Le cochon danseur

Making the man a pig suggests that the woman is the victim of the man's vileness but the pig seems to be an OK guy while the woman initially rejects him, then kicks and humiliates him and gets him to obey her order to dance with her a number, naked. "Poor pig", we think, but behind the stage his lecherousness comes to light when he makes suggestive facial expressions to the audience. So is he completely stupid to think he will score with that woman after what just happened? Is the message that men are stupid pigs that women can easily play with if they want to? No. Because if you pay attention the pig wears the tuxedo again that she ripped off his body earlier. So either this shows him before he went out on stage meaning it is a flashback, or it plays some time later before he is actually about to kick it off with her after the rocky start. Either way it shows that he's a pig alright and had it coming.

This early 20th century silent short from France was the first item on disc 2 of the "Saved from the Flames" DVD collection. It has someone in a giant pig costume being humiliated by a beautiful girl dancer he has a crush on as she strips his clothes and makes him dance both naked (so to speak) and with a dress on. Oddly, this is when the pig enjoys himself to the point of sticking his tongue out and moving his eyes! I found this pretty amusing if not hilarious and, at 4 minutes, just about the right length. I do wonder if this was meant for children especially with the stripping and the female dancer moving her skirt up and down like the famous Can-Can. Still, The Dancing Pig (the English title on the disc) is worth a look.

Many people seem to find this old, French short to be very creepy, but I tend to disagree. I found it to be charmingly unique and humorous; it's clearly a film made to produce laughter and joy rather than fear. Depending on how you look at it, the pig suit in the film can be seen as either wacky and funny or haunting and disturbing. Either way, this short must come across as interesting to almost anyone in one way or another.

Essentially, all this film consists of is a brief vaudevillian performance featuring a man in a weird, silly pig costume engaging in outrageous slapstick with a well dressed and mischievous woman. It's quite surreal and can be interpreted as off putting by some, but I found it to be very amusing and enjoyable to watch. It got a few genuine laughs out of me and, overall, left me with a nice, warm grin across my face.

The Dancing Pig is four minutes of pure nightmare fuel from the early days of cinema, the film featuring an oversized anthropomorphic porker dancing with a pretty woman. The pig, resplendent in top hat and dinner jacket, starts off by trying to woo the young lady; unsuccessful, he goes for a quick grope instead, so the woman strips him. The pair then dance together for a while, the pig stopping momentarily to pop on a frock. The pig starts to waggle its tongue and roll its eyes but that doesn't scare the woman like it would me - she just carries on a-prancing.

The film ends with a close of the pig's face which will haunt your dreams, the creepy swine flapping its ears while rolling its eyes upwards and lolling its tongue around a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.

9/10. I just love strange old films like this (apparently, the dancing pig was a popular music hall routine back in the day. Nowadays, it just seems really freaky).

The internet site "Know Your Meme" named the close-up of the anthropologic pig in the 1907 French short "The Dancing Pig" as one of the first memes of the 20th century. The GIF shows the last 20 seconds of the movie as the pig rolls his eyes, flaps his ears, wags his tongue and shows sharp teeth. The short begins with a man dressed as a pig trying to pick up a woman, who eventually disrobes the pig. They then dance up a storm on the set. This routine has been cited as a reenactment of a vaudeville act. At the end, the movie cuts to a closeup of the pig's face, with creepy actions from the pig. The movie was forgotten for decades until someone created the meme, sparking numerous nightmares for many viewers.