part of Émile Cohl's Newlyweds series, based on George McManus' comic strip.
Animation
Part of Émile Cohl's Newlyweds series, based on George McManus' comic strip.
Director
Part of Émile Cohl's Newlyweds series, based on George McManus' comic strip.
Animation
Newlywed buys a camera and attempts to photograph the kid.
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Newlywed buys a camera and attempts to photograph the kid.
Director
A female fortuneteller examines the sole of a man's foot to see his future.
Animation
Snookums is being amused by the neighbor's kid next door, who gracefully stands on his head for minutes at a time.
Director
Snookums is being amused by the neighbor's kid next door, who gracefully stands on his head for minutes at a time.
Animation
Papa Newlywed and his lovely wife looked up at their child apprehensively. Yes. Their own precious Snookums was on the warpath again
Director
Papa Newlywed and his lovely wife looked up at their child apprehensively. Yes. Their own precious Snookums was on the warpath again
Animation
A Émile Cohl animated short in The Newlyweds series.
Director
A Émile Cohl animated short in The Newlyweds series.
Animation
What does 'ittle Snookums want now?
Director
What does 'ittle Snookums want now?
Animation
Poor little dear! This time our little Snookums is in real trouble. No, he was not ill, but, believe me, he was unhappy.
Director
Poor little dear! This time our little Snookums is in real trouble. No, he was not ill, but, believe me, he was unhappy.
Animation
Dada has made arrangements to go to a fancy dress ball, and has secured a wonderful costume.
Director
Dada has made arrangements to go to a fancy dress ball, and has secured a wonderful costume.
Animation
And now our funny little friend, Snookums, has started real trouble for his poor Dada. A few of the neighbors and Dada were having a nice quiet little game when the door-bell rang and when Snookums' beautiful mother went to the door, she found the minister.
Director
And now our funny little friend, Snookums, has started real trouble for his poor Dada. A few of the neighbors and Dada were having a nice quiet little game when the door-bell rang and when Snookums' beautiful mother went to the door, she found the minister.
Animation
Watching the dial of a taxi-cab is like a fall on a slippery pavement. It is funny, only when the other fellow suffers.
Director
Watching the dial of a taxi-cab is like a fall on a slippery pavement. It is funny, only when the other fellow suffers.
Writer
Three girls seeking to have their fortunes told invite a witch over. When the girls' father offends the witch, she puts a hex on him and his matches.
Director
Three girls seeking to have their fortunes told invite a witch over. When the girls' father offends the witch, she puts a hex on him and his matches.
Animation
When "Snookums" started to cry, Da-da thought it was because there was no milk in the house, and so he started on a run to the nearest store.
Director
When "Snookums" started to cry, Da-da thought it was because there was no milk in the house, and so he started on a run to the nearest store.
Animation
When "Snookums" discovered this break in the pipe and the splashing water, he thought it was great fun to sit there and let the water spray over his nice clean clothes.
Director
When "Snookums" discovered this break in the pipe and the splashing water, he thought it was great fun to sit there and let the water spray over his nice clean clothes.
Animation
This time the trouble is with Snookums and the telephone, and his father has a real struggle to satisfy him.
Director
This time the trouble is with Snookums and the telephone, and his father has a real struggle to satisfy him.
Animation
Snookums Newlywed makes acquaintance with a dog.
Director
Snookums Newlywed makes acquaintance with a dog.
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An animation where real life objects turn into animations.
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An Émile Cohl animation short.
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Lucien Cazalis first his maid and hires a new one. When she puts on an apron, he realizes how pretty she is. What's a Frenchman to do? However, when various men in uniform troop into his apartment when he is leaving, he grows suspicious.
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Gaston finds a letter to a marquise from his father. He wants her daughter to charm the unsuspecting Gaston out of his fear of marriage. Gaston plays a trick on them by switching places with Joabard, his ill-mannered chauffeur.
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Jobard receives a note from a secret admirer and goes to a cafe to meet her. However, not knowing what she looks like, he mistakes other woman for what he hopes will be the woman of his dreams.
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Lucien Cazalis sees a young woman and falls instantly in love. He volunteers to carry her trunk to her apartment, where he kneels, grinning in front of her, until her father locks him in the trunk and throws it out the window.
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It's Lucien Cazalis's day for calling on the ladies. Being a true gentleman, he brings some flowers as a gift. Unfortunately, his rival pinches them to present as his own, and Cazalis is left sitting on his hat.
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In Le cheveu délateur, a magician discovers the real identity of another character by the movement of a single hair, that, once animated, gives life to a story.
