Humorous Phases of Funny Faces

I, of course, like this animated short that J. Stuart Blackton created and it is spectacular, but I have one question about this short. The one question is when J. Stuart Blackton, the artist in the film, is drawing the characters' sequences with a chalk bit-by-bit, I do not know how the drawings move, like when the guy with a mustache is drawn beside a woman, he smokes. Now, I do not get that particular part of the animated short.

Of course, I love this film because there were silly cartoon drawings and it was one of the early special effects in film history, but The Enchanted Drawing, made in November 1900, was, I believe, the first animated film with special effects.

8/10

I don't think there's anything more about this pioneering animation effort that hasn't already been said before by many of the other reviewers except maybe only the very young who haven't been exposed to cartoons previously would find this the most charming thing they have ever seen yet! Certainly we all recognize how primitive these chalk drawings are now having been exposed to Disney, The Simpsons, hell, even Beavis and Butthead is more sophisticated than this short Humorous Phases of Funny Faces! That said, anyone with an interest in animation's history should watch this at least once to see where it all began...

This is an historically little classic from early movie-maker J. Stuart Blackton.

It's always interesting to watch a movie that is over- or near 100 years old. Movie-making obviously was still a profession yet in development which let to some many experimental little productions. This movie is one of those early experimental movies, that for one of the first times ever shows us a couple of fully moving animated characters, that also interact with each other.

Of course nothing really happens in this movie. It's just merely used as a medium to show off the skills- and possibilities of this new genre. The movie features a couple of animated persons that get drawn by J. Stuart Blackton himself. The characters interact simply to each other. It doesn't make this movie very entertaining to watch, although the bit with the dog and clown was pretty amusingly done.

The animations themselves are good and the speed is more than great. All of the movements feel right and natural. A real big accomplishment.

It's hard to rate a thing like this. It obviously is a little piece of early movie history and is simply a must-see because its widely regarded as the first ever animated movie. But the movie itself is hardly interesting or amusing enough to watch. Nothing really happens and thank goodness that the movie doesn't run over 3 minutes. I therefor go with a safe six out of ten.

6/10

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If you're a lover of really old movies, this is a real charmer. This is an animated version of a 'chalk talk' or 'lightning drawing' vaudeville act. It has an animated title, and each segment of the film begins with J. Stuart Blackton drawing each character. Sure, the animation is crude and occasionally Mr. Blackton's hand pops up during the animated parts, but is forgivable since this is recognized as the first animated cartoon ever. The white-on-black drawing and caracatures from an era gone by give it a sublimely surreal quality.

And here I am. Still reviewing some key examples of early animation on celluloid. Today, I decided to focus on another more recognized work from film genius James Stuart Blackton, the renowned Father of Animation, which I find much more elaborated, but equally effective, than his previous work on animation: the remarkable "The Enchanted Drawing".

"Humorous Phases of Funny Faces" not only is as captivating as the aforementioned film, but it also nearly surpasses it, especially considering the creativity that Blackton put in the drawings, in which new techniques already used still shine in this one, such as cut-out and stop-motion, this time used in a more natural and fluid way, helping to bring a new level of realism to their creations.

As if that were not enough, this time we do not see Blackton in person, but only his hands, giving the drawings the absolute protagonism.

The effort and dedication that was put to make this short is indeed admirable, besides being a meaningful contribution to the development of animation in film, in a time when it was developed slowly, until it became what we know today.