Running a Cinema
This animated insight into silent cinema-going is more fanciful than factual, and relishes in poking fun at the films of its time
Ever wondered what it was like to run a cinema in the 1920s? Well it was probably nothing like how it is shown in this film, but who cares when it is such great fun? Dudley Buxton was a comic illustrator and postcard artist who started making cartoon propaganda films in WW1. His 'Memoirs of Miffy' series was an attempt to continue his success into the 1920s, but like most other British animators the competition of American animation proved too strong.
Dudley Buxton's contribution to the development of film cartoons in Britain is sadly little known. He tried to move the industry on from cut-out animation to using the cel technique so common in the US. However lack of investment in the UK and favourable distribution terms for American series like Felix the Cat made it impossible to compete on level terms. Buxton continued as a key but anonymous figure in British animation into the mid-1930s, but is today better known for his saucy postcards.
Creatures Great and Small
Fur, feathers, bugs or beaks: from the start animators have cast the whole natural world in their human comedies and dramas
Would you know Mickey was a mouse if you didn’t know his surname? Many of the most famous animated characters are drawn from the animal kingdom, but they rarely behave quite as nature intended. Anthropomorphism has a long history in storytelling - going back to Aesop and beyond - and animation has imported it into film. But whether it's Bonzo the Dog or Charley the Cat, these characters are really studies in human nature.
23 videos in this collection
Feline Fun
The Clown and His Donkey
Charley Says: Falling in the Water
Goodwill to All Dogs
Superted
The Fabulumperous Car
The Six-armed Image
The Elstree Erbs
Tale of a Tendril
Bonzo [No. 1]
Bonzolino or - Bonzo Broadcasted
Willie Comes to Life
Running a Cinema
A Cat Is a Cat
Teapot
Topical Bonzette
Steve's Cannon Crackers
Bee Boy
Apodemy
Moxie
The Obvious Child