Month: August 2020

Nix on Hypnotricks (1941)

NIX ON HYPNOTRICKS (1941)
Article 4831 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-24-2015
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Featuring the voices of Margie Hines and Jack Mercer
Country: USA
What it is: Popeye cartoon

Olive Oyl is placed under a hypnotic trance over the phone, and begins wandering the streets of the city. Popeye desperately tries to save her from harm.

The hypnotist here isn’t Bluto, but he does look like a short, skinny version of Popeye’s regular nemesis. Still, outside of setting the plot into motion and being present at the end, he doesn’t play a big part in the action; most of the cartoon involves Popeye’s attempts to keep Olive Oyl from coming to harm while wandering across streets, roofs, and construction sites. The trouble for Popeye is that in this cartoon, his real nemesis isn’t the hypnotist; it’s the fact that he seems to be laboring under the same curse that plagues Wile E. Coyote in that everyone, everything, bad luck, and the laws of physics all try to thwart him. In the end, it’s his run of bad luck that makes the cartoon one of the funniest ones for this character. The cartoon even references one of the Fleischer’s newer franchises; after eating the spinach, the ‘s’ comes off the can and plasters itself on Popeye’s chest, and he gains the ability to fly. Still, I do think it interesting that his greatest feat of power here (he shifts a skyscraper several feet) happens before he takes the spinach.

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1909)

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (1909)
Article 4830 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-23-2015
Directed by Charles Kent and J. Stuart Blackton
Featuring Walter Ackerman, Charles Chapman, Dolores Costello
Country: USA
What it is: Silent Shakespeare

Fairies use magic to play with the affairs of lovers.

Here’s another silent adaptation of a Shakespeare play that cuts down the action to 13 minutes and lacks the Bard’s language. Of course it’s confusing, even with the unwieldy plot summaries that appear between the scenes, but I suspect these little short films were more intended as “highlights of…” rather than full blown productions. It does take advantage of the fact that it’s a movie to engage in cinematic special effects, especially in the scenes of fairies appearing and disappearing, and there are a couple of rather freaky shots of Puck on the wing. It also does play up the comedy, especially during the scenes involving the amateur actors’ production of a play. For what it is, it isn’t half bad.

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Harlequin (1931)

HARLEQUIN (1931)
aka Harlekin
Article 4829 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-22-2015
Directed by Lotte Reiniger
No cast
Country: Germany
What it is: Silhouette animated drama

A musician with a taste for women is thrown down from heaven, and begins seducing women. However, he meets one he falls for, but his seductive ways may make him a target for the devil.

I’m a little unsure about the plot of this one; though there’s no question in my mind that Lotte Reiniger is a fine animator, sometimes the stories are a bit on the obscure side. Apparently, for this one, she based her paper characters on commedia dell’arte stereotypes, which is probably why the plot somewhat resembles a bedroom comedy. Nevertheless, it isn’t played like a comedy; the mood is somber and elegant, as is the animation. Much of the animation this time is done to music, especially the opening dance scene. Once again, I’m impressed with just how much Reiniger is able to express in the silhouette form; with no conversation to rely on and no facial expressions to help her out, she has to rely on movement and body language, but she is quite successful at doing so. And, even if the plot is somewhat obscure here, the poetic nature of the enterprise comes through very clearly.

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The Adventures of Dr. Dolittle: Cannibal Land (1928)

THE ADVENTURES OF DR. DOLITTLE: CANNIBAL LAND (1928)
aka The Adventures of Dr. Dolittle, Dr. Dolittle und seine Tiere – Die Affenbrucke
Article 4828 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-21-2015
Directed by Lotte Reiniger
No cast
Country: Germany
What it is: Silhouette animation fantasy

Dr. Dolittle arrives in Africa to treat a monkey plague, but is captured and imprisoned by a tribe of cannibals for trespassing on their land. Can he rely on his animal friends to help him escape?

Apparently, the three Dr. Dolittle shorts Lotte Reiniger made have an overriding story arc involving the monkey plague, and wouldn’t you know they would come up on my hunt list in reverse order? Still, each episode apparently has a story arc of its own, so they can be enjoyed individually as well. This one has the same charms as the one I saw yesterday, and in some ways, it’s even a bit more impressive; there are lots of paper figures to coordinate in this one, especially during the climactic chase scene. There are definite limitations to silhouette-style animation, but once again the story flows so nicely and the animation is so smooth that you barely notice those limitations.

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The Adventures of Dr. Dolittle: The Lion’s Den (1928)

THE ADVENTURES OF DR. DOLITTLE: THE LION’S DEN (1928)
aka Dr. Dolittle in the Lion’s Den, Dr. Dolittle und seine Tiere – Die Affenkrankheit
Article 4827 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-20-2015
Directed by Lotte Reiniger
No cast
Country: Germany
What it is: Silhouette animation fantasy

Dr. Dolittle is treating a tribe of monkeys that have come down with the plague. When some of the jungle animals volunteer as nurses for the doctor, an angry lion forbids them to be of help. Then the lion discovers his own cub is ill…

Lotte Reiniger made three shorts in 1928 about the adventures of Hugh Lofting’s veterinarian, Dr. Dolittle. In 1929, the three shorts would be combined into a feature called DR. DOLITTLE UND SEINE TIERE, and though IMDB lists this feature, it does not for some reason list the individual shorts. Since the Walt Lee guide lists the shorts as separate entities, I’m following his lead and reviewing them separately. My first encounter with Reiniger’s work was a bit frustrating, as my copy did not have English titles, and the plot was rather difficult to sort out. This one had English titles, so I could sit back, relax, and be utterly charmed by the fluidity of the animation and the charm and wit of the story. The opening titles explain the animation process involving backlit pieces of paper, and then explains that the viewer will nonetheless marveled by the degree of life given these pieces of paper, and the titles are right; the animation here is masterly, and the fact that they are only silhouettes does not take away from it in the least. I anticipate covering several of Reiniger’s shorts during the next few days; if they’re all as charming as this one is, it will be a pleasure.

