Bully Boy

1914
Silent
6m

Lightning sketch propaganda stirs outrage about Reims bombing, and features a British bulldog eating the German sausage

The bombing of Reims Cathedral in the early months of WWI was perfect propaganda material for the Allied Powers: here, the appropriately named illustrator Lancelot Speed rattles off lightning sketches of Kaiser 'Bully Boy' Wilhelm and the Gothic edifice. The action then picks up as - with the aid of cotton wool and scissors - the building tumbles.

In what was the first of four Bully Boy films by Speed, things then take a little turn for the weird. The Kaiser morphs into a sausage which is cooked under the watchful gaze of Lord Kitchener, before the British bulldog appears to wolf it down. Britons, Lord Kitchener wants you to eat sausages! God save the King.

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.