User Reviews

Words alone cannot describe the sheer beauty and power of this film.

Think "Toy Story". Now, think "Toy Story", circa 1934. Now, imagine the animation looks as lifelike, as fluid. Think of the movie not as something adults and children can enjoy, but imagine it as a filme-noire.

Imagine trying to do something like that back in 1934. Somehow, "The Mascot" delivers. In a story where toys come to life, and one of them is trying to deliver an orange to his sick owner, Starewicz delivers a level of animation completely unexpected. It's so fluid, you will wonder for a long time whether what you see is really stop-motion animation.

Comparing "Toy Story" and "The Mascot" is an excercise in futility, plot-wise: while "Toy Story" is a children's story adults can enjoy, "The Mascot" is a dark, chilling story aimed at adults. Meaning, NO, your kids won't like it. One bit.

Still, get it if you can. You might be able to find it along "Vampyr" in DVD and LaserDisc. And prepare to be stunned at what Starewicz was able to do back in 1934 with a couple of puppets.

I agree with most of Mr. Rivera's comments, and I just want to ad a couple of caveats. This film, "The Mascot" is criminally neglected in its current form. For that matter, so is "Vampyr". "The Mascot" isn't a "bonus feature"-- it's tacked on as a chapter in "Vampyr". Even though it's made very clear that this is a separate movie, it should have been treated as such by the manufacturers. And while I"m at it, "Vampyr" needs some of that same respect and cleaning up as well. I got the feeling the decision to put The Mascot on there went something like this.

Dude A: "We just transferred Vampyr to DVD, but it comes up about 20 minutes short. We need to put something on there that won't cost much money. Can you believe film critics want to be paid to talk about films!" Dude B: "Not to worry. I have this little animation thingy that's been sitting in my drawer. Just go ahead and throw it on as an additional chapter." Dude A: "You're awesome, Dude B." The animation's of The Mascot is great, and there's no need for me to repeat what Mr. Rivera's done so well. However, this thing needs some major cleaning and restoring, especially the audio. The plot comes through in the dialogue. And in my copy there were so many hisses, pops and places where the sound just dropped right off (I would have had no idea what the dog was going after without having read the box). No amount of volume was going to make the words more understandable, it just brought up the tinniness and made the hisses and pops louder.

Bottom line is: Starewicz's films need to be put into a respectful collection, cleaned up, spiffed up, liner notes and the whole nine yards. In other words, they need to be "Criterionized" 9 out of 10 for the movie, not the product which would get only a 5.

One of Starewicz's longest and strangest short films follows a toy dog in search of an orange after becoming animated by the tear of the mother of a girl who longs for an orange. The dog comes upon an orange after falling out of the back of a car on his way to be sold, but at night must protect the orange when he comes enters a devilish nightclub featuring many bizarre and scary characters. With the help of a stuffed cat, the dog gets the orange back to the little girl and she is saved from a terrible scurvy death. The Mascot features new techniques I have not yet seen in Starewicz's films. The addition of sync sound and a mixture of live action with the stop-motion animation makes for a new twist on Starewicz's old style of puppetry. Live scenes of moving cars and people's feet walking by as a puppet sits on the concrete sidewalk is impressive and fresh. The honking of cars and cries of street vendors is noteworthy due to the fact that small studio shifts to sound were costly and Starewicz's utilization of the new technology seems like old hat. New puppet characters in this film are frightening contributions to the devil's club scene. Twigss and newspaper shreds come to life. Skeletons of dead birds lay eggs which hatch skeleton chicks. Characters come flying in from all over on pats and pans and rocking horses. A new editing technique uses quick zooms which are accomplished through editing to speed up the pace of what before might have been a slow scene. Overall, Starewicz is able to update his style of film-making to meet the demands of a new audience making this film one of the best examples of his work.

It seems likely that anyone who takes the trouble to post a comment on this obscure little masterpiece would be fascinated and entranced by it, as I am, and the previous comments bear that out. It is true that some of the human types portrayed by the puppet figures are distinctly European, but I don't think that makes them inaccessible to non-Europeans. It does, however, add an exotic, foreign cachet for a viewer unfamiliar with European culture, which from my American perspective only enhances the viewing experience. Some of this comes from the musical soundtrack, which has a distinctively French style and tone quality, and attaches signature tunes, or "leitmotivs" as the Wagnerians would have it, to certain characters. Some of these melodies are very old tunes that immediately evoke a state of mind, human emotion, or character trait to go with its subject in the film. The romantic serenade that the garlic-headed clown sings to the weeping ballerina is a venerated old French art song called "Plaisir d'amour" by Johann Paul A Martini. Probably the only way that last sentence can make much sense to you is if you've actually seen this film.

