Following are brief reviews of some of Starewicz's films. These are reviews are too short to warrant a full page, and are mostly from memory of film viewing. These films may someday "earn" a unique page if I receive video sources of any kind (stills, quicktimes, video tapes) to facilitate a longer treatment.


(Special Thanks to Kevin Stussman for the following)

The Scarecrow
(1921, 13:30 m)

This is about a drunk farmer who is taunted first by some children then by the devil and some demons. The children taunt the farmer by raising a scarecrow into the air with a rope. He thinks it is a spirit and starts to accost it. The scarecrow "comes to life" and chases the farmer. Meanwhile, one of the children gets drunk on the farmer's wine. The farmer chases the drunk child and ends up stealing her (Starewicz's Daughter) pants. The farmer hits his head and starts to hallucinate about gambling with the devil. The farmer out-cheats the devil (and some daemons) but loses the money to an animated bird-like thing. The fat devil in Scarecrow is the same one seen in The Mascot.

Town Rat, Country Rat
(1926, 13:00 m)

Basically, this story is about a rat that visits friends in the "big city" and all the bizarre events that happen during his trip. This is an amazing film that secures Starewicz's mark in animation history. There is so much going on that's its difficult to describe all the action. Basically, the rats try to have a party, but it's interrupted by a cat that chases all the rats. The rats dance, eat, drink, drive....it's really crazy.


The rest of the Starewicz site:

A Short Biography
The Other "-Ographies" : Filmography, Videography, Bibliography and Puppetography (Revised 10/2/99)
Frogland (Revised 10/2/99)
The Mascot, a/k/a Puppet Love, a/k/a The Devil's Ball (Revised 10/2/99)
Nose to the Wind
Winter Carousel (Revised 10/2/99)
The Cameraman's Revenge (Revised 10/2/99)
The Insect's Christmas (Revised 10/2/99)
Voice of the Nightingale (Revised 10/2/99)
Tale of the Fox (Revised 10/2/99)
Short Takes: "The Scarecrow", "Town Rat, Country Rat"
 
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This page was created on 6/30/96
and last update 7/13/97