Title:THERE WAS A LITTLE MAN AND HE HAD A LITTLE GUN [Main Title]
Film Number:IWM 540
Other titles:KINCARTOONS [Series Title]
Summary: Cartoon appeal to buy National War Savings Certificates for post-war reconstruction in Britain, probably very late 1918.
Description: The cartoon is in the form of a parody of the nursery rhyme. It opens with the cartoonist's hand, which then draws another hand holding a pencil, which then animates itself to draw a cartoon figure of John Bull. This transforms into a soldier, then into a sailor who dances. Bonds and Savings Certificates provide the money to support them. A soldier lying down, with a bulldog beaming approval, shoots holes in the face of the Kaiser as if it were a paper target. In an underground shelter the Kaiser, the Crown Prince and Hindenburg cower praying together. Overhead a British aeroplane drops a "War Bond Bomb" which explodes the shelter raising lumps on their heads. More overflying aeroplanes drop paper bonds which deluge the trio. The film asks, now that the war is over, for more money to reconstruct the home industries and attain supremacy in commerce. A soldier waving a flag beside a shell dump transforms into a factory complex with a smiling John Bull beside it.
Production Details: National War Savings Committee (Production sponsor)
Kinsella and Morgan (Production company)
Personalities, Units and Organisations:
Keywords: propaganda, British - practical (object name)
propaganda, British - inflammatory (object name)
First World War, Armistice & 1918 (event)
Animation (concept)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Silent
Soundtrack language: None
Title language: English
Subtitle language: English
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 248 ft; Running time: 4 mins