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A man believes to have scared his perpetually agitated mother-in-law to death and goes out to buy her a nice wreath.
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Simple line drawings undergoing the usual transformations so beloved of French filmmaker Emile Cohl.
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Director
Grotesque animated spirits punish a disbeliever who scorns his wife’s interest in the occult.
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Strangely hypnotic short from Émile Cohl featuring the usual seamless transformations, this time of a series of grotesque faces.
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Depicts a doctor looking into his patient's brain and seeing a collection of hideous and grotesque figures.
Director
The opening scene is in a tailor's shop, showing the four assistants more or less in love with their employer's daughter. After some time, the tailor says he will give his daughter to the one who shows himself to be the cleverest. Some very amusing incidents follow. The various feats accomplished during the contest are clever examples of trick photography. (Moving Picture World)
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A cut-out animation depicting the Twelve Labours of Hercules.
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The various parts of Faust are played by puppets.
Director
There have been numerous studies of plants and flowers presented to the public, but none which exhibit the perfection of stereoscopic detail. The various plants have been photographed against black backgrounds and are carefully colored. In addition, the various groups were made to revolve during the time of exposure and thus show a succession of lights and shadows which produces the relief which adds so greatly to a picture. (Moving Picture World)
Director
Four customers are having a peaceful game of cards in a quiet café. The atmosphere being heavy, the waiter falls asleep and has an unsettling dream about the ills of alcohol, among other things.
Director
A painter is seen in his studio with his model. A buyer comes in, and the painter shows him a number of his paintings, all of them based on puns, including one of a devil shooting pool. Eventually, the buyer purchases all of the paintings.
Director
The film presents a drawing room meeting of enthusiastic puzzle workers. One gentleman has a new way of solving his puzzle. He puts a handkerchief over the game and immediately the picture is made. Under the handkerchief, we see how, piece by piece, it is put into one finished picture. His success makes him an object of envy, however, and the gentleman meets with considerable trouble before the party is over. (Moving Picture World)
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In this film several objects make paintings on an empty canvas, which all turn into photos and films.
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A animation film from Émile Cohl about a painter.
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Émile Cohl uses stop-motion animation to tell about life on the chicken farm.
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A British clown invents a device which shows all people in grotesque sizes.
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A lighthearted animated history of transport.
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A salesman pursuing a potential client takes tenacity to new heights, and depths.
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A child painter sells one of his paintings to an adult who appears to be surprised.
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A man who no longer can afford his rent is forced to sell his beloved furniture. The furniture can not bear to be parted from their owner and decides to return home. Often confused with Bosetti's film Le Garde meuble automatique (1912).
Director
A bizarre musical couple falls asleep after an insane performance, and dreams about musical instruments.
Director
In the course of various unfeasible adventures, Monsieur de Crac finds himself comfortably installed in Mount Etna, smoking a pipe, when he is confronted by the Monster of the Volcano, who throws him down into the bowels of the earth and out into an ocean on the other side of the world
Director
A splendid blend of live-action photography and Cohl's famous animation, Nothing... displays the realms man has conquered: Air, sea, the domains of music and machinery. The one thing man cannot conquer, Cohl posits, is gossip.
Director
An animated look at the changing shape of hats through the ages.
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In "Rêves enfantins", players in the flesh are mixed with animated objects and cut-out paper actors.
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A parlor full of bon vivants pass around an enchanted pair of spectacles that “reveal the personality and pleasures of the one who wears them.”
Director
Mother in law gets a new set of dentures. Despite being initially happy, the family soon discovers the teeth have a life of their own and jump from their owner's mouth and bite everyone who comes near--from ladies to gentlemen to policemen.
Director
Showing a weird invention, called hypnotic mirror, in action. Placed before anyone the polished surface reflects the actual thoughts within their minds. Its uses in the court room, the home and the school house are cleverly shown. When the mechanism tells a wife the truth about her husband, something commences.
Director
Framed in a wreath of roses we see a lithe Creek dancer, who sways and postures before an epicurean party of ancients, followed by a laurel wreath and encircling a scene showing school children of 1830 receiving their marks of diligence at a distribution of rewards: then the wreath of bay tendered by the Human Senators to Caesar on the culmination of his career; now a beggar receives a loaf called a "crown" from a charitable passerby: Christ is shown crowned with thorns by the rabble; following the divine drama we see the old comedian's wreath presented him at a performance. The next view shows the Emperor Charlemagne crowning his son Lewis. The film closes with the wreath of orange blossoms encircling a bridal party.
