Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics (1911)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Directors:

Winsor McCay
J. Stuart Blackton

Writers:

Winsor McCay (comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland")
Winsor McCay (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 April 1911 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Animation | Documentary

Plot:

Cartoon figures announce, via comic strip balloons, that they will move - and move they do, in a wildly exaggerated style.

Plot Keywords:

Surrealism | State In Title | Acronym In Title | Early Animation | Based On Comic

Cast

John Bunny
Winsor McCay	...	Himself
George McManus

Also Known As:

Little Nemo (USA) (alternative title)
Winsor McCay
Winsor McCay Explains His Moving Cartoons to John Bunny
Winsor McCay Makes His Cartoons Move
Winsor McCay and His Animated Comics (UK)

Runtime:

7 min | 10 min (16 fps)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (hand-colored) | Black and White (tinted) (some sequences)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent | Silent

Company:

Vitagraph Company of America

Trivia:

Winsor McCay worked four years, made four-thousand drawings, and hand-colored the 35mm frames.

Movie Connections:

Version of Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989)

Simply marvelous--a must for fans of early animation and cinema

This is a very early cartoon, but it starts off in a most peculiar manner. The cartoon's creator, Winsor McCay, is shown talking to a group of friends about his creations--explaining a little about the process. Then, the camera goes to his studio and he shows some of the steps needed to produce an animated cartoon. Then in the final portion of the film, his cartoon comes to life and there are some amazing (for their time) animations that are also hand-colored. While none of this stuff will make you forget Looney Tunes or Disney, it is an amazing insight into the process and as such it's an item of extreme historical importance. Cute and watchable--even today.

By the way, when I saw the film again, I noticed that the very famous John Bunny was one of the people in the beginning of the film. While practically no one today would recognize him (other than cinema nuts like myself), this rotund man was perhaps the first comedian in film. Sadly, most of his movies have been lost over the years and he died rather young in 1915. I've seen just a few of his remaining films, but his round face is hard to miss in this film.