Happy PI day everybody. Why not celebrate with a Pie Fight. In fact why not celebrate with film histories greatest Pie fight.
This film is "Battle of the Century" (1927) staring Laurel and Hardy and directed by Clyde Bruckman (Who did much writing for Harold Lloyd and The Three Stooges), and Leo McCarey (Who directed "Duck Soup" with The Marx Brothers as well as "The Awful Truth" with Irene Dunn and Cary Grant). The pie fight scene in this film used some 3,000 pies. Lou Costello is an extra in the boxing scene. While sadly incomplete this film is a hilarious example of Laurel and Hardy during the silent era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlIXByXcUHw
-Michael J. Ruhland
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Sunday, March 1, 2015
The Animatied World of Winsor McCay
Winsor McCay is easily one of the most important, and most talented pioneers of animation. Contrary to some stories you might hear though he is not the first filmmaker to use animation (Emil Cohl, J. Stuart Blackton, Charles-Émile Reynaud, and Segundo de Chomón beat him to it). However his importance to the history of animation can not be underestimated.
Winsor McCay had already enjoyed much success before entering the field of animation, as creator and writer of the newspaper comic strips, Little Nemo in Slumberland, and Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend. These comic strips were the highlight of the comics page back then. They transcended what comic strips had been know for through their abundance of imagination, and expert drawing style. It is only natural for a man who created this to be attracted to the art form of animation.
His first film was "Little Nemo" (Also called Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics) based off his own comic strip. Released in 1911, animation was still a novelty, and McCay took full advantage of that. This film in fact starts out in live action with McCay betting he can make drawings move (although he incorrectly credits himself as the first to do this), and his friends respond with laughter and disbelief. The live action segment of this film is very clever, and humorous. The highlight of the live action portion though is seeing McCay draw his characters before the animation starts. This is when you know you are watching a great talent at work. The animation segment itself is very well done and entertaining, but it is a little dated. It is obvious he had not yet figured out what to do with animation, and that leads to alack of understanding our characters, and therefore a lack of personal involvement. However this animation is expertly done. It is very appealing and still looks very good by today's standards. This entire segment was hand-drawn by one man, Winsor McCay himself. He drew four-thousand drawings all by himself for this one short segment of the film. The early color was achieved by hand painting the 35mm film itself after it was complete. this was also done only by McCay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f8tfSHIU_g
The most famous film Winsor McCay made is easily "Gertie the Dinosaur" (1914). This film was actually a vaudeville act before it was in theaters. The act consisted of Winsor McCay talking to his animated dinosaur Gertie. He would tell her what to do and Gertie would do it (most of the time). This was translated to theaters by having an off screen narrator, who speaks through intertitles (since this was a silent film). This film has often times wrongly been called the first cartoon ever made. While this is not true (It isn't even McCay's first cartoon, it is his third), it's place in animation history is still extremely important. The reason for this is Gertie, Herself. She is one of the first animated characters that the audience was allowed to see think. Unlike the characters in "Little Nemo", Gertie does not seem like she is just moving drawings projected on a screen, but instead like a real character that we know and relate to over the course of the film. This was the beginning of character animation, and probably the first successful attempt at it. Like "Little Nemo" this film begins in live action. Winsor McCay bets his fellow cartoonists that he can make a dinosaur come to life and boy does he.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJuD4AlLINU
Despite the great success of "Gertie", McCay decided to do something complete different with his next adventure into the world of animation. His next film was "The Sinking of the Lusitania"(1918). This was not only the first completely serious cartoon that Winsor McCay made, but also the first animated documentary. For a cartoon to approach such a serious event as the sinking of the Lusitania was unheard of at this time. For the animation McCay knew he needed to achieve much more realism in his animation. The amount of detail in the animation still remains an unbelievable feet. Due to this different style it took much more work and time than anything that had been before. Yet still the entire film was animated solely by Winsor McCay. This film remains a masterful and moving piece of patriotism and probably one of the greatest propaganda films ever made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CPbmCYxPmA
-Michael J. Ruhland
Winsor McCay had already enjoyed much success before entering the field of animation, as creator and writer of the newspaper comic strips, Little Nemo in Slumberland, and Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend. These comic strips were the highlight of the comics page back then. They transcended what comic strips had been know for through their abundance of imagination, and expert drawing style. It is only natural for a man who created this to be attracted to the art form of animation.
