Audience Member
Early film was about pushing boundaries and experimenting as there was no playbook and no precedent. The cameraman's revenge was a great experiment by Khanzhonkov because no one had ever thought to use insects as characters. The only time I had ever seen insects act and perform before was only in animation, in movies like "A Bug's life." This shows how really unique The cameraman's revenge is, even today. I thought it was very well shot and found it very funny. The fighting scenes were humorous but also very impressive because you could feel the bugs emotions, being jealousy and rage, which very much humanized them. This is also what made The cameraman's revenge so funny. You related to them because they were displaying human emotions, but they weren't human and yet they were acting exactly like humans. It is not just the human emotions they display that makes this film funny. It is also the humanoid figures, standing and walking upright, fighting and communicating like humans do, that makes The cameraman's revenge a great film. Before we watched the film it was described as. "Dead bugs on strings fighting each other." I thought I would just be creeped out by this, but somehow Khanzhonkov made it very light and enjoyable. Giving an insect humanoid characteristics is what makes us laugh because we'd never expect a bug to feel jealousy, or walk and fight like a human. Khanzhonkov's work is brilliant because he was doing something that had never been done before but made it so relatable to our own lives.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/30/23
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Audience Member
The Cameraman's Revenge is also a silent short film produced in 1912. Unlike other movies produced during the time, The Cameraman's Revenge uses insects as the cast. The producer introduces the audience to the world of insects. In this world, there is a couple that has decided to seek companionship from other places since they have got bored with their marriage. The male spouse meets his companion at a nightclub who is a popular dancer. The ex-boyfriend of the dancer, who is a titular cameraman, wants to get revenge. It was rare to use other objects as the main cast in films, making the film a pioneer in the animation industry. Despite the film being an animation, it passes essential themes such as adultery and sexual double standards. Starewicz leaves his viewers with some aspects that they need to interpret. The director ensures that the audience can see everything they would want to see. However, the audience may find it difficult to interpret emotions in the film. One would see the infidelity between the insects and how the Beetle family resolved their issues. The viewers have their way of understanding the film because of its reflexive nature. Starewicz seems to have wanted the medium of the camera to the disapproval of the audience and allow them to interpret the movie based on their life experiences. In conclusion, the audience that has an interest in romantic animated film will find The Cameraman's Revenge enjoyable.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
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Audience Member
This rating is a combination of 5 for "The Cameraman's Revenge" which was awesome, and so wrong but so good and 3 for "The Frogs Who Wanted A King" which was kind of meh!
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
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Audience Member
That's absolutly great Puppet Tales from a Brilliant Mind funny & social critic together it's hard to imagine that they are from the 10's and 20's
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/16/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The man behind this Wladyslav Starewicz, I'd like to call the father of animation. It's ridiculous how talented this man was. Only to come up with an idea of making a film about unfaithful insects would be enough to give this man a medal. And the skiful animation! It looks so incredibly realistic it's hard to realise that some of these shorts are made in the 1910s. Even the quiality of the movie is very good for it's time (you won't findso much better quality from this time, I assure you).
Starewicz who was born in Russia from polish parents, first made documentaries about insects but eventually started to use puppets that he could do whatever he liked with on screen.
Cameraman's revenge (1922) is his forth but perhaps most famous short about infidelity among insects.
Mr. Beetle goes to town and knocks down a grasshopper to get Miss. Dragonfly. But "Mr. Beetle should have guessed that the aggressive grasshopper was a movie cameraman"! So the grasshopper follows Mr. Beetle and the dragonfly to Amour Hotel to film them.
Mr. Beetle then comes home, only to realise that Mrs. Beetle (as well) has been unfaithful to him. So Mr. Beetle beats the hell out of Mrs. Beetle but later forgives her and takes her to the movies. But what they didn't know was that the aggressive grasshopper was the projectionist! So he shows the movie of Mr. Beetle's affairs with the dragonfly, Mrs. Beetle gets so pissed that Mr. Beelte has to escape; jump through the screen.
The insect's christmas (1913), might be the most artistic and most appropriate for young children of Starewicz's shorts but lacks the (least said) interesting plot then Cameraman's revenge.
And before we has Toy Story we had The Mascot (1933), when he toys come alive.
Frogland (1922) is Starewicz's only political short thats is about frogs that are dissatisfied about their democratic reign and asks their god Jupiter for a king. The only huch is, the king they got is a goose that eats them up, one by one. The message with Frogland is that we shall let "well enough alone" and shouldn't ask for too much.
Probably the first movie that pictures a frog drinking alcohol.
The voice of the nightingale (1923) is hand colored, and is about a girl and a nightingale that falls into the girl's trap. But later the girl lets the nightingale out. Very beautiful.
The dopiest of Starewicz's shorts is Winter Carousel, which pictures animals skating.
When you get tired of Pixar's, people, watch one of Starowicz's animated shorts!
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/10/23
Full Review
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