The Cameraman’s Revenge

The Cameraman’s Revenge is one of the funnier, early pioneering works in world animation history. Created by Władysław Starewicz, this stop motion work tells the story of the extramarital affairs of a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Beetle. Mr. Beetle catches Mrs. Beetle in the act with her artist lover. After that, though, a jilted cameraman shows footage of Mr. Beetle’s own affair to everyone at the cinema.

Oh, and all the characters are highly realistically animated beetles. The reason they’re so realistic is that they’re actually dead beetles. Starewicz was famous for using dead animals and insects in his animations. He was probably the first person to do this and no doubt influenced following generations of animators like Jiri Trnka and Terry Gilliam. Moreover, one can only imagine such a film influenced Kafka’s thinking before he wrote Metamorphosis in 1915.

The Cameraman’s Revenge is without a doubt one of the more influential early animated works. It stands up to modern standards for animation and still good fun to watch. Audiences at the time, meanwhile, were convinced Starewicz had trained live insects to perform on camera.

• 1910s
• English subtitles
• Imperial Russia