The Death Feigning Chinaman (1928)
Ping Pong receives a bottle of alcohol as a gift from the Emperor. When he gets drunk and chokes on a fish bone, no one in the city wants to take responsibility for his death.
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At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
Taking a look at IMDbs Classic Film board I spotted a post from a fellow IMDber featuring links to films online of titles from 1928.In among the Silent epics,I was surprised to spot a Silent German cartoon,which led to me getting ready to find out how animated the Germans can be.View on the film:Whilst the print, (which was from a copy that someone made at a rare screening-bad bootlegger!)did sadly not have any English Subtitles,director Lotte Reiniger's distinctive animation style says more than any words could.Making the animation entirely from cut up pieces of paper,Reiniger shows an impressive fluidity with delicately turning each paper into a different object/person.Reiniger also gives the film a charming folk tale atmosphere,with the silhouette appearance making the title look like a fantasy tale from the East which has partly faded into the sands of time.
This film is an example of what animation looked like in Germany in the 1920s. Or maybe I should only say Lotte Reiniger's animation. She was still fairly young when she made this 9-minute movie almost 90 years ago and went on to stay one of Germany's most famous animation filmmakers for decades to come. How much you will enjoy this silent short film all comes down to how much you like Reiniger's style. It's fairly similar in all her works. All about light and dark and it always reminds me of silhouettes. I myself am okay with her style, not one of my favorites, but I don't find it horrible either. However, I did not like this short film really that much. It was fairly difficult to understand what exactly was going on, even if you speak German and understand the massive spoiler in the film's title. All in all, I do not recommend it.