The Stolen Lump is a weird, shaky, and fun bit of history

You should probably watch this if you have ten minutes and like seeing how movies used to be made before everything was 3D. It is perfect for people who enjoy folklore or just want to see something that looks like it was drawn on the back of a napkin in 1929.

If you hate old, flickering black-and-white stuff, you will definitely hate this. It’s very shaky.

The story is simple enough for a kid to get. An old man has a huge lump on his cheek and he gets stuck in a storm in the mountains.

He hides in a hollow tree. Then these Tengu—which are basically mountain goblins—show up to have a party.

The old man is terrified at first. But then he starts watching them dance and he just... joins in?

His dancing is actually pretty funny to watch because the animation is so jerky. It has that same frantic energy you see in Pick and Shovel.

The Tengu love his moves so much they want him to come back tomorrow. To make sure he returns, they steal the lump off his face as collateral.

The Animation Style

Yasuji Murata and Chûzô Aochi were clearly just figuring things out here. The characters are like paper cutouts moving across a flat screen.

Sometimes the eyes of the Tengu just look like white dots. It’s creepy but also kind of cute in a weird way 👺.

There is a moment where the old man is spinning and the background just stays perfectly still. It feels very DIY.

I noticed the lump on his face looks exactly like a small potato. It doesn't really look like a medical problem, just a vegetable glued to his chin.

The way the spirits jump around reminds me a bit of the frantic pacing in Pa's Trip to Mars. Everything feels like it's moving at 1.5x speed.

I wonder why the Tengu think a facial growth is a good thing to hold onto? They treat it like it’s a gold bar or something.

The movie is mostly silent but you can almost hear the music in your head. It’s got a rhythm that most modern stuff lacks because it’s so raw.

It’s much more interesting than Home or some of those other slow dramas from the same decade. At least things happen here.

• The storm scene is just a few lines of rain, but it works.
• The old man's beard looks like it was cut out of felt.
• The Tengu noses are incredibly long and distracting.

There is a second old man who shows up later who is greedy. He tries to do the same thing but he messes up the dance.

He ends up with two lumps instead of none. It’s a pretty harsh lesson for a cartoon.

The ending happens so fast I had to rewind it twice. It just... stops.

I guess they didn't have much film left. Or maybe they just got tired of drawing the same trees over and over.

It’s not exactly a masterpiece like The King of Kings but it has more personality. You can tell someone really sat there moving these little pieces of paper by hand.

The whole thing feels very personal. Like a bedtime story told by someone who is slightly sleep-deprived.

If you can find a version with a good soundtrack, it helps. Without music, it’s just a very quiet man dancing with monsters in a void.

I liked it more than Night Life mostly because it doesn't try to be anything other than a weird tale. It's just a guy, a lump, and some spirits.

I’m still thinking about those Tengu masks. They look like they would be great for a Halloween party even now.

Definitely worth a quick look if you're bored. Just don't expect Disney quality or anything close to it.