MONSIEUR DE CRAC (1912)
aka Baron Munchhausen
Article 4035 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-18-2012
Directed by Emile Cohl
No cast
Country: France
What it is: Animated comic adventures

Monsieur de Crac travels the world and has a series of amazing adventures.

Emile Cohl was a lot better at animating flights of fancy than he was at telling a story, and this is largely a disconnected series of adventures in which various strange and amazing things happen. Monsieur de Crac travels the world on his horse, survives being cut in half, descends into a volcano, learns to fly, etc. Though it’s amusing enough, one can start sensing a little the limitations of his style here, and I can’t help but think that that Winsor McCay was just around the corner here preparing to take animation to a whole new level. Still, it is a lot of fun to see these Cohl animated shorts.