NEW DISCOVERY, OLD ANIMATION

THRIFT AND SAVING OF TASUKE SHIOBARA (1925) by Hakusan Timura.  Soundtrack added for 1941 release. In a rough, very personalized comic strip style owing nothing to "normal" techniques. The hero wears a mild smile throughout, but his emotions are remarkably expressed in his gestures. He endures considerable, completely gagless torment, and is ready to throw himself off a bridge before the resolution. The burning town sequence is like nothing I've seen before, period.
A belief held by movie makers then was that audiences would relate to and be heartened by seeing characters suffering similar hardships. Not now.

Press still for link.  Thanks to MAXIMUM GAME PLUS for posting this.