The Cameraman's Revenge & Other Fantastic Tales

I recently watched 6 short films by the great entomologist-filmmaker Vladislav Starevich, all of which are included on this DVD collection. This man seems to have had a fairly large influence on later filmmakers, especially animators such as Jan Svankmajer and Terry Gilliam. And it was all because Starevich wanted to film two stag beetles fighting, but couldn’t because as soon as he turned some lights on they all fell asleep..

My two favorite Starevich films that I have seen are “The Cameraman’s Revenge” and “The Mascot”. I wasn’t super excited about the choice of subjects for these films. In my opinion, the golden age of Soviet-Russian fantasy cinema didn’t reach it’s peak until Yuriy Norshteyn and Aleksandr Ptushko came onto the scene.  But the animation style and technique of these films are certainly fascinating enough to warrant a dedicated viewing, and their age (with the earliest produced in 1912) takes the allure to a whole new level. * * * *