Vacation is one of the episodes from the major animated series Out of the Inkwell by Max Fleischer, which was produced between 1918 and 1929. In total, 62 episodes of Out of the Inkwell and 56 episodes of Inkwell Imps (the series was renamed in 1927) were created by Fleischer and his team. It was typical for the cartoons to start out with a live-action sequence showing Fleischer drawing the characters on paper, or opening the inkwell to release them into ‘reality’. This lively interaction between human and drawn figures made Fleischer and his main character Koko the Clown very famous in the 1920s and helped the series to a long-lasting success. From today’s point of view the great and delicately nuanced animation technique of Fleischer is still fascinating, even though some racist issues in the series definitely detract from the pleasure. Vacation, from the collection of the Národní filmový archiv, is the only known version of this film with colour elements. Thanks to the accurate real tinting techniques used in this restoration, we are able to experience the colours of the silent era – once again – in the best possible way.

Karl Wratschko

The vintage tinted nitrate print preserved in Národní filmový archiv of Vacation was printed in 2004 on black-and-white polyester stock. The decomposition had already started and in 2014, before the destruction went too far, the original orange hue had been reproduced on the new print. Jan Ledecký used a bath tinting process with no-splice method, allowing the print to get real tinting and to offer an authentic photochemical experience on the screen, respecting the original colour and the silver blacks of a real black-and-white print.

Jeanne Pommeau