A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Wladyslaw Starewicz, “The Beautiful Leukanida / Prekrasnaya Lyukanida” (1912) In a long career spanning some 55 years in stop-motion puppet animation, Russian-Polish animator Wladyslaw Starewicz produced…
French and French-language Films
Wladyslaw Starewicz, “The Mascot / Fétiche Mascotte ” (1933) An amazing and brilliant short work of stop-motion animation, “The Mascot” is one of several masterpieces made…
Wladyslaw Starewicz, “The Cameraman’s Revenge” (1912) A deftly crafted and delightful animation short, this silent film comments on human foibles as performed by realistic insect puppets…
Otto Messmer, “Feline Follies” (1919) By no means a great cartoon or even a mildly interesting one, this animated short is notable mainly for the first…
Dick Huemer, “The Little Pest” (1931) Chiefly remarkable for its depiction of sibling-on-sibling violence, this short cartoon stars the boy Scrappy, who would go on to…
Ub Iwerks, “Balloon Land” (1935) For sure this cartoon with the Hansel-and-Gretel morality fairy-tale plot is weird and dark, and its theme of the fragility of…
William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, “Blue Cat Blues” (1956) With dark themes of depression, substance abuse and suicide, this Tom and Jerry cartoon demonstrates that these lovable…
Dave Fleischer, “Swing You Sinners!” (1930) A bizarre little cartoon short, filled with the most startling surreal imagery and mobile rubber-limbed characters typical of cartoons in…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Wang Liyin, “Forward, Comrades!” (2013) This animated Chinese short, made by a student at the Beijing Film Academy, focuses on the twilight days of the Soviet…
Oleg Uzhinov, “Masha and the Bear (Season 1, Episode 17: Recipe for Disaster)” (2009) Despite its title, this charming little short turned out to be the…