The 4th Short Film Hall of Fame

It seems that we have 5 silent films in this HoF. And I, for some reason, thought I was going to be the only one nominating one. Needless to say I was very pleased to see others had nominated some, too.

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I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity - Edgar Allan Poe

You're actually nit-picking the trio of singers? Those poor little guys.

very happy to hear you enjoy Chaplin. Absolutely LOVE that man! AND I can't even remember the last time I saw this feature, so having @Camo nominate it is an added treat.

I also tried to avoid your second review since I haven't seen it and holding off to see it before reading the discussion that started up about it, but couldn't help myself. REALLY like your closing remark for this one.

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What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes

~Mr Minio

That's understandable. I hope you enjoyed the photos. I thought it was kind of neat to see Charlie Chaplin without his make up and mustache.

Tht's a stunning photo of him.

You'd seen him without his make-up before, hadn't you?

I remember hearing that a lot of times he was able to walk around and NOT be recognized without the tramp suit and mustache.

He kind of looks like a young Burt Lancaster in some of his photos.

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Yeah, but not so young.

Cameraman's Revenge. Wow. Absolutely brilliant, and such horny characters! I really enjoyed that. Very clever. Nice choice CR.

Glad you liked it, Miss Vicky reviewed it on her movie log thread. I had never heard of it. But who can resist, stop motion animated dead insects! It's just too odd not to watch.

I didnt even know that technique was around bck then. Really excellent, and I loved the score.

At this rate I think I;m going to have to vote all the noms except myself as winners.

The Envelope Spacey is one of those actors I just love to watch and it was quite a joy seeing him bring the, nearly child-like enthusiasm that occurred when waiting on the postman.
There is mentioned in the opening and after the credits that it is inspired by similar events that occurred in the 30's which added a nice touch to this sentimental short.

also, from @gbgoodies

The Ventriloquist While this story is a very common one, Spacey is VERY good at bringing out another touching and sentimental performance with this one as well.

I enjoyed both of these, gbg, thank you

Just finished reading, not only her review, but the article she found it on. Like so many others, this is another I'm excited to see.

The Cameraman's Revenge (Wladyslaw Starewicz, 1912)

This was one of my noms. It's probably the most unusual short in the Hof. Where else are you going to see a 105 year old movie with stop-motion animated dead bugs? These bugs live quite the soap opera life! Who knew?

More interesting, than entertaining...I mean how much character development can you get from the dead bugs?

Everything will be OK

I tried to give this a go but it's not working for me. Sorry Neibs. Might have to tweak my mindset to finish it, but it's not my thing generally.

The Cameraman's Revenge (1912)
Dir. Ladislav Starevich

This is a very impressive example of early stop-motion animation. The insects are so well articulated, that their characters' emotions are very easy to distinguish. It's a very charming film that's also pretty funny, with an amusing take on your typical cheating spouse melodrama. The amount of work that must have gone into this film is simply astonishing, with the scene where we see the artist painting being particularly impressive to me.

La Maison en Petits Cubes / つみきのいえ (2008)
Dir. Kunio Katô

I was not a fan of the animation in this at all. The perspective seemed way off at times, particularly with the tables. It was, however, a very nice little story. I like how more and more of the widowers' past is revealed the deeper he swims, with each block of his house containing its own story about a different time in his life. It was very sweet and pleasant to watch, I just wish the visual style was different.

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gonna try to knock out a few more of these this evening. The cheating insects should be all kinds of fun

It is. They're hilarious.

One of the most interesting aspects of The Cameraman's Revenge is the mono color tinting of the different scenes. That tinting was original and was done at the time by soaking the film in a dye emulsion.

The colors have different meanings. The more common color tinting denotes a place or time or emotion being represented.

Amber Tint is used for inside of buildings during daytime.

Orange Tint is used for inside of buildings, at night time.

Yellow Tint is sunshine and used for outside daytime scenes.

Blue Tint is used for nightime, outdoor scenes.

Red Tint used for heat or fire, also sometimes used for intense danger or red hot passion.

Purple/Lavender Tint is used for romantic scenes.

Green Tint is used for forest or nature scenes.

When you guys watch The Cameraman's Revenge try and remember what the color tinting means, and see if it matches up to what's in the film.