Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)

An ad for Gertie

Gertie the Dinosaur is a 1914 animated short by Winsor McCay, the artist who we previously saw in Little Nemo.  The set up here is largely the same, with McCay making a bet with friends that he can make a moving dinosaur, some attempts at humor as he prepares the animation and finally a showing of the finished short.

For me, this effort was less successful than Little Nemo.  The animated portion of Gertie is straightforward in set up: a dinosaurus receives instructions from McCay in the form of title cards.  Sometimes he listens to the directions, sometimes not.  Little Nemo had this surreal nature which kept me interested.  Gertie follows the same dinosaur in front of the same background with almost no other characters.  The commands are simple like lifting up her left foot.  Not exactly a lot of drama.

The most amazing aspect of the animation is the historical significance.  This was produced prior to cel animation used by Disney.  Each frame was hand drawn by McCay and another artist.  The movements of Gertie are very smooth and precise, demonstrating McCay's attention to detail.

The non-animated set-up (as in Little Nemo) is painfully unfunny.  The animation is very well done, but not very interesting as a story.  Recommended for hard-core animation fans, but not anyone else.

Viewed on YouTube
Picture from Silent Movie Monsters

Random fact:  Gertie can still be seen today.  Recognizing the importance of McCay in the history of animation, Disney's Hollywood Studios includes an ice cream store shaped like Gertie.