For me one of the most interesting characters is a type of French gangster made universally recognizable by the famous "apache" dance, a brutal but nonetheless charismatic hoodlum whose pockets are filled with deadly weapons and burglary tools. He treats everyone, including women, with violent contempt, even double-crossing Satan himself. His appearances are invariably accompanied by a jaunty tune on the saxophone portraying him as a nasty, but inexplicably attractive, thug. The apache image is emphasized when he disdainfully throws his sometimes girlfriend, the delicate and emotionally fragile ballerina, against a wall!

The hapless ballerina is emotionally overwhelmed by everything, and is thus subject to the random cruelties of circumstance and the whims of those around her. Her only proactive gesture is to slap the face of a sex-crazed monkey who makes advances towards her, demonstrating that even she has some standards.

There are so many details and aspects of this film to ponder and appreciate that I find it endlessly fascinating, and never tire of watching it. Consider how laborious it must have been to actually create these scenes in the absence of all the modern imaging techniques available today. Every detail must have been meticulously planned before the first frame of a scene was shot, as stop-action animation is hardly a medium for improvisation. Just conceiving of all these details of characterization through action, character design, set design, lighting, etc. must have been a Herculean effort. I'm grateful that Starevitch and his people took the trouble, for all these years later we have a bona fide masterpiece to enjoy. "The Mascot" is an under-appreciated treasure trove of imagination and artistry.

There is a complete copy now available at the Internet Archive - watch it or download it today!

http://www.archive.org/details/The_Mascot_Complete

One of the greatest animated shorts ever made. Starewicz is endlessly inventive and his techniques still astound animation fans 70 years later. We may have computer-generated techniques now, but all he had in 1934 was an imagination that wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Whatever he wanted to see on the screen, he created.

And he wanted to see some truly bizarre stuff - every imaginable piece of scrap is called up for service: old shoes, chicken bones, utensils, broken glasses, dolls, monkeys, rats....seems like there was nothing that was off limits.

A truly eerie, even unsettling film that should be seen by anyone with even a passing interest in animation. This film must be seen to be believed!

A brilliant animated piece that was far ahead of its time, and certainly far ahead of anything that was being released in mass production at the same point in history. The influence of this work upon Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas" is readily apparent. One can only imagine how Starewicz slaved over every beautifully detailed frame of this masterpiece.

There have been very few animated films of this caliber. It's a shame that more people haven't seen this gem.

Apparently, IMdB now requires comments to be at least ten lines long, so this is the tenth line. This must be something new - but I really don't have anything else to say!

Straight from the brilliant mind of animation pioneer Wladyslaw Starewicz, "Fétiche", or "The Mascot" as it is known nowadays, stands as a masterpiece of stop-motion animation that sadly, has been almost forgotten by now. Nevertheless, the work of this man deserves to be seen, and in fact, must be seen to be believed because the outstanding way the animation flows is simply unbelievable.

Decades before "Toy Story", Starewicz conceived the idea of moving toys, in "Fétiche", he tells the story of a small stuffed dog that gets makes friends with the sick daughter of his maker. One day, his maker takes him away to sell him, and the adventure begins as he tries to find his way back home. In his Odyssey, he'll travel from Paris to Hell, and will find the other toys that were supposed to be sold with him.

It is a surreal experience to watch this movie, as Starewicz makes every imaginable creature come alive with grace and beauty. The other toys include a beautiful ballerina, who loves a thief, but she also is secretly loved by a clown, forming a love triangle; an old woman, a stuffed cat and a stuffed ape complete the group. every toy is so detailed and very expressive that without words one can understand their motives.

Truly, the surreal atmosphere the whole animation has it is remarkable. It is hard to believe that a work of this magnitude was done in 1934 since it looks even better than most of the current day animation. The influence it has in modern day animator such as Tim Burton and Henry Selick is very significant.

This short is a masterpiece of animation and the outstanding work of one genius who done everything by himself and that has influenced animators for decades. Starewicz's work is an immortal piece of art that should be seen by everyone. This work is not only for kids, adults as well will enjoy it and probably catch most of the subtext hidden in the movie.

