The Clown and His Donkey

The film's silhouettes are white. They are depicted in profile, and contrasted with the film's black background.^[1]

In the film, Armstrong animated shadow puppets frame-by-frame. He was pioneering silhouette animation techniques which would later be perfected by Lotte Reiniger.^[2]

Charles Armstrong produced his animated films at the Cumberland Works in Kew.^[3] The film's depiction of circus acts reflected the status of animation itself in its era. Animation was seen as a novelty and as a form of marginal entertainment.^[3]

Armstrong's animated films tended to combine "impossible" scenarios with political satire, reflecting the British political issues of his era. The Clown and His Donkey may be making a "playful social point", but its primary purpose was to demonstrate Armstrong's "technical acumen".^[3]

• Bendazzi, Giannalberto (2017), "The Individualists", Animation: A World History: Volume I: Foundations, Routledge, ISBN 978-1138035317
• Stewart, Jez (26 August 2021), "Signing in and signing up", The Story of British Animation, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN 978-1911239659
• Zipes, Jack; Greenhill, Pauline; Magnus-Johnston, Kendra, eds. (2016), "1899-1935: Even An Englishman Must Move With The Times", Fairy-Tale Films Beyond Disney, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415709309

• The Clown and His Donkey at IMDb