The Sculptor's Nightmare (1908) User Reviews

Poor direction and pace

[JoeytheBrit · 4/10 · 12 August 2010]

Although films were already more sophisticated than they had been just a few years before, they still had a long way to come before achieving a standard of storytelling commensurate with later films. The pacing in this film is as erratic as you're likely to find in a film from any period but, given that it's only about 12 minutes long, it's more of an irritation than a problem. What does prove a problem in the scenes in which a group of drunken men in a bar squabble over whose bust should replace one of Teddy Roosevelt, and in which the entire gang troop off to a sculptor's studio to commission a replacement, is director Wallace McCutcheon's inability to guide the audience's gaze in the right direction. As was common in these early days of storytelling in films, everybody seemed to be instructed to wave their arms around and overact as much as possible, which means when you've got close to one dozen people on the screen doing just that it tends to look a bit of a mess. McCutcheon would soon fall ill, and his place as chief director at Biograph would be replaced by the infinitely superior D. W. Griffith, who has a part in this film.

The best part of the film is the stop-motion dream sequence in which busts of various US politicians are moulded into life by unseen hands – although even this segment of the film is allowed to meander at times.

Difficult to understand unless you read the IMDB summary!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 13 August 2020]

Back in 1908, intertitle cards were still not used very often. So, instead of a card appearing on the screen with dialog written on it, the actors are left in "The Sculptor's Nightmare" to try to convey what is happening. And, like some of the worst films of the era, there is tremendous over-emoting and gesticulating throughout the film...much more so than usual. Subtle it is NOT!

Despite all the broad acting, figuring out what is happening in the film is NOT possible unless you read the IMDB summary. I had to do this to have some semblance of an idea of what was going on in the picture! Additionally, unless you really know your history, you'll probably not know that the busts being commissioned were of the three top presidential contenders in the 1908 election...and although I am a retired history teacher, I had no idea who one of them (Charles W. Fairbanks) was.

So is it any good? Yes and no. While the acting was bad as well as the direction, the stop-motion sequence was fascinating because it was such an early example in film history. Seeing the three busts appear to make themselves out of clay was pretty impressive. Seeing them talk and move about was even more impressive....and rather clever. In fact, it's worth seeing the film just for the animation.

Some Amusing Visual Effects, Otherwise Too Unrefined

[Snow Leopard · 29 September 2004]

Some amusing visual effects make this otherwise somewhat unrefined feature watchable. The story concerns a sculptor who, weary of political and personal wrangling, has a nightmare in which everything comes together. The visual effects are amusing for their look at contemporary attitudes towards a few of the politicians of the era, some of whom are still remembered by those familiar with history. The rest of it does not come across so well, although there was probably enough material to make a somewhat better film.

It can be interesting to look at the ways that various camera tricks were used in the early years of cinema. Just looking at some of the Biograph shorts from the first decade of the 20th century, you can find experimentation with several kinds of visual tricks and with various ways of inserting them into a movie. Here in "The Sculptor's Nightmare", the camera effects are easily the best part of the film, and they are done reasonably well. The rest of the film was done in a seemingly haphazard manner that suggests that the visual effects were the only purpose for making the movie.

In some other features in the same era, the special visual effects are worked into a story more naturally. For example, "The Tired Tailor's Dream", from the previous year, is similar to this one in some respects, but it has a somewhat more carefully-developed story, and one that also more smoothly leads into the special effects. In that particular picture, the visual tricks are also done exceptionally well for the era.

In still other features, like "Mr. Hurry-Up" (also of the previous year), the camera tricks are really just a tack-on to a story that is only thinly related to them, and in that particular feature, although they work all right, they are rather goofy and do not always look smooth. You can see parallels to all of these in various films of the past decade, especially with special visual effects having become so faddish in recent years.

In itself, "The Sculptor's Nightmare" is perhaps about average for its time.

The visuals work well enough, but aside from that and the brief look at the political figures of the era, most of it is rather undistinguished. It does have a couple of other funny moments, but much of it is action for action's sake, and with a more refined technique it might have worked a little better.

Clay Dream

[MrCritical1 · 9/10 · 8 November 2003]

Filmed on April 18 and 20, 1908, in the New York city studio, this film shows off the creativity of stop-motion photography. Without the summary derived by American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, this film takes a couple of viewings to get the full understanding of the story. Nonetheless this film is well done and achieves in almost every area.

9* (10* Rating System)

Griffith the Actor

[Michael_Elliott · 26 February 2008]

Sculptor's Nightmare, The (1908)

*** (out of 4)

Biograph film, which features D.W. Griffith as an actor shortly before turning to directing. In the film, a group of men at a pub get into a fight over who's sculptor should replace the one of Teddy Roosevelt that's already there. One man is given the money to do the job but he instead takes a beautiful woman out for dinner where he gets so drunk that he ends up in jail and has a nightmare. There's some nice slapstick in this film and it also runs twelve minutes, which is longer than most Biograph films of this period. The best stuff is the stop-photography, which helps bring the clay models to life.

Ground-breaking Movie Using Clay Animation Special Effects

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 5 January 2021]

Remember the movie "Chicken Run" and the TV series "Gumby?" Their creators used a technique called clay animation. Claymation is a laborious and time-consuming process where the camera takes one-frame at a time while filming a slight movement/shape of the characters and props using plasticine clay. At least twelve changes are required for one second of film movement. A 30-minute movie requires at least 21,600 stops of the camera to change the figures' positions. But its results are amazing when all of the recorded frames are played back in rapid succession before the viewer. The earliest surviving movie using clay animation in a plot is Biograph Studio's 1908 "The Sculptor's Nightmare." D. W Griffith and a soon-to-be-comic genius Mack Sennett can be seen acting in the seven-minute one-reeler. Wallace McCutcheon Sr., in one of his last movies he filmed, was the Biograph main director before Griffith took his place. The clay effects appear two-thirds into the movie.

The 28 Year Old Mack Sennett

[The Novelist · 22 April 2002]

The 28 year old Mack Sennett teamed up with D.W. Griffith to act in this dull film titled 'The Sculptor's Nightmare', before they went off to write and direct their own projects. The 33 year old Griffith merely gained experience as an actor in this film.