Search This Blog

Friday, September 27, 2024

Movie Journal: The 1920's

 

Red Hot Rails (1926)

Sherwood-Wadsworth pictures

Fig.1; The first shot of the film where Mike and Myrtle were shown riding a scooter to the tracks.

Technique and direction

Red hot rails is an animated film released in 1926 under the direction of John R. McRory, producer of the Buster Bear Cartoons in the 1930's, and the supervision from Robert Emmett Sherwood, which would be a screenwriter for theatrical plays since the 1910's. 

The film was developed using traditional ink and paper animation with backgrounds and cels as tools to produce and the classic rubberhose style for the character, as various animated films from that time. The way the shots were captured was under a 1.33:1 aspect ratio with a 35mm spherical lens. Its music and sounds would be introduced years later, as a result of the success of the "Talkies" that emerged at the late 20's.

The film could have been exhibited in certain cinemas and nickelodeons, specifically in New York, the place where the film was produced due to the fact the Life magazine was operating from there. It is curious taking in mind that Hollywood was the best spot to create movies given to the great accessibility for film back then.

It is believed that the film was directed by Sherwood, according to some sources and databases online; but actually Sherwood was only supervising given that he, according to printed biographies, was working for the Life magazine in 1926 alongside Robert Benchley as a feature editor and reviewer, and also the film would be done alongside the magazine. 

As an additional fact, the short film was the debut of the "Life Cartoon Comedy" series, which would continue until presumably 1927. 

Representation

The story follows Mike (can also be known as Michael), a monkey, working as a switch operator, rescuing his girlfriend Myrtle, who is inside a stock car out of control thanks to Big Hat Harold, in a series of events such as using a hand car, hanging from a plane, riding a train as a mountable animal, facing a group of dog pirates, and ending with a bulldozer-like car to reach her from the impending crash.

As the title and the premise tells, the film's setting has depictions of the railroad industry. Michael can be seen performing various tasks at the same time, cleaning the place, attending calls, writing letters and checking-in tickets. Of course, the 1920's was a great moment for trains to operate given to their profitability.


Reception

I discovered this piece thanks to a DVD box from a compilation of cartoons from the 1920's, this caught my attention from the name, and I watched the film on YouTube uploaded by the channel "Not your animation Historian".

This production during its time was not given so much attention in comparison to other productions with characters such as Felix the cat and Betty Boop.

For today standards, this can be also like that, given to the little information existing today to the point there is no mention of the "Life Cartoon Comedy" series in animation books or even inside Sherwood's biography. The evidence of its existence was online, being the most legitimate proof a script preserved in the Library of Congress website.

Some of the few reviewers today gave a low score to this film given specially to its quality and premise, which I won't deny, none of it was as iconic as other animations from the time given to many missed opportunities to make the characters more interesting, but I cannot say it was not interesting to see something like this. 

The animation, the variation of sequences, and the curious design of the characters are some of the factors that did make me take a look at the production behind and the context that inspired it.

Another additional fact, this was done a year before "Trolley Troubles" (1927). By this, we can say McRory's film did inspired the production of said Oswald's misadventures.

References for this research: 

By at