The E13 Avenged

1915
Silent
1m

Pioneering visual graphics – with added cotton wool – recreate an incendiary WWI incident involving a stricken British submarine.

Just four days into its war service, British submarine HMS E13 ran aground in Danish waters. The subsequent shooting of the stricken vessel by German boats killed half of its crew, causing outrage among the Allies and neutral Denmark. This surviving fragment of a longer film is an example of pioneering visual graphics accompanying news (and propaganda) reporting.

Early Animation

The dawn of a new celluloid art: Britain's animation pioneers at peace and war

When you're creating a new art form, everything is experimental. The pioneers of animation in Britain cast a range of subjects as the stars of their films - the toys of an Edwardian child; insects and animals; Kaiser Bill and John Bull. But even the richest of fantasies on display here offer a window into the turbulent era in which they were made. When the nation went to war, animation was conscripted to meet its propaganda needs. In peacetime, the industry sought success as an entertainer, but found a career in sales.