''The Cameraman's Revenge'' () is a 1912 Russian

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

written and directed by Ladislas Starevich. It, along with other works by Starevich, stands out in the history of

stop-motion animation Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

for its use of actual dried insect specimens (

beetles Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...

, etc.) as articulated stop-motion puppets portraying all of the characters. The film is a humorous look at

adultery Adultery is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal consequences, the concept ...

voyeurism Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of watching other people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions of a private nature. The term comes from the French ''voir'' which means "to see". ...

, and

revenge porn Revenge porn is the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent, with the punitive intention to create public humiliation or character assassination out of revenge against the victim. The material ma ...

. A married man cheats on his wife with a

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

's dancer. A

cameraman A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not necessarily imply that a male is performing the task. ...

is secretly filming their amorous encounter. During a date with his wife at a

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

, the man discovers that his supposedly private moments are on display at the theater.

Plot

Bored with married life, Mr. Beetle goes to a

and fights off a grasshopper for the attention of a dragonfly dancer. The grasshopper is a

who follows the couple to the home of the dragonfly and films their amorous encounter. When Mr. Beetle returns home, he finds Mrs. Beetle in the arms of a young artist, another beetle. After throwing the intruder out, Mr. Beetle magnanimously forgives his wife. Together they go to the movies, and, to their surprise, the film being shown is of Mr. Beetle’s infidelity, as the grasshopper from before is, in fact, the projectionist. Mr. Beetle is not happy, and attacks the grasshopper after charging his booth. The date ends when the couple gets thrown in a prison cell.

Production

The film was one the last Starevich made in Russia.

Home video

A DVD version of the short exists.

Reception

The film was described as "Starevich's most famous Russian production" and his "most ambitious film".

Analysis

According to Giannalberto Bendazzi, ''"The Cameraman’s Revenge'' is a perfect example of young Starewitch’s unsentimental, unmoralistic style. The story is perfectly suited for animal characters. As in

Aesop Aesop ( ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE; formerly rendered as Æsop) was a Greeks, Greek wikt:fabulist, fabulist and Oral storytelling, storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence re ...

and Phaedrus’ fables, it is universal because its protagonists are animals – i.e. symbols. Mr. and Mrs. Beetle are a typical middle-class couple bored by family life. Starewitch’s characters are also good actors: The spectator has fun and identifies himself in the incoherent and very realistic Mr. Beetle. His acting is, again, a balanced mix between human and animal action: His human feelings are clear but, at the same time, his features and anatomical structure are scientifically correct."

References

External links

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Essay about the film
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cameraman's Revenge, The 1912 films 1912 animated short films 1910s stop-motion animated films Stop-motion animated short films 1910s Russian-language films Films directed by Ladislas Starevich Russian silent short films Russian black-and-white films Films of the Russian Empire Animated films about grasshoppers Films shot in Russia Russian animated short films Films set in nightclubs Films about adultery Films set in a movie theatre