This film is part of Free

The Sorcerer's Scissors
This trick film of magical transitions features some early animated flourishes that, for their time, were clearly at the cutting-edge
Overview
This stunning example of Edwardian cut-and-paste creativity, powered by magical scissors and Hunt’s Fish Glue, is part of the origin story of British animation. Former stage magician and special effects pioneer Walter Booth was one of the pioneers in adding stop-motion – filming frame by frame to make static objects and still images appear to move – to the filmmaker’s armoury.
Here the technique is mostly used as a special effects gimmick, enabling nifty and almost surrealist transitions such as rebuilding a female figure that has been smashed with a hammer. But as the scissors dance and form the face of the sorcerer at the end of the film we get a glimpse of animation’s other future; bringing new kinds of characters to life and opening up different directions for cinema storytelling.
Related

A Colour Box A Colour Box
Advert 1935 4 mins
Part experimental cinema, part advert for the parcel post service, always joyful.

Spherical Harmonics Spherical Harmonics
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2014 5 mins
Spherical Harmonics is about the strange power of the CG image. It's a fantasy under construction, full of digitally created memories, counterfeit physics and controlled accidents.

Noddy Goes to Toyland Noddy Goes to Toyland
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1963 12 mins
How can you not say yes to Noddy? It’s all he can say to you.

Shadows! Shadows!
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1928 3 mins Silent
Meet Sammy, his dog Sausage and their creator, early British animator Joe Noble, whose inventive streak sees him chased by his own shadow

Johnny Barleycorn Johnny Barleycorn
Documentary 1950 1 mins
A delightful animated appeal to help bringing in Scotland’s harvest, made by the legendary Lotte Reiniger.

Ubu Ubu
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1978 19 mins
Farting and swearing and violence – oh my! Albert Jarry’s controversial play translates beautifully to splattered inks in Geoff Dunbar’s award-winning animation.

New Perspectives: Tangerine New Perspectives: Tangerine
Short documentary 2025 3 mins
Harry Wallace, a student at Northumbria university, explains why Sean Baker's LA-set comedy-drama, about a transgender sex worker on the hunt for her cheating -ex, is worth your time.

Daniel Craig in Conversation with Mark Kermode Daniel Craig in Conversation with Mark Kermode
Inside Film 2025 44 mins
Daniel Craig talks to Mark Kermode about his acting career, from his early role in Love is the Devil through to the Luca Guadagnino directed Queer.

New Perspectives: Fish Tank New Perspectives: Fish Tank
Short documentary 2025 4 mins
Adam Smith of Northumbria University explains why Andrea Arnold's coming-of-age story, about a girl who uses dance to escape, is his favourite film on BFI Player.

New Perspectives: Pusher New Perspectives: Pusher
Short documentary 2025 5 mins
Noah Ball of Northumbria University explains why you should seize the chance to watch Nicolas Winding Refn's debut.

Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan on working with David Lynch - Q&A Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan on working with David Lynch - Q&A
Inside Film 2025 38 mins
Kyle MacLachlan talks to BFI CEO Ben Roberts about working with David Lynch on the legendary series Twin Peaks.

On Falling - Exclusive Q&A On Falling - Exclusive Q&A
Inside Film 2025 30 mins
Writer-director Laura Carreira talks to Nia Childs about her debut feature, On Falling.