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The ‘Teddy’ Bears (1907)

THE ‘TEDDY’ BEARS (1907)
Article 4826 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-19-2015
Directed by Wallace McCutcheon and Edwin S. Porter
Cast unknown
Country: USA
What is is: Odd mix of fairy tale and satire

Three bears go out for a walk. While they are gone, a young girl shows up, eats their porridge, sleeps in their beds, and steals their teddy bears.

I found this on YouTube, and the site claimed it was a satire on Teddy Roosevelt. I was scratching my head for the most part on that comment; how was a retelling of the “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” story a satire on Roosevelt? It doesn’t become apparent until the last two minutes, when Teddy shows up and becomes a participant in the action; apparently, the short was somewhat inspired by a tale of Roosevelt’s where he killed a mother bear but spared its cub. Still, I’m not sure if there was a hidden but coherent critique of Roosevelt here rather than just a riff on a hunting story of his. At any rate, the most impressive sequence is also the most anomalous; at one point, Goldilocks looks through a knothole and sees a collection of stop-motion teddy bears performing acrobatics. While this scene is entertaining enough, it also has little to do with the rest of the short. All in all, this is an odd one.

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Les cocottes en papier (1909)

LES COCOTTES EN PAPIER (1909)
aka Paper Cock-a-Doodles
Article 4825 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-18-2015
Directed by Segundo de Chomon
Featuring Julienne Mathieu
Country: France
What it is: Magic trick short

A woman magician performs tricks, many of which involve chickens made out of paper.

This short epitomizes just what you’d expect from a Segundo de Chomon magic trick short. He borrows several touches from Melies (the basic format, finding times to fit in dancing girls and acrobats), but adds a few of his own touches (such as the extensive use of stop motion animation). The most striking moment to me is when the magician walks in front of the special effects; usually, these type of shorts have the magician steering clear of doing something like that (which I assumed was to avoid calling attention to the double-exposure of the effect), but here she twice walks in front of the illusion to position herself at the opposite side. The special effects are very solid in this one as well. This one is a strong example of the early magic trick shorts.

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Tarantella (1940)

TARANTELLA (1940)
Article 4824 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-17-2015
Directed by Mary Ellen Bute and Ted Nemeth
No cast
Country: USA
What it is: Abstract animation

Abstract visuals appear in sync to a tarantella played on a piano.

I believe that in dealing with unusual cinematic concepts and styles that you sometimes just have to see enough of them to get a handle on how to discuss them. So there’s hope that someday I’ll have seen enough of these abstract musical animations to be able to go into more detail about the experience, rather than just say “Well, here’s another one.” I’ve not reached that point yet, and other than pointing out that the jagged, abrupt animation fits in well with the jagged, abrupt music, I’ve little to say about it. At under five minutes, it at least doesn’t wear out its welcome.

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Herencia macabra (1940)

HERENCIA MACABRA (1940)
aka A Macabre Legacy
Article 4823 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-16-2015
Directed by Jose Bohr
Featuring Miguel Arenas, Consuelo Frank, Ramon Armengod
Country: Mexico
What it is: Melodrama

A brilliant plastic surgeon discovers his wife is having an affair with one of his assistants, and he plans a gruesome revenge.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to watch a foreign movie without English subtitles that told enough of its story visually that I could follow it. I’m afraid I had no such luck today. In fact, I’m not sure I could really elaborate much more on the description above, which is all of the plot I knew about going into the movie. There are a few visual moments that work quite well; the events that reveal the affair to the doctor are done visually. However, most of the movie is talk, and the fact that the presentation is fairly static makes it a chore to sit through. My sources talk about there being “gruesome” scenes. These occur near the very end of the movie, and they are very mild indeed. I suspect if I could understand the Spanish dialogue, I might appreciate it a little better, but I suspect even then this would prove no classic. Still, I do have to somewhat reserve judgment on the movie.

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El Super-flaco (1959)

EL SUPER-FLACO (1959)
Article 4822 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-15-2015
Directed by Miguel M. Delgado
Featuring Evangelina Elizondo, Pompin Iglesias, Wolf Ruvinskis
Country: Mexico
What it is: Comedy

A skinny weakling dreams of being strong and winning beautiful women. A mad scientist uses him as the subject of an experiment, and the weakling winds up with super-strength.

Having watched this comedy in Spanish without English subtitles, it goes without saying that I missed most of the verbal humor. However, it was very easy to follow, and much of the humor was visual. Still, one of the reasons it was so easy to follow was that the story itself is very familiar; I’m sure I’ve seen several variations of it by this time, and though I was a bit surprised by some events near the end of the movie, in general it was very predictable and mostly lacking in surprises. There’s a few musical numbers added to the mix, a wrestling subplot (hence the inclusion of Wolf Ruvinskis in the cast), a creepy lab, and a midget. From what I can tell, it’s passable and mildly entertaining, but unless the verbal jokes are really good, it’s no more than that.

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