Cartoon a Day: Oh What a Knight

Oh What a Knight
1928
Directed by Walt Disney
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

This week I am busily putting the finishing touches on our theme program for this year's puppet festivals. The program this year deals with a knight on a quest, so when I spotted the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short "Oh What a Knight," it seemed like a good choice for tonight.


This silent cartoon features Oswald courting a maiden who is trapped in a castle. Oswald makes his way up to her tower and seems to be obsessed with just one thing, smooching. He spends a lot of time kissing the damsel in distress before the thought of trying to free her ever seems to enter his mind. This gives the villain plenty of time to come in and mess everything up for Oswald.


This cartoon is crude in parts but also features some really creative stuff. The sequence in which Oswald and the evil knight duel features some great animation featuring shadows behind the two main characters. You've also got to love the running gag that whenever Oswald gets a free moment, he runs away from the battle to plant a wet one on his girl. I think even the animators began to recognize the silliness of the gag by having Oswald walk on the walls and kiss the maiden as he runs by without even stopping. This cartoon shows advances being made not just in animation, but also in the comic timing of the animation.

Cartoon a Day: Confidence

Confidence
1933
Directed by William Nolan
Available on: Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection

"Confidence" is an interesting cartoon to look at, especially in the difficult economic times we are facing now. This is a cartoon that wasn't made for laughs, but was made to boost spirits during the great depression.

In this short, things are seeming pretty good down on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit's farm, that is until the depression comes, and in the form of a dark ghost-like figure, I might add. To find the cure, Oswald (looking more like Mickey Mouse than ever before) heads to Washington DC to have a chat with President Roosevelt.

In it's first few minutes "Confidence" feels like any other black and white toon from this era. You've got lots of happy animals with big eyes dancing around. But as things move on, this short becomes quite innovative. The scene where depression sweeps over the land combines animation with live action. The effect is uses a globe type object with houses and trees attached to it which turns as the animated hooded figure flies over. It's a pretty ingenius effect for this time period.

Oswald's sort of decent into madess is also not your typical type of imagery for an early cartoon such as this.

The use of charicature in FDR's rah-rah appearance toward the end is also pretty very well done. Plus it does an effective job of turning a pretty dark cartoon completely around for a cheery finish. This is very strong Oswald cartoon from the Walter Lantz era of the character.

Cartoon a Day: Spooks

Spooks
1930
Directed by Walter Lantz
Available on: Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection

Ah, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit...the rabbit with two Walts. You may know that Oswald was created by Walt Disney, but eventually the powers that be at Universal Pictures decided they could make Oswald without Disney. Eventually Oswald was handed over to another Walt, Walter Lantz, who later created Woody Woodpecker. Of course Disney created Mickey Mouse after his rabbit was taken from him.



In keeping with the Halloween theme, today's cartoon is "Spooks," and Oswald short from the Lantz era. The first few shots of the film are very reminiscent of yesterday's cartoon "The Skeleton Dance." There is a skeleton, and a black cat that look similar, and a swaying tree branch and an owl that are almost spot on of images from the famous Silly Symphony.



Eventually the story takes the form of a "Phantom of the Opera" parody. The phantom helps Oswald's girl be a better singer (with the help of a record player), but then he steals her off, so Oswald must come to the rescue. Like in many early cartoons, the characters seem to be made of rubber hoses. This makes for some fun animation, but still, it seems a bit held-back then what you might see in a film animated by Ub Iwerks. There are some good gags, but the timing seems off in a few places. And even though gag repetition was pretty common in early cartoons, one particular visual gag is repeated four times in a row, that's a bit excessive. Still, I like the design of the phantom and his strange, almost blob like movements at times.