Le songe d'un garçon de café

Hasher's Delirium, The (1910)

*** (out of 4)

aka Songe d'un garçon de café, Le

Animated film from France has a man sitting in a circle where he sees various visions of "bad things" like alcohol and absinthe. Soon after the words are spelled out they turn into demon faces. I'm going to guess this minute short was original meant as some sort of anti-drug ad but it remains pretty fun for what it is. The animation looks quite good for its time and it also quite funny. The various demon heads were nicely drawn and I'm sure fans of avant-garde would find this entertaining.

This little minute movie is fun and quite interesting for its time. Although it is no where near as good, it is similar to "The Andalusian Dog" in that it does not mean much but does not have to because for its time it was a statement on its own. It is there because it can be and should be. It made me smile but I am glad it was not longer than it was. If it were not so short, it would be boring since it is lacking in any timeless elements, like attractive images for instance, for one's interest to latch onto. "Hasher's Delirium" is not brilliant but it is worth a look at least for its historical value and the fact that the animated character just looks funny with that stupid smile especially when something pops up that you would think would bring about a frown but does not.

If you see this film today and know nothing about the history of animation, you'll probably be totally unimpressed or even hostile towards the film. After all, it's VERY simply animated and has no sort of traditional narrative. Instead, it's a very surreal, almost stream of consciousness, sort of short film. A guy (presumably a drunk or drug addict) sits off to the right side of the screen as all sorts of drawings keep morphing into other drawings--some of which are obviously meant to poke fun of or provide warnings against various intoxicants. In particular, there's a jab at absinthe--an alcoholic beverage which was banned from the early 20th century until very recently because of its presumed deleterious effects (which, incidentally, have been disproved and the drink is now being legally sold for the first time in nearly 100 years). Odd and worth seeing if you have a fascination with early cartoons. And, incidentally, I've seen quite a few early animations similar to this in style but without the drug/alcohol references.

This film started a life long fascination, for silent and 30's -40's films. Really in a way, it changed my view of the world and the past.

When I was 12 years old (32 years ago) I was given a standard 8mm print of "The Hasher's Delirium", by an avid collector and film archive genius named Al Miller. His generosity started an addiction with me that lives on to this day. I started buying 8mm (and later 16mm and super 8) from various sources, Blackhawk films being one of the major ones, especially at the beginning. In analyzing what fascinated these films for me, it was like discovering an archaeological burial. I understand this doesn't happen for many people, but my persistence in promoting silent and early films DID effect some people. Some of which I hadn't seen for years, and recently came up and thanked me for turning them on to the genre. No - the "Hasher's Delirium" is not a great film, but references to Absinthe and the bizarre animation perplexed me to such a degree at that age that it became an obsession, almost frightening, but hypnotic to some one at that formative age. I don't know what would have become obsessed with if it wasn't for that moment when I received that copy. Since then, I was in the Denver paper for meeting and kissing Lillian Gish. I have an extensive collection on celluloid and video. I also collect autographs and memorabilia - and have spent much time studying the early days of film. To me - it is a peephole into a time that is long gone, and will never be again. It is a great tragedy that films are deteriorating and destroyed, because it is like visual history slipping through our hands through apathy and negligence.

KW Trumbule