prosthetic knowledge

Jiraiya the Brave

A Japanese silent movie from 1921, about a ninja who can transform into a frog. It definitely has a charm - when you get to about 3 minutes 40 seconds into the film, you will see a fight scene, with plenty “special effects” (jump cuts, ‘morphing’ and others):

Jiraiya (literally “Young Thunder”), the title character of the Japanese folktale Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari (“The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya”), is a ninja who uses shapeshifting magic to morph into a gigantic toad. The heir of a powerful clan in Kyūshū of the same name, Jiraiya fell in love with Tsunade, a beautiful young princess who masters slug magic. His arch-enemy was his one-time follower, Orochimaru, who mastered snake magic.

You can read a rendition of the folk tale in English here:
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/61726/

Though the headings to the major scene changes are subtitled. I believe this might have had “benshi” narration when it was played in theaters. Benshi is a professional narrator who tells the story and does voice overs while the film is played. This may be why there are some talking scenes with no intertitles, as it was left to the benshi to narrate the story.

You can read more information about the piece on it’s YouTube page. Music was created and added by incompetech

Source: youtube.com