Mary and Gretel (1916)

Good concept, poorly executed.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Mary and Gretel (1916) *** 1/2 (out of 4)This seven minute movie is incredibly impressive. The stop-motion tells the story of dolls Mary and Gretel who come to life thanks to a fairy. They are taken to a mysterious place full of gnomes and a large rabbit. I've seen a lot of early animated movies and I must say that this one here is without question one of the most impressive. I was really blown away by the stop-motion work because it really does look flawless and certainly decades ahead of its time. It's really hard to believe that such effects were being done in 1916. The story itself is also cute enough and I really loved the look of both the dolls as well as the rabbit. I thought the film did a really good job at bringing this fantasy world to life to where the viewer could feel what they were watching was real. This is certainly a major gem that needs to be better known.

I apparently saw this film a few years ago and gave it a relatively low score. However, I saw it again tonight and was very impressed! I think this discrepancy is because when I first saw it, I was not that familiar with silents---particularly ones as old as "Mary and Gretel". Now, seeing it after I've viewed a couple thousand silents, I can appreciate much more how groundbreaking it was and how audiences of the day must have been wowed by the film.Long, long before Willis O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen and Jan Svankmajer came this cute little stop-motion film from the Peter Pan Film Company. It features a story that is clever though occasionally repetitive and slow. However, it abounds with lots of charm and is gosh-darned cute to boot! The story begins with a fairy bringing two dolls to life (like Pinocchio). The two walk about encountering lots of cute characters and you can't help but think that the whole thing is incredibly sweet and entertaining. Well done and one of the very earliest films of its type.

This is Alice in Wonderland meets Rip Van Winkle with a drunken white rabbit and bowling dwarfs and two little baby dolls. The drunken rabbit shows real character even with his unmovable face. Sadly this is not the case for the title characters, Marry and Gretel. This is a stop motion film using toys. There are no expressions on the faces of the models, which seem to be dolls right off the store shelves. The movement is limited by gravity. No supports are used in the walk cycles so both of the feet of all of the models are on the ground at all times. This gives a Tim Conway look to the walk cycles. Despite these limitations this it is a good story and a fun film. The lighting and camera work is very good with high contrast.