Director
Framed in a wreath of roses we see a lithe Creek dancer, who sways and postures before an epicurean party of ancients, followed by a laurel wreath and encircling a scene showing school children of 1830 receiving their marks of diligence at a distribution of rewards: then the wreath of bay tendered by the Human Senators to Caesar on the culmination of his career; now a beggar receives a loaf called a "crown" from a charitable passerby: Christ is shown crowned with thorns by the rabble; following the divine drama we see the old comedian's wreath presented him at a performance. The next view shows the Emperor Charlemagne crowning his son Lewis. The film closes with the wreath of orange blossoms encircling a bridal party.
Director
A near-abstract animation telling a simple romantic story through drawings almost entirely composed of heart shapes.
Director
An old and learned doctor discovers the secret of spontaneous generation and makes a microscopic germ which in its growth gives birth to the following people who dissolve into one another and into other shapes with startling mystery.
Director
Several unique specimens of highly ornamented porcelain are shown in series. In each case the various pieces of ware are in reality formed of living people. After a short time has been allowed for admiration of each article, it disintegrates into the individual models, who pose in various figures and dances. In the following pictures are seen a powder box, a clock, candle sticks, a loving cup and a vase, all of wonderfully ornate design, beautifully colored. (Moving Picture World)
Director
A scientist has acquired a microscope and is showing it off to his friend. He takes various body samples - hair, phlegm, etc. - and puts them under the microscope. The "microbes" coalesce and form different shapes, creating caricatures of various people, such as mothers-in-law and drunks. These animated characters goof around in traditional cartoon fashion.
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The history of the fan.
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This subject presents a remarkably clever series of illusions in which a Japanese lantern, several dolls, chickens, mice and grasshoppers play a very prominent part.
Director
Two lovers perform a fandango dance. A jealous quarrel follows and the heart-broken swain decides to end it all. He throws himself from the window of his room, but instead of falling to his death, the anchor of a passing balloon intercepts his flight and he is taken high into the clouds. Laughing at his plight, the moon arouses the anger of the desperate lover and a battle between the two ensues.
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A film about cupid shoes by Émile Cohl.
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A film from Émile Cohl showing the various hats women used over the years.
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Stop-motion film from Émile Cohl has a clown walk out in front of a group of people and do various tricks including standing on his head, riding a horse and falling face first off the horse.
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This subject portrays in a vivid manner the operations of a puppet in his efforts to see the sights.
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Two nosy neighbors who drill a hole through their wall to spy on the canoodling couple next door get more than they bargained for when the man discovers their plan and casts a magic spell.
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The great men of letters and military conquest pose on subsequent pages of a very special history book.
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A showman invites patrons to step up to his Kinetoscope-style magic box and glimpse the answers to their most burning questions.
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And here is an early success as he puts the viewer in the mood of a little boy, playing with his toys, running them through the paces of his little circus.
Director
Director
Émile Cohl mixes live-action and stop-motion animation in this charming evocation of the power of imagination. A magician shapes his cane into a hoop with strange properties for a young girl. Costume changes and city promenades give way towards greater abstraction as the film becomes absorbed by what goes on inside the ring.
Director
For a short comedy of rare merit this subject is unexcelled. A chalk line series of grotesque caricatures enacted in the land of puppets. A fickle maiden gets herself into numerous embarrassing complications with her host of admirers, but the artist with lightning rapidity overcomes all obstacles and brings the maiden out victorious.
Director
A stop-motion film from Émile Cohl with tin soldiers, children's drawings and cannibals.
Director
A nightmare, sketched out upon a living blackboard.
Screenplay
An animated film by French auteur Émile Cohl, one of the earliest examples of hand-drawn film animation. Drawing inspiration from J. Stuart Blackton and the Incoherents of club Hydropathes, the film, with all its wild transformations, sees our protagonist materialize a movie theatre, meet an elephant and escape from jail; A morphing, stream-of-consciousness delight.
Writer
An animated film by French auteur Émile Cohl, one of the earliest examples of hand-drawn film animation. Drawing inspiration from J. Stuart Blackton and the Incoherents of club Hydropathes, the film, with all its wild transformations, sees our protagonist materialize a movie theatre, meet an elephant and escape from jail; A morphing, stream-of-consciousness delight.
Director
An animated film by French auteur Émile Cohl, one of the earliest examples of hand-drawn film animation. Drawing inspiration from J. Stuart Blackton and the Incoherents of club Hydropathes, the film, with all its wild transformations, sees our protagonist materialize a movie theatre, meet an elephant and escape from jail; A morphing, stream-of-consciousness delight.
Director
A haunted-hotel film, reviving a joke from a 1900 comic strip showing a sleeper being ejected from an electric bed.
