Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"How a Mosquito Operates" is a 5.5-minute short film from 1912, so this one is already way over 100 years old. The writer and director here is animation pioneer Winsor McCay from the United States. looking at the year when this was made, nobody should be surprised that this is a silent black-and-white film. It is the story of a little mosquito (as the title already says) who is getting ready for his meal on a sleeping human. And he seems to be a true professional. Of course, this film has not scientific value, but it is all about the comedy and about exploring the new genre of animation for McCay. He was 40 already when he made it and still it is one of his earliest works. It is of course tough to appreciate this one with the level of animation we have today, but everything has to start somewhere right? And we need to be glad that McCay clearly inspired the filmmakers that gave us the Golden Age of Animation a couple decades later. All in all, I would nonetheless say that this one is only for the most hardcore animation lovers or for film historians. Everybody else will probably not really get anything out of the watch.
Michael_Elliott
How a Mosquito Operates (1912) *** (out of 4) Winsor McCay film has an overweight man being followed home by a mosquito but things just get worse as the man tries to go to bed. Once in the bed the mosquito begins to attack him in order to get his blood. HOW A MOSQUITO OPERATES isn't a pure masterpiece or anything like that but you can't help but be entertained by his good nature and charm. I think my favorite bits are when the mosquito is having to come up with clever ways to stick the man who after a couple previous times decided to get up under the covers. The animation is extremely good and this includes a sequence where we see the mosquito sticking the man and drawing out the blood. The scene where the mosquito sticks the man's nose is quite painful to watch but it really brings the film to life. What struck me most about the film is the way it's animated but McCay is able to make everything appear so real that you're drawn into the film just like it was live action. The animation looks incredibly good and the two characters are likable in their own way.
MartinHafer
Okay, I'll admit this isn't the greatest cartoon ever made. It's silent, consists only of simple pencil drawings and never is all that interesting. So why is it STILL a worthwhile film? Well, it's so early and in its day it was considered state of the art. Plus, the film's creator, Winsor McCay, was responsible for some of the first animated heroes--in the forms of Gertie the Dinosaur and Little Nemo. So, because of this very important and impressive pedigree, this film is of great importance to animators, historians and Cinephiles alike. For what it is (an early experimental film), it is pretty good. Plus, without films like this, later more fleshed out cartoons wouldn't have been possible. Interesting and unique, that's for sure.
austex23
Like all of Winsor McKay's cartoons, this little mosquito fable uses his incredible artistic talent to its fullest and contains a surprising amount of wit for such a simple, short subject. Like his newspaper cartoons, McKay's animated films are distinctive in their art and humor, but the animated films are especially interesting because they lie at the very root of cartoons. Gags that are still being used today appear in this little gem. The collected works that contains Mosquito provides an amazing insight into a brand new art form that had unbounded possibilities in the early 1900s, possibilities that arguably are still unfolding today.
AD
