General French's Contemptible Little Army
Mixing lightning sketches with animation, this propaganda cartoon comes to life in defence of the British fighting force of 1914.
In the early days of WWI, celebrated illustrator Lancelot Speed rallied to the patriotic cause, combining his super-fast, 'lightning sketch' act with stop-motion animation to bring cartooning to life. Kaiser Wilhelm had allegedly dismissed the British Expeditionary Force, led by Commander-in-Chief Sir John French, as 'contemptible'. True or not, the outrage that followed made useful propaganda.
A mix of lighning sketches and cut-out animation by Lancelot Speed which attack the supposed labelling of the British Expeditionary Force under Sir John French by Kaiser Wilhelm as "contemptible". The small tommy force is seen to grow and scare off "Prussian Militarism" with the aid of British colonies, and a bear representing Russia.
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The First World War: Drawing the Enemy
Britain's cartoonists take up their brushes to confront the Kaiser and his armies.
As the First World War raged across Europe, Britain's animators dedicated themselves to the propaganda effort. These determined artists, among them Lancelot Speed, Dudley Buxton, GW Studdy and Anson Dyer, unleashed an arsenal of tricks with one objective - making the enemy look ridiculous, and victory seem inevitable.
In cartoon after cartoon, lightning sketch after lightning sketch, the elaborately-moustached 'Kaiser Bill' was subjected to a catalogue of indignities, whether at the hands of 'Tommy', 'John Bull' and their allies, or just falling victim to his own hubris.
15 videos in this collection
1
2
Sea Dreams
3
Sleepless
4
Peter's Picture Poems
5
John Bull's Animated Sketchbook No. 4
6
John Bull's Sketch Book
7
John Bull's Animated Sketch Book
8
Bully Boy
9
Anti-German War Cartoons
10
A Pencil and Alick P.F. Ritchie
11
First World War Cartoon - Joffre
12
Studdy's War Cartoons Compilation Film
13
Tom Merry, Lightning Cartoonist, Sketching Kaiser Wilhelm II
14
Agitated Adverts
15