Blog 3: Bimbo's Initiation

-          Bimbo's Initiation

-          1931

-          Fleischer Studios

-          Grim Natwick

Bimbo the dog is caught in a house full of traps by a mysterious secret society who wants him to join as a member. He only agrees once the leader reveals themself to have been Betty Boop the whole time.

I really like old cartoons like this because of their dark tone and unexpected sight gags. One that stood out to me was when Bimbo was trying to blow out a candle, but the fire turned into a tiny person and held on to the wick. Later it dances around setting fire to stuff. Shorts like these are so creative and fun. Are the secret society costumes racist? I dunno but something seems off about them to me. They may just be weird outfits I can't really tell.

Blog 2: Farmer Alfalfa Sees New York

-          Farmer Alfalfa Sees New York

-          1916

-          Bray Studios

-          Paul Terry

This one was fun. A farmer visits New York for the first time and is singled out as a target by some conmen who get him drunk and try to cheat him out of his money at cards. What they don't know is that his dog caught them giving each other aces and gave them to Farmer Alfalfa. He wins all the money and goes home happy. The animation is a bit crude, but that's to be expected from 1916.

Blog 1: An Optical Poem

-          An Optical Poem

-          1938

-          MGM

-          Oskar Fischinger

This animation is a visualization of Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. I liked it a lot! This piece of music is very dear to me. The way the film was animated with cut-out paper shapes suspended from wires gave it a neat depth with all the squares and circles overlapping and you can even see some shadows. The timing is snappy, and the various instruments being different shapes/colors makes this fun to watch.