It is possible to find it in the "Vampyr" DVD as a bonus feature. Anyone with the slightest interest in animation should give it a look.

i still can't belive that starevich made this film back in 1934. animation is simply perfect, and what is amazing about it, with all the advanced technology we have nowadays there are few animation studios that are capable of producing a little gem like this one. it has everything: a great story, beautiful chracters (although this is a morbid kind of beauty in some cases), special effects... well, it is definitely not a kid's movie,but it's a must-see for anyone seriously interested in animation.

This is a lovely piece of animation; I admit I didn't watch the devil's ball segment with any closeness but the little stuffed toy dog is fantastic. I especially enjoyed the mix of animation with live action - the dog is extremely cute and funny (I particularly liked the cocking of the leg as he stood at the policeman's feet!).

This is a worthwhile and clever piece which looks like a pre-cursor to contemporary animations like 'The Nightmare before Christmas' and even 'Roger the Rabbit.' It also strongly reminded me of the Blur music video called 'Coffee and TV' with the little milk carton who is just trying to make his way through the rough live action human world.

View it if you like cute dogs who just want an orange and weird nightmarish sections of animation.

I recently down-loaded a short film off the Internet called The Devil's Ball. It would seem to be very old and if it is the same as this film I'm even more impressed that it was made in 1925. A short animated devil emerges from a cast aside bottle of cheap wine and holds a grand party, which is attended by a number of grotesque characters. The animation is done in a stop-motion style and is very smooth and clever work, impressive by any standards. Seeing the film show up on the internet was very strange as I saw this film as a kid 35 years ago, but never since then. I was beginning to wonder if I had actually seen it or just imagined it.

This was shown this afternoon on Sky channel 201 in the UK and by chance I caught just the last 9 minutes knowing nothing about it. But two things were quickly apparent - how reminiscent this 1934 animation short was to the work of Tim Burton. And how this was some of the best stop-frame animation I've ever seen - I still don't know how some of it was done, it perhaps is a mixture of techniques. The dark quirkiness suggested East Europe, the charm that it was French. While the overall appearance, darkness and quirkiness are to be seen in Tim Burton's productions, some of the effects achieved I have not seen anywhere else. It is startling when some movement of a puppet is so natural that it looks alive. The maker was originally an entomologist who had experimented with filming insects and analysing their movements frame by frame. I think he may have done the same with human behaviour. There are subtleties about human (and animal) behaviour in The Mascot I don't think any later animator has equalled - and now there is a vast industry making CGI versions of humans yet they have still missed some things. It is a masterclass.

Sadly, I've only seen 'The Devil's Ball', a sadly truncated super-8 excerpt from this rare, part live action, part animated 1934 feature.

But on the evidence of just that short sequence the full film would have to qualify as a lost masterpiece, highlighted by some incredibly detailed pixillation using chicken skeletons, dead fish, and a variety of other unorthodox props, suggesting the more macabre canvases of Hieronymous Bosch.

Even in such an inadequate format it's a glimpse of eye-opening creativity from an enigmatic genius whose work, regrettably, is almost entirely unknown today.

Masterful Polish film fabulist Ladislas Starevich's immaculately fashioned, dazzlingly animated phantasmagoria 'The Mascot' (1934) is a scintillatingly dreamy, darkly delicious delight from stunning stop-motioned start to its fiendishly fabulous finish! 'The Mascot' comes HIGHLY recommended to fans of the eerily atmospheric, visually stimulating film-making of maestro Jan Svankmajer, and the no less exhilarating stop-motion wizardry of the Quay Brothers! Whimsical, sublimely imaginative, and audaciously bizarre, this truly is one of those truly magical, elegiac shorts that ecstatically transports the rigorously revivified imagination into the headiest interior realms wherein infinite creative possibilities are born! Starevich's visionary masterpiece 'The Mascot' is not only a timeless, immensely beguiling fantasy it should also prove to be a profoundly inspirational experience to anyone with an ounce of poetry in their soul!

Probably Władysław Starewicz's most creative short, "Fétiche" ("The Mascot" in English) pulls out all the stops. It depicts a stuffed dog who gets more than he bargained for when he tries to find a girl an orange. Part live-action, part stop-motion, it shows that you don't need a high budget or a lot of equipment to make a good story. I like Starewicz's works a lot more than these animated features starring the celebrities of the moment.

