Too much of everything

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

The first must-see film of the year.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

I'm Insured (1916) *** (out of 4) Very funny animated short from Gaumont America and Harry Palmer. A man walks past a restaurant where he sees a cook making some pancakes. The man is broke so he must try and get some money so he plans on hurting himself in order to collect his insurance. Of course, things don't go as planned. This early bit of animation runs just three-minutes and the joke is rather obvious but I thought the thing was so lively and the one-liners so good that you really can't help but have a very good time with it. I liked that the film started off showing Palmer drawing up a scene and then the "animation" part kicks in. I also liked how it was drawn like the images you'd see in a newspaper and we got the same type of lines that you'd see written for the dialogue in a newspaper. What really makes the film so special is that our lead character is just so likable that you can't help but get a kick out of him trying to hurt himself. This includes jumping from a building, letting a steamroller hit him and of course trying to get hit by a car. The dark humor certainly makes for some interesting laughs and especially the final line of the movie.

Just discovered this rare cartoon short by Harry Palmer on YouTube. In this one, a man who is broke and hungry tries to intentionally get injured so he can collect some insurance money before it runs out. First two times he lays down on the road and tries to get run over by a car and steamroller but both bypass him. Then he jumps in the river but is saved by the low tide. Then he jumps off the building but has his fall broken by a moving hay loft. So with his insurance expired, he tries to get a job but then, uh oh! He slips on a banana peel! Hospital doc tells him that he'll be all right if he lives past three months...Quite funny even with the now-shopworn gags (though that low tide river gag did surprise me). And it was interesting to see this short start with someone drawing the scenery before the action even begins. So to anyone interested in these vintage rarities, I'm recommending I'm Insured.

This is a very early and short cartoon from 1916. The main character is broke and comes up with an amazingly stupid idea. Since he's insured, he figures he should maim himself so he can collect big bucks!! Again and again, he tries to get himself hurt only to eventually give up in disgust--he just is too lucky (I guess this depends on your viewpoint, doesn't it?). Then, just after the policy lapses, he takes a tumble and ends up in the hospital where he is told he must stay for the next several months!! The cartoon is about average in quality for the time and is pretty reminiscent of the work of Winsor McCay. However, unlike McCay, the humor is definitely on the funny, dark and sadistic side and that is why I actually liked the cartoon quite a bit!

The good animation by Harry Palmer makes this short feature worth watching despite a rather bland and predictable story. Palmer adds considerable detail for the time, even in some of the backgrounds, and his style also has a touch of wit at times.The movie opens with a live hand that draws the opening setting, with quite a bit of detail, and sped up just a bit for effect. It sets a jaunty tone to the movie, since the device was still relatively new at the time. Most of the actual story follows a luckless man's bumbling attempts to collect on his insurance policy, and it has a couple of good moments, though it quickly becomes predictable.Although Palmer was one of the more prolific animation pioneers, very little of his work has been preserved. It's always interesting to compare the styles and influences of the earliest motion picture animators, so it's fortunate that at least some of Palmer's work is still available.