The Mascot
A toy stuffed dog has just been sewn together when it hears a young child ask for an orange. The child's mother explains that they have no money, and so she cannot buy any oranges. The dog is then packed up along with a box full of other toys to be sold, but it soon winds up in the street. The dog picks up an orange from a curb side stand, and hopes to take it home to the child. But that night, before the dog can get back to the child's home, it must face a series of strange and frightening adventures.
From the archive
The best stop-motion film ever made, IMO. Actually, one of the best short films ever made! There are two other versions of this film in the archive, but one is missing about 6 minutes and one is missing the soundtrack. I've fixed some editing mistakes and synch problems that have crept into the various editions over the years and posted the complete version of this amazing film. Starewicz had become a master animator by 1933, incorporating techniques never used before and rarely since (such as moving the puppets during the actual exposure to create blurring for fast movement). His use of rear-screen projection is also surprisingly effective. But more important than these technical details is the great humor of his writing and his sensitivity to character. Each of the dozens of puppets in this film is imbued with a convincing personality; none more so than the title character, known as Fétiche in France and Duffy in England and the U.S. I think the scene of him hanging in a car's rear window is one of the funniest and most poignant scenes you'll find in any film. The character was so successful Starewicz starred him in four more films. We have CGI now, but all Starewicz had was an imagination that wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Whatever he wanted to see on the screen, he created. And he wanted to see some truly bizarre stuff - every imaginable piece of scrap is called up for service: old shoes, chicken bones, utensils, broken glasses, dolls, monkeys, rats...nothing was off limits. A sweet, funny, and also eerie film that should be seen by anyone with even a passing interest in animation. Or film, for that matter.
Why this is free to watch
The Mascot (1933) is hosted by the Internet Archive as a public-domain or openly licensed work, which means its copyright has expired, lapsed, or was released by the rights holder. No signup, no payment and no advertising interrupts playback. Nitrate streams the file directly from the Internet Archive and hosts no video itself.
- Director
- Władysław Starewicz
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