The Sinking of the Lusitania

Dirección:   Winsor McKay, Estados Unidos - 1918
Director: Winsor McKay - Interpretación: Winsor McKay -
Osservaciones generales: «Along with features and star vehicles, movie programs during the late 1910s also included short entertainment and informational films such as cartoons and newsreels. Some of these smaller films depicted the war and related topics creatively, didactically, or, in the case of Winsor McCay’s The Sinking of the Lusitania, with some of each. Released in July 1918, it has sometimes been described erroneously as the first animated propaganda cartoon, or the first one about World War I. Animated cartoons about the war had been made since at least 1915, in fact, and their production and rhetoric increased thereafter, along with that of other war-related films. In the months before the release of McCay’s film, there were such cartoons as The Peril of Prussianism (January), Me und Gott (April), and The Depth Bomb (May). Among other producers, Pat Sullivan released several animated shorts during the war, including two that apparently sought to capitalize upon the anticipation or popularity of Shoulder Arms, namely How Charlie Captured the Kaiser (September) and Over the Rhine with Charlie (December). McCay’s film is neither the first nor last animated cartoon about events related to World War I, nor is it the first film made about the German sinking of the passenger ship Lusitania off the Irish coast in May 1915, an act that had killed over 1,000 people, including 128 Americans, and edged a reluctant nation closer to war. In addition to coverage in other media, two feature films about this event appeared before McCay’s film, both starring Rita Jolivet, an actress who actually had survived the Lusitania disaster. Little is known about Her Redemption(1916), but Lest We Forget, released in January 1918, is a drama in which the Jolivet character is captured by Germans and sentenced to death by firing squad (a likely reference to the Edith Cavell case). She escapes, only to find herself aboard the ill-fated ship, but survives its destruction. Jolivet’s real-life connection to the disaster not only provided a reason to make these films, but also helped to promote them and lend a degree of authenticity. McCay’s film may have been created partly to tap into lingering interest in this particular subject as well as ongoing concerns about a possible direct German attack on the United States. Such concerns were heightened by ongoing submarine warfare when, on 25 May 1918, U-boats made their first confirmed appearance in U.S. waters. What makes The Sinking of the Lusitania among the more interesting, accomplished, and unique films of its time is its hybrid form as an artful document. Unlike most documentaries it is animated, and unlike most animated cartoons it is not a comedy. And unlike many propaganda films of the time, its production values are exceptional, even noteworthy as one of the earliest films to use cel animation. As with Griffith’s Hearts of the World (1918), the prologue of McCay’s film depicts the author figure preparing the film, and likewise touts him as not only a great filmmaker but also “the originator and inventor of Animated Cartoons�. While McCay certainly did not invent animation, he had already produced a number of ground-breaking works such as Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) and was an established Hearst newspaper comic strip and editorial cartoonist. A powerful document with images drawn and edited to resemble a newsreel, McCay’s animated film simultaneously informs, horrifies, and possibly entertains audiences with its spectacle. A self-described “historical record of the crime that shocked Humanity,� the film depicts the ship being torpedoed, engulfed in flames and explosions, and sinking as passengers seek lifeboats and fall overboard to their deaths. The film culminates with a powerful scene of a mother and her baby drowning. While the film depicts the Germans as distant and dark silhouettes, the victims are portrayed with more humanity, including photographs of some prominent passengers who died, such as the millionaire Alfred Vanderbilt and “the world’s foremost theatrical manager�, Charles Frohman. Though clearly on the side of the Allies, and sometimes strident in its rhetoric, the film also makes gestures toward a more balanced journalistic tone, including its acknowledgment that there were public warnings that such an event could occur, and that these warnings had been ignored. Perhaps because it is not a feature film, there is not much of a documented popular or critical reception for The Sinking of the Lusitania, but it subsequently may be considered one of McCay’s most accomplished works.» – James Latham, Pordenone 2009