Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine" the greatest interest" ("du plus vif intérêt"). Méliès himself recalled in 1932 that the film was a crowdpleaser. The film was less successful in countries with no strong political interest in the Spanish–American War; when the film was shown in Sherbrooke in French Canada in June 1898, audiences responded negatively and asked for films they had seen about the Passion of Jesus to be shown again instead. Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine" Visite sous-marine du Maine, released in the United States as Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine" and in Britain as Divers
The Sinking of the Lusitania that had begun circulating in the years before the film's release. Scholar Ulrich Merkl suggests that as a newspaperman, McCay was likely aware of Freud's widely reported work, though McCay never publicly acknowledged such an influence. "The Sinking of the Lusitania" was noted as a work of war propaganda, and is often called the longest work of animation of its time. The film is likely the earliest animated documentary. McCay's biographer, animator John Canemaker, called "The Sinking of the Lusitania" "a monumental work in the history of the animated film". Though it was admired by his animation contemporaries, Canemaker wrote