Stone Age Stunts is 6 minutes of caveman chaos and dino-saws

If you're looking for something deep, keep walking because Stone Age Stunts is basically just a guy hitting things with a stick for six minutes straight. It's worth a watch if you like that old-school, bouncy animation style where everything feels like it's made of rubber, but if you're bored by silent cartoons, you'll probably hate this. It’s the kind of thing you watch when you’re too tired to follow a real plot.

The whole thing starts with this caveman waking up and immediately deciding that the world needs a good thumping. He doesn't even have breakfast or anything, he just grabs his club and goes out to look for trouble. There is no reason for it, he just really likes hitting stuff.

The Dinosaur Power Tool

There is this one scene that is honestly pretty clever, even if it's kind of mean to the animals. He finds this huge dinosaur, knocks it out cold with one hit, and then decides to use the poor thing as a saw. He uses the spiny bones on its back to cut wood like he's at a construction site.

It's one of those moments where you realize people in 1928 had a very different sense of humor about animal welfare. The dinosaur just lies there looking stiff while he moves it back and forth. It’s weirdly specific and it goes on for just a bit too long, making it funnier than it probably should be.

I wonder if the animators, Mannie Davis and John Foster, were just looking at their desks and thinking about what they could turn into a prehistoric gadget. It’s got that same vibe as The Counter Jumper where the gag is the only thing that matters. The background is just a few scratchy lines that are supposed to be rocks, but they look more like lumpy pillows.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Stone Age Stunts (1930) through its definitive frames.

Then there is the cave girl. Of course there is a cave girl, because what else would they fight over in a cartoon like this? She’s just standing there while two Neanderthals go at it like they're in a wrestling match. It feels a bit like the logic in Don't where things just happen because the script says so.

"He wins the fight, but he doesn't really win the girl."

The ending is the best part because it subverts the whole 'macho hero' thing. After he beats the other guy, he probably thinks he’s going to get a kiss or something. Instead, she just picks up a club and knocks him out too. I guess she wasn't that impressed with his sawing skills or his fighting.

It’s a bit of a mess, honestly. The frames jump around and sometimes the caveman’s arms look like they are three feet longer than they were in the previous shot. But that's part of the charm of these real old ones. They weren't trying to be perfect; they were just trying to get a laugh before the next movie started.

The way he walks is also super weird. He has this high-stepping gait like he’s trying to avoid stepping on hot coals. It’s probably just easier to animate that way, but it makes him look like he’s constantly dancing to music that isn't there. If you've seen Something Different, you know the kind of weird movement I'm talking about.

I noticed a small smudge on the lens or maybe the film strip in the corner during the fight scene. It looks like a little hair wiggling around for ten seconds. Most people would miss it, but once you see it, you can't look at anything else. It's those little imperfections that make me love these old archives.

• Pros: The dinosaur-saw is a top-tier gag.
• Cons: It's very repetitive and the ending is a bit predictable if you know 1920s humor.

Overall, it’s a tiny slice of history that doesn't ask much of you. You can almost feel the animators just having fun with the physics of a world where everything is a weapon. It's not a masterpiece, but it's a good way to spend a few minutes if you're in the mood for some caveman-flavored nonsense.