MALICE IN SLUMBERLAND (1942)
