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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 1141

The Sinking of the Lusitania

191812 minUnited States
Animation

Synopsis

After a live-action introduction to Winsor McCay's work, animation follows the Lusitania leaving New York and being attacked at sea. Lifeboats, passengers and the listing ship fill a reconstruction of the disaster. The film closes by turning civilian deaths into an explicit appeal for wartime anger.

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Video edition
Wikimedia Commons
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: not identified.
This copy runs
10:49
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: not identified. No subtitle track in this language.

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Wikimedia Commons · Winsor McCay · Public domain

Cast

DirectorsWinsor McCay

Historical context

McCay recreated the 1915 sinking without footage of the event itself. The film is both an animated historical account and anti-German propaganda, so its emphatic images and captions should be understood within the politics of the First World War.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film referenceWikidata — film identity and credits

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

The public-domain references concern the original films in the United States. Rights can differ for other countries, editions, restorations, music or translations. Sources are listed on each film page.

Availability checked on September 15, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

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