His first film was "Little Nemo" (Also called Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics) based off his own comic strip. Released in 1911, animation was still a novelty, and McCay took full advantage of that. This film in fact starts out in live action with McCay betting he can make drawings move (although he incorrectly credits himself as the first to do this), and his friends respond with laughter and disbelief. The live action segment of this film is very clever, and humorous. The highlight of the live action portion though is seeing McCay draw his characters before the animation starts. This is when you know you are watching a great talent at work. The animation segment itself is very well done and entertaining, but it is a little dated. It is obvious he had not yet figured out what to do with animation, and that leads to alack of understanding our characters, and therefore a lack of personal involvement. However this animation is expertly done. It is very appealing and still looks very good by today's standards. This entire segment was hand-drawn by one man, Winsor McCay himself. He drew four-thousand drawings all by himself for this one short segment of the film. The early color was achieved by hand painting the 35mm film itself after it was complete. this was also done only by McCay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f8tfSHIU_g
The most famous film Winsor McCay made is easily "Gertie the Dinosaur" (1914). This film was actually a vaudeville act before it was in theaters. The act consisted of Winsor McCay talking to his animated dinosaur Gertie. He would tell her what to do and Gertie would do it (most of the time). This was translated to theaters by having an off screen narrator, who speaks through intertitles (since this was a silent film). This film has often times wrongly been called the first cartoon ever made. While this is not true (It isn't even McCay's first cartoon, it is his third), it's place in animation history is still extremely important. The reason for this is Gertie, Herself. She is one of the first animated characters that the audience was allowed to see think. Unlike the characters in "Little Nemo", Gertie does not seem like she is just moving drawings projected on a screen, but instead like a real character that we know and relate to over the course of the film. This was the beginning of character animation, and probably the first successful attempt at it. Like "Little Nemo" this film begins in live action. Winsor McCay bets his fellow cartoonists that he can make a dinosaur come to life and boy does he.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJuD4AlLINU
Despite the great success of "Gertie", McCay decided to do something complete different with his next adventure into the world of animation. His next film was "The Sinking of the Lusitania"(1918). This was not only the first completely serious cartoon that Winsor McCay made, but also the first animated documentary. For a cartoon to approach such a serious event as the sinking of the Lusitania was unheard of at this time. For the animation McCay knew he needed to achieve much more realism in his animation. The amount of detail in the animation still remains an unbelievable feet. Due to this different style it took much more work and time than anything that had been before. Yet still the entire film was animated solely by Winsor McCay. This film remains a masterful and moving piece of patriotism and probably one of the greatest propaganda films ever made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CPbmCYxPmA
-Michael J. Ruhland
Charlie Chaplin Carnivial #1
We are going to start our look at Charlie Chaplin today with the 2nd film staring him, Kid Auto Races at Venice. When Keystone Film Company got a hold of Chaplin, they didn't quite know what to do with him. The first film with him, Making A Living(1914), was artistically a huge failure. The film simply wasn't funny. So what Keystone decided to do was to visit a soapbox racing event for children, and let Chaplin purposely interrupt the filming, letting Charlie improvise how he interrupts it, and hoping something funny would happen. This film was also the first in which Chaplin wore his immortal costume, that would soon be recognized as his Little Tramp character. While this film unsurprisingly does not have the polish later Charlie Chaplin films would , it still remains quite entertaining today. From 1914 and directed by Henry Lehrman, here is Kid Auto Races at Venice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyVu8fx36j4
Twenty Minutes of Love marked the first time Mack Sennet, head of Keystone Film Company, allowed Charlie Chaplin to direct his own films. While Chaplin would later try to get away from, the slapstick for the sake of slapstick, style of humor of Keystone by creating more motivation for the slapstick, here he plays by the rules of the Keystone style of comedy. This is a fast, fun, and purely slapstick short. From 1914, directed by Charlie Chaplin, and also staring Minta Durfee, Edgar Kennedy, Gordon Griffith, Chester Conklin, Josef Swickard and Hank Mann, here is Twenty Minutes of Love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ5sShqrJcQ
