Archive

Pioneers of Japaneses Animation: From Tekobo to Momotaro

A Night at the Bar

Yasuji MURATA

Japan1936 11min 16mm B&W

Synopsis

After having his fill of party booze, a tramp falls asleep in a tavern and dreams of going in search of a ship sunken in the deep sea. Though he finds it, enemy sentries are on guard, and he can’t approach. He manages to get them in a battle with warriors on his side and tries to lay his hands on the treasure, but wakes up to return to the real world.

Diretor

Yasuji MURATA

Creating the subtitles at the Yokohama Cinema Club, Yasuji Murata got interested in foreign animation and started studying it on his own. His Fight of Monkey and Crab was released in 1927. He improved the technique by putting a motor on a moving-camera, and his cut-out animation technique equals that of latter-day cel animation. Among his main works are Octopus Bones(1927), Saru Masamune(1930), Aerial Momotaro(1931), The Monkey Goes Fishing(1933), Corporal Norakuro, The Mooncastle Princess(1934), and A Night at the Bar(1936).