Animated intertitles help tell the tale of how a skinflint and his wife cheat their suburban neighbor at cards.Animated intertitles help tell the tale of how a skinflint and his wife cheat their suburban neighbor at cards.Animated intertitles help tell the tale of how a skinflint and his wife cheat their suburban neighbor at cards.
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4tavm
Just watched this early short directed by Edwin S. Porter on the UCLA Preserved Silent Animation site. It's actually a live-action film about the title character playing a game of cards with a neighbor and his wife. Since this was in the movies' beginning, the scenes are all stationary with no dolly movement whatsoever, just occasional cuts. And the story is one anyone can predict if one has seen many subsequent filmings of card games. What makes this one a little interesting-and why it's on an animation site-is that the intertitles are done here by having the letters rolling back & forth and up & down before staying still long enough for you to read them. Also, you see a couple of animated hands shaking during one of those titles. And I found it fascinating that at least one scene was repeated which may have been a mistake in editing. Like I said, the story isn't much for me but those moving intertitles provided enough interest for me to say How Jones Lost His Roll is worth a look for silent animation buffs.
The best thing about "How Jones Lost His Roll" are the intertitle cards. Instead of the usual static cards that explain the action, these cards consist of stop-motion letters that dance across the screen and spell out what is occurring in the story. It's very advanced for 1905.
As for the rest of the story, it seems stupid today. Jones is invited to play a friendly game of cards and doesn't realize that his hosts are cheats. While this COULD have been fun and enough to sustain the movie, it wasn't. This is because the cheating was facilitated by having Jones sit directly in front of a GIANT mirror--and only a complete moron would have done this. Any idiot would have known that the other players would have easily been able to read his cards in the mirror. Had the hosts used some clever and believable way to cheat, the film wouldn't have come off as so stupid. Only of interest for the intertitle cards!
As for the rest of the story, it seems stupid today. Jones is invited to play a friendly game of cards and doesn't realize that his hosts are cheats. While this COULD have been fun and enough to sustain the movie, it wasn't. This is because the cheating was facilitated by having Jones sit directly in front of a GIANT mirror--and only a complete moron would have done this. Any idiot would have known that the other players would have easily been able to read his cards in the mirror. Had the hosts used some clever and believable way to cheat, the film wouldn't have come off as so stupid. Only of interest for the intertitle cards!
Clever animated titles spell out the woes of Jones, who is lured drunk into a card game with predictable results. The existing print contains two takes of one scene, offering a rare glimpse into early filmcraft.
This short comedy enlivens an otherwise rather simple story with a couple of clever features that fit in relatively well with the tone of the story itself. The most original feature of the movie is the titles, which are done in a creative and jaunty fashion that complements the action on the screen. This helps the story-telling approach seem slightly original, at least for the time.
The story starts with Mr. Jones accepting a dinner invitation from a neighbor who is a noted miser, and then it goes on to follow the events of later in the evening. It's not all that creative in itself, and is for the most part rather predictable, but the approach is just interesting enough to make it worth seeing.
The story starts with Mr. Jones accepting a dinner invitation from a neighbor who is a noted miser, and then it goes on to follow the events of later in the evening. It's not all that creative in itself, and is for the most part rather predictable, but the approach is just interesting enough to make it worth seeing.
Did you know
- TriviaThis film is notable for its early use of animation, which is limited strictly to the intertitles. A jumble of letters from off-screen appears and forms the words and sentences. One of the intertitles also features two pictures of hands performing a very crude animated handshake.
Details
- Runtime7 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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