Monday, January 31, 2011

014 Parrotville Old Folks



Title: Parrotville Old Folks
Studio: Van Beuren
Date: 01/25/35
Credits:
Directed by
Burt Gillett and Tom Palmer
Music by Winston Sharples
Series: Rainbow Parade
Running time (of viewed version): 7:50
Commercial DVD Availability: Toddle Tales And Rainbow Parade Cartoons

Synopsis: Idiot parrot and old man parrot go to old parrot folks home to entertain the really old parrots.

















Comments: I wonder to what extent phones were ensconced in homes at the time. I believe the old parrot is meant to sound like Barrymore, which should place him solidly in the old man camp, tho he doesn't live with the old folks. "Don't bother me, I'm pretty?"? Pan pop bottle flute. Not much to say about this cartoon, except that Burt's work was improved four years later at Lantz. I think maybe the Captain went out on the snowy night to get him some parrot tail from Mrs. Perkins, as his towel seems incapable of staying around his waist. We get scnees of bathing, and ironing; I wonder why they cut out the scene where the paint dries? Homer has some ugly toes. There's a civil war soldier there; there were still actual civil war vets alive at the time (there's controversy over some points, but there were clearly some who didn't die until the 1950s). The disgusting eating habits of old people.

In Technicolor. They never said the good kind of Technicolor...

Sunday, January 30, 2011

BoxOffice, January 26, 1935

BoxOffice, January 26, 1935


p22?
"Mickey's

Man

Friday


7 Minutes United Artists (Disney) A fast-moving and plenty lively Mickey Mouse short. This time Mickey is shipwrecked on an island. Here he prevents
the cannibals from eating a prisoner, becomes Mickey's slave to repay him for saving his life. The reel concerns the hot and humorous battle that takes place between the cannibals and Mickey and his

"

"The Dance Contest

Paramount

who

A Max

a wow.

7 Minute* Fleisher Popeye cartoon that is

Popeye and Olive Oyl are entrants in a dance contest. Wimpy is the official eliminator who mechanically eliminates contestants while busily munching hamburgers. After Popeye and Olive Oyl are awarded the silver trophy Wimpy uses it for a mustard cup.

The short is hilariously



"

"South Pole or Bust

7 Minutes offered in this Amid a cheering Terry-Toon cartoon. crowd an aviator and his assistant leave for a flight to the South Pole. They arrive okay and receive a grand welcome until along comes a walrus, who had been disturbed by their flight, and chases them about the South Pole. Fadeout shows them escaping and flying back home taking the "pole" along with them."

"The

Tortoise and the Hare

the theatre.

7 Minutes United Artists
Easily one of the outstanding Silly Symphonies to date, combining a splendid color job and a brand of animation that is at the same time original and hilarious. There is enough real entertainment value here to please any audience, young or" "^with the the well-known fable of the race tortoise just nosing out the hare after the latter wastes his precious lead "grandstanding." Beautifully handled throughout."

"Goofy Gondolas

7 Minutes This tuneful and lively Krazy Kat cartoon should please the audiences generally. The theme is a burlesque of gondola crooners on canals in Venice and affords much merriment accompanied by fitting musical interpolations.

"Mickey's Debut

"Mickey's Band Concert," soon to be shown at the Radio City Music Hall, will be the first Mickey Mouse cartoon ever to be exhibited at this theatre."

Friday, January 28, 2011

013 What A Night



Title: What A Night
Studio: Terry
Date: 01/25/35
Credits: -
Series: (Farmer Al Falfa?)
Running time (of viewed version): 5:13
Commercial DVD Availability: -

Synopsis: Spooky radio broadcast leads to nightmares for Farmer Alfalfa.






















Comments: Beginning feels truncated. Silhouettes aplenty. Silent style surrealistic movement. The dog is the same piebald style as in the previous skating movie. Not sure if the clock's "This... is the witching hour" is a radio line (11 is the witching hour?). All sheets are haunted, apparently. That's a badly broken leg. Some kind of seacow in the pond (its body looks Jay Ward-ish). Lots of characters playing pianos or piano like things in these '35 cartoons. There are some Sanrio style ghosts in this. Al tosses his radio out the window because he doesn't believe in ghosts; doesn't believe in protecting his belongings either, apparently. I think maybe Bob Clampett was trying to make more polished versions of this kind of cartoon. Lots of water danger in this year so far.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

012 Beware of Barnacle Bill



Title: Beware of Barnacle Bill
Studio: Fleischer
Date: 01/25/35
Credits: Directed by Dave FLeischer
Animated by
Willard Bowsky and Harold Walker
By arrangement with Segar
Series: Popeye
Running time (of viewed version): 6:31
Commercial DVD Availability: Popeye v1 d2

Synopsis: Olive is fickle (as is the plot of many a Popeye).
















Comments: The creeping fingers of Popeye. Dick voiced Popeye. Five fingered Popeye with four fingered Olive (in retrospect, Olive is at least mostly 5 fingered here)? The swordfish on the wall looks familiar. Appearance in other Popeyes, modern appearance, or do I just remember it from here? Olive likes 'em rough and ugly. Cabbage head, selfish cat, sounds like a line missing in there. In the absence of seaman, she'll take... there's got to be a better joke in there...