Wow! Such a good movie.

Very Cool!!!

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Blistering performances.

Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906)*** (out of 4)When viewing this animated short people must remember that it was made even before D.W. Griffith started making pictures! This three minute film basically has chalk drawings coming to life in front of our eyes. The animation technology certainly grew as time went along but I can't see how anyone could watch this and not be impressed with what they were doing. The trick photography is really impressive and I also thought the drawings were extremely good. I really liked the first man and woman and how the man's smoke was used to cover up the woman. This is certainly a very early use of animation and it looks extremely well.

This film is made by James Stuart Blackton in U.S.A. At the first, blackboard and a human hand appears in the film. Then, the human hand draws pictures which are a man and a woman with choke. After that, the human hand disappears from the screen and stories which the man and the woman drawn begin. The painter's hand appears sometimes in the screen and the hand erasers pictures on the blackboard. And new story begins in the film. This film is made still in the era of silent. So, we can watch now many kinds of the film added later versions sounds. In addition, it is said that this film is the first animated movie in the world. The characters move in comical and those actions are in light. People who have seen the film are interested in story changing. In the early days of animation movie there is a live-action part. We can also see the history of movie is seen. It is one of the interesting characteristics of this movie.

I don't think there's anything more about this pioneering animation effort that hasn't already been said before by many of the other reviewers except maybe only the very young who haven't been exposed to cartoons previously would find this the most charming thing they have ever seen yet! Certainly we all recognize how primitive these chalk drawings are now having been exposed to Disney, The Simpsons, hell, even Beavis and Butthead is more sophisticated than this short Humorous Phases of Funny Faces! That said, anyone with an interest in animation's history should watch this at least once to see where it all began...

I was amazed by 'Humorous Phases of Funny Faces', a short film that combines animation with live-action, although the live action part is only a visible hand drawing the animations. The hand belongs to J. Stuart Blackton, both animator and director of this little film.On screen we see a chalkboard where a hand draws a man. Next to him a woman appears in the same style, but now the hand is not drawing it. Then the man changes his face numerous time, or actually I should say, the animator does. This part ends with the man smoking his pipe, covering the woman in a lot of smoke (or chalk). After this Blackton throws in some experimental little things: figures slowly erased from the chalk board, a moving clown and his dog, the live-action hand who wipes out the clown, but not before he has put his hat back on his head.Highly enjoyable and an important film in the process of animation, this one should not be missed!