I'd say that Starewicz's works grew more interesting after he moved to France. They turned more surreal and in-your-face. The fact remains that just about anything can be art. You're sure to love this one.

Astonish animation by stop motion pioneer master Wladyslaw Starewicz's, who made 21 years earlier, still in Russian Empire, also amazing Cameraman's revenge (Mest' kinematograficheskogo operatora). This Fétiche or The Mascot, French stop motion medium length film, is incredibly careful, delicate, detailed, with an impressive variety of dolls, movements and even face expressions. By watching this wonderful film you will notice thst everyone copied it a lot in both situations and style: Walt Disney and Pixwr (Toy Story, Dumbo, and so forth...), Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Wes Anderson... Brilliant!

If any one feature demonstrates as far as possible Wladyslaw Starewicz's wide range of talents, this might be it. "The Mascot" seamlessly combines top-quality puppet animation with live action; it tells a tale with some humor, some horror, and some humanity; and it does it all with a vivid sense of imagination. At the height of the action, there is a constant succession of detailed images at the same time that the story reaches its peak of suspense.

The story follows a toy dog through an odyssey to fulfill a young child's request. The basic story line would be interesting enough, though now pretty familiar from many similar stories by lesser lights. But it is fleshed out by such an imaginative array of creatures and settings that the only possible way to appreciate it is to see it. The detail is extraordinary, especially since each detail in many of the frames had to be done carefully by hand. Many of the details are quite amusing, while others are sinister, bizarre, or just plain interesting. Nor does Starewicz resort to tired or obvious devices in order to impress - the closer you look, the more you see.

While this is certainly not a children's movie, in every other respect it is more impressive and more interesting than any of the animated features from the computer imagery era. For anyone who enjoys classic cinema, it's not to be missed.

The Mascot is just one entree of an incredible visual feast by Russian/Polish Animator Ladislaw Starewicz. This is especially true when compared to the poverty of digital imagination we are witnessing today. It is a vision of such texture and pure creativity that it could inspire whole new artistic movements. I had to laugh out loud at the unexpectedness and depth of the imagery. This film is made for children. But not "children" as defined by Disney or Hasbro or Sesame Street. Rather for real children who love strange mythologies and flights of unchecked fantasy. The tale follows the quest of a stuffed puppy doll in search of an orange. (!?) It follows the animated puppy through the city streets of Paris into hell (!) to protect the orange. This little film was made by Ladislaw Starewicz who is credited with being the first man to make stop-motion animated stories in 1910. Starewicz is truly an inspiration behind the masterfully weird puppet films of the Brothers Quay and Jan Swankmejer. And in some ways his little films surpass them.... which is hard to believe. But it's true. Starewicz has a taproot inserted deeply into the soil of arcane ancient Europa. It is a world of puppets and gargoyles, of dolls and devils, of fairytales and medieval woodcuts. The silent qualities in this nearly silent film only emphasize the dense textures and old European qualities. There is a deep source of inspiration here for artists, film makers, and humans who still exercise their imagination. This film is featured in a compilation of Starewicz's work entitle THE CAMERAMAN'S REVENGE AND OTHER SHORT FILMS. All of these short films are worth their weight in artist gold.

I first saw THE DEVIL'S BALL (1925) as filler on USA UP ALL NIGHT in the early 80's, and couldn't believe the otherworldly weirdness. This washed out, very old animated film shows ugly, alien looking vegetables and taxidermied animals at a hellish dance. Balloon men wailing saxophones explode. A dead baby bird conducts an orchrestra of evil looking clowns. Fish dance close-body with seagull skeletons, and a Frenchman beats up an ape! The music doesn't help these strange images. It's faint, sounding if it was recorded a block away. All this happens very quickly. This happens to be the work of a pioneering Russian stop motion artist named Starevich. In the way Ray Harryhausen worked in miniature rubber models, or Nick Park works in claymation, Starevich animated taxidermied subjects. His work is way out bizarre, fascinating and an inspiration to anyone working in animation.

This work of animation is technically excellent; often brilliant. But most of it is as nightmarish as anything produced by the brothers Quay. Adults interested in animation should consider this work a must-see. Young children, on the other hand, will be injured by it. I find it rather chilling that it was made to be shown to them.

BTW, the English-language dubbing is rather crude; it would be better to see with the original soundtrack; none of its sense should be lost.