THE GHOST OF SLUMBER MOUNTAIN (1919)
Article #194 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 9-26-2001
Posting date: 2-9-2002

A man tells a story to his two sons about his trip to Slumber Mouuntain, where he dreamed he met the ghost of Mad Dick and saw dinosaurs through his special viewing mechanism.

There’s really not a whole lot to this eleven-minute short; the above description tells you pretty much all that heppens. Still, I find it has a real charm to it. The special effects are by Willis O’Brien, and I think this may be the first time he tried for realistic dinosaurs in contrast to some of the more comic types of his earlier stop-motion shorts. Overall, it’s a strange little film with some bizarre moments, such as when the man asks his guide to undress and pose like a faun. This is an interesting oddity.