Hearts and Flowers

Stop motion dolls some animation sexually suggestive

My daughter was NOT happy I was watching "Hearts and Flowers" on TV tonight. She kept saying things like "that's so creepy!" and "I don't like any part of this!"...and many other choice things I won't mention here! And, after seeing it, I certainly can't say that I blame her!

This short from Vitaphone is essentially a stop-motion silent movie with a soundtrack playing the old song "Hearts and Flowers" and there are no sound effects.

The story involves two creepy stop-motion puppets trying to make time with the same creepy girl puppet. All this is done on a set where the backgrounds are all painted. Occasionally, it's kind of cute....mostly it's just creepy and nightmare fodder. Yes, the dolls are THAT creepy!!

So is this worth watching? Well, if you like weird old films, certainly. Or, you could play it for someone you'd like to traumatize! Not especially well made and certainly a curiosity!!

At the first sigh , a creepy love story. Not for dolls or for story itself but for the driving of romance and absurde. Two boys in competition to conquer the heart of girl. Sensuality, accidents, a seductive moon and a shooting man, a poor Black guy - target for each car and something becoming message from a too different world. Short, an eccentric short animation, admirable for stop - motion use.

This is a really awkward stop-motion film, and the characters-dolls or puppets-are absolutely creepy. Why were they designed to look like that? I doubt the creators intended the film to come across this way back in the day. It was probably meant to be a fun, comedic short-and in some ways, it is-but overall, I couldn't shake the bizarre feeling that the film is almost haunted.

Watching it from a 2020s perspective rather than through the lens of the 1930s, there are definitely issues-particularly racial depictions-that wouldn't be acceptable today. But then again, this film was made 95 years ago, and thankfully, the world has changed. I imagine the animation quality was considered impressive at the time, but for me, the unsettling character design overshadows any appreciation I might have for its technical achievements.

I wasn't aware that Warner Brothers/Vitagraph had released any animation before Leon Schlesinger used his connections to broker a deal between them and Warner Brothers to become the producer of Merrie Melodies. Then I found this stop-motion piece, produced by Howard S. Moss (whom had never heard of), animated by Charles Bennes (who has no other credits) on YouTube. It even lacked a soundtrack, although the poster had added a violin version of the title song.

A couple of boy dolls -- one in civilian clothes, one in a sailor suit -- are waiting outside Dolly's home, while she dresses -- her silhouette is visible through the shade. Eventually, the civilian takes her on a drive, running over a Black boy doll, pursued by the sailor, who also runs over the Black.

Having described that, the piece's obscurity is understandable. Animation has long been the most expensive form of cinema, because it is so labor-intensive, and stop-motion has never had the cost-saving methods developed that drawn animation did -- the Bray-Hurd Patents. Yet it is probably just because they are so difficult and demanding and so close to being a one-man job that is has attracted so many finicky artisans with a peculiar vision, from Lotte Reiniger and Willis O'Brien through Ray Harryhausen and Henry Sellick, and such fierce fans.

And here is another. Shorn of its rightful voice, an unknown orphan. I shake my head and wish I could tell you who its parents are, even though, if you saw it, you'd say it should wind up with the Censored Eleven Cartoons; yeah, adults nowadays interested in the history of animation really should look at these, but kids? No.