Next comes one of Charlie Chaplin's great masterpieces, A Dogs Life. This film was Chaplin's first film for Frist National. You will notice in here a strong break from the type of humor at Keystone. The pace is slower, and all the jokes come from the story and characters, and have clear motivations. You will also notice the story line is more defined and there is drama present. Chaplin wanted to show that comedy and drama could be combined, and he proved his point masterfully. Here we can see Chaplin as a fully formed artist in this true cinematic masterpiece. From 1918, directed by Charlie Chaplin, and also staring Chaplin's long time costar Edna Purviance, and Charlie's brother Sydney Chaplin, here is A Dog's Life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9oqCepIkqc
Charlie Chaplin's films were rightfully sensations world wide, and he was one of the first filmmakers to be hailed as a great artist. Therefore the image of the Little Tramp appeared everywhere. His image could be seen in a comic strip in the newspaper, toys, animated cartoons (done by Otto Messmer and Pat Sullivian, two artist who would bring us the silent Felix the Cat cartoons) and anywhere else you can think. Actors such as Billy West (not to be confused with the cartoon voice actor) made a career imitating Chaplin in films. One of my favorite uses of the Little Tramp outside of Chaplin's own films is the appearance of an cubist animated tramp appearing in the classic French Avant-Garde film, Ballet Mecanique. Besides the animated appearance of Chaplin's Little Tramp there is much more this film offers. It is also a brilliant representation of the struggle of humanity against the attack of mechanization. In fact this film is such an artistic success that co-director Fernand Leger, considered giving up his highly successful painting job to become a film maker. Sadly for the world of film this never happened, but at least we have this artistic masterpiece. So from 1924, and directed by Fernand Leger, and Dudley Murphy, here is Ballet Mecanique.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QV9-l-rXOE
-Michael J. Ruhland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyVu8fx36j4
Twenty Minutes of Love marked the first time Mack Sennet, head of Keystone Film Company, allowed Charlie Chaplin to direct his own films. While Chaplin would later try to get away from, the slapstick for the sake of slapstick, style of humor of Keystone by creating more motivation for the slapstick, here he plays by the rules of the Keystone style of comedy. This is a fast, fun, and purely slapstick short. From 1914, directed by Charlie Chaplin, and also staring Minta Durfee, Edgar Kennedy, Gordon Griffith, Chester Conklin, Josef Swickard and Hank Mann, here is Twenty Minutes of Love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ5sShqrJcQ
Next comes one of Charlie Chaplin's great masterpieces, A Dogs Life. This film was Chaplin's first film for Frist National. You will notice in here a strong break from the type of humor at Keystone. The pace is slower, and all the jokes come from the story and characters, and have clear motivations. You will also notice the story line is more defined and there is drama present. Chaplin wanted to show that comedy and drama could be combined, and he proved his point masterfully. Here we can see Chaplin as a fully formed artist in this true cinematic masterpiece. From 1918, directed by Charlie Chaplin, and also staring Chaplin's long time costar Edna Purviance, and Charlie's brother Sydney Chaplin, here is A Dog's Life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9oqCepIkqc
Charlie Chaplin's films were rightfully sensations world wide, and he was one of the first filmmakers to be hailed as a great artist. Therefore the image of the Little Tramp appeared everywhere. His image could be seen in a comic strip in the newspaper, toys, animated cartoons (done by Otto Messmer and Pat Sullivian, two artist who would bring us the silent Felix the Cat cartoons) and anywhere else you can think. Actors such as Billy West (not to be confused with the cartoon voice actor) made a career imitating Chaplin in films. One of my favorite uses of the Little Tramp outside of Chaplin's own films is the appearance of an cubist animated tramp appearing in the classic French Avant-Garde film, Ballet Mecanique. Besides the animated appearance of Chaplin's Little Tramp there is much more this film offers. It is also a brilliant representation of the struggle of humanity against the attack of mechanization. In fact this film is such an artistic success that co-director Fernand Leger, considered giving up his highly successful painting job to become a film maker. Sadly for the world of film this never happened, but at least we have this artistic masterpiece. So from 1924, and directed by Fernand Leger, and Dudley Murphy, here is Ballet Mecanique.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QV9-l-rXOE
-Michael J. Ruhland
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