The Voice of the Nightingale (1923) is a fairy-tale-like film that combines live-action and animation in a dreamy way to tell the story of a little girl who learns about why the nightingale only sings at night. It was directed by Władysław Starewicz, who used real beetles and birds in the stop motion scenes. The hand-colored nature of this film gives it an other-worldly feeling. If you were to add music to this film as a soundtrack, what would you choose?
Made almost 20 years after the introduction of stencil-coloring, this delightful animated short demonstrates the apogee of the artificial coloring technique. Directed by Russian-emigré Władysław Starewicz, The Voice of the Nightingale mixes stop-motion animation of real beetles and birds alongside live-action scenes, creating a modern fairytale about why the nightingale only sings at night. At times unrealistic, but always artistically applied, the coloring in this film excels most in the animated scenes—particularly the delicate nighttime shots—at times combining a toned image with three or four other color dyes.