THE FROG (1908)
aka La grenouille
Article 4113 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-23-2012
Directed by Segundo de Chomon
Featuring Julienne Mathieu
Country: France
What it is: Spectacle trick short

A woman summons a frog from a fountain, which she then kisses. She takes his place in the fountain, which then turns into a variety of objects, including a giant frog, the head of an old man, and a variety of carousels.

There’s no real plot to this one; it’s basically a premise designed to show a variety of tableaux enhanced by special effects. Chomon may have borrowed many of his special effects tricks from Melies, but he does appear to have his own unique vibe, and I sense that he enjoyed making these movies. This is not one of his better works, but it is mildly entertaining.

THE FOUR TROUBLESOME HEADS (1898)
aka Un homme de tetes
Article 4112 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-22-2012
Directed by Georges Melies
Featuring Georges Melies, and parts of Georges Melies
Country: France
What it is: Early trick short

A magician detaches his own head three times so he can sing a song in four-part harmony. The results leave something to be desired.

Apparently Georges Melies’s still-attached head is one of the four in question, as he only has three disembodied heads to contend with in this early trick short. It’s quick fun, and, at only one minute’s length, efficient. This is one of his most memorable trick shorts.

THE FLOWER FAIRY (1905)
aka La fee aux fleurs
Article 4110 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-19-2012
Directed by Gaston Velle
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Magic fluff

A woman waters her windowsill and flowers magically appear, attracting butterflies. Eventually a large flower opens up to reveal the face of the woman, and she bows and makes her exit. Oops, I just gave away the ending…

I don’t really expect much in the way of gravitas when watching shorts from the silent era, especially when they run about one minute long. But even by those standards, this is a piece of airy fluff. It practically dissipates while you’re watching it. I’d say it’s about as close as I’ve come to watching no movie at all for this series, but if you’re keen on flowers, fairies and butterflies, you could do worse.

A FEW QUICK FACTS ABOUT FEAR (1945)
Article 4109 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-17-2012
Directed by Zack Schwartz
Featuring the voices of Mel Blanc and Robert C. Bruce
Country: USA
What it is: Private Snafu short

The concept of fear is illustrated, with emphasis on how the emotion can help us rather than impede us.

During the forties, the US government financed a series of animated shorts for the armed forces featuring the character of Private Snafu; these were designed to be humorous educational shorts for our men in uniform. Most of the ones I’ve seen have been from Warner Brothers, but this one is from UPA, and the graphic quality is therefore more abstract. The short chooses to approach its subject from the point of view of a medieval knight (played by Snafu) encountering a fire-breathing dragon, which is what gives this short its fantastic content. It’s a pretty bare-bones affair and lacks the comedic flair of many of the other shorts in the series, but it makes for some interesting viewing nonetheless; after all, at three minutes, it hardly wears out its welcome. Incidentally, one of the writers is none other than Dr. Suess.

FAT AND LEAN WRESTLING MATCH (1901)
aka Nouvelles luttes extravagantes
Article 4108 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-16-2012
Directed by Georges Melies
Featuring Jeanne D’Alcy and Georges Melies
Country: France
What it is: Comic trick short

Two wrestling matches are featured. The second features a fat wrestler pitted against a thin one.

The film opens with two women of about the same size, but those in the hope of witnessing some female wrestling will be disappointed, as they turn into men before the match begins. So who would win in a wrestling match helmed by Georges Melies? Why, it’s whoever doesn’t get turned into a big rag doll at the crucial time; the latter gets torn limb from limb. Fortunately, cartoon violence rules apply; those who are torn limb from limb come back together to fight another day. The effects are obvious, but this is one of the funnier shorts that Melies directed.

FUN IN A BUTCHER SHOP (1901)
Article 4107 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-15-2012
Director unknown
Cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Sausage machine

Butchers buy animals and turn them into sausage with their handy sausage machine. But they don’t stop at animals…

When I first got this movie, it was suggested I check out the synopsis from the original Edison catalog on IMDB to clarify some of the action. Though I originally didn’t think the action needed clarification, I’m glad I did. Basically, a curious man is also tossed into the machine, which took the science fiction aspects of this short and pushed it in the direction of horror. What I didn’t notice and what the synopsis clarified was two points. First, the curious man is supposed to be a Chinaman. The second is that after he is thrown into the machine, what emerges is not sausages, but rats. These two facts, taken together, point to a truly ugly racism underlying the short, a fact which pretty much curdled any enjoyment I would have gotten from it. That’s one of the perils of delving into other periods of time; you find yourself occasionally confronted with some modes of thinking that are hard to stomach.

FANTASMAGORIE (1908)
Article 4106 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-14-2012
Directed by Emile Cohl
No cast
Country: France
What it is: Abstract animated adventure

A clown in a theater has to deal with a woman with an enormous hat sitting in front of him, but soon embarks on a series of abstract adventures.

Emile Cohl was the first director of animated shorts in film history, and this may be his earliest work in that mode. It starts out with a simple comic situation, but soon the clown begins to warp through space, becoming a jack-in-the-box, encountering an elephant, escaping from the police, riding away on a horse… no story, just a series of scenarios that mutate into each other. This would largely remain his style, and it took Winsor McCay and his short GERTIE THE DINOSAUR to really bring character animation as such to the fore. Yet there’s something really fascinating about Cohl’s early experiments with the form, and this is a good place to start.