UN DRAME CHEZ LES FANTOCHES (1908)
aka Drama Among the Puppets
Article 4645 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-4-2014
Directed by Emile Cohl
No cast
Country: France
What it is: Animated story

A woman finds herself beset upon by suitors, but a helpful cop comes to her rescue.

This animated short by pioneer animator Emile Cohl is a bit of a rarity in that it actually seems to tell a story rather than to merely set forth an array of shifting images. Granted, the plot isn’t particularly strong, and I had to read another description of the short to figure the motives for the characters that were bothering the woman. There is a bit of abstract animation, such as a scene where the cop mutates into the bars in the window of a prison cell, but these transitions are kept to a minimum. Though it’s interesting to see Cohl stretching himself a little here, I didn’t find it as intriguing as his more abstract shorts.