Film Info

Released on :

1909

Language :

Silent

Country :

France

Type :

Short Films

Format :

2D, Stop Motion

Color :

Black and White

Directed by :

Émile Cohl

Produced by :

Gaumont Film Company

Les joyeux microbes (1909)

2D cartoon stop motion

Les joyeux microbes (The Happy Microbes / The Merry Microbes) is a silent short comedy film released in 1909 using both live action and stop motion animation showing 2D cartoon animation. The film is directed by French caricaturist Émile Cohl but it is different from his earlier 2D animations using chalkboard stick figures as in Fantasmagorie or Le cauchemar de Fantoche of 1908. This one has complete 2D cartoon figures as well as a proper narrative. This one also has intertitles in French.

The story in brief:

The film starts with a man meeting a doctor and saying, "I have never been so well / Je ne me suis jamais si bien porte". But the doctor is not convinced and takes some speciments from the man's face and hand and tests under his microscope. He screams, "Oh! you are full of germs! / Pouah! To es plein de microbes!". The doctor then takes the man to the microscope and makes him see the microbes present in his sample. The doctor points out the microbes one by one saying, "you have the plague germ (or politics) / tu as le microbe de la peste (ou de la politique), the bug of the film (or of the official) / le microbe de la fléme (ou du fonctionnaire), the rabies germ (or the mother-in-law) / le microbe de la rage (ou de la belle-mére), the cholera microbe (or the driver) / le microbe du choléra (ou du chauffeur), finally the microbe of the tetanus (or the drunkard) / enfin le microbe du tétanos (ou du pochard)." After seeing these microbes the happy man says sulkily, "God! how sick I am! / Dieu! que je suis malade!" Watch the film to view the hilarious ending and the spectacular and funny 2D animation of the various microbes and their transforation to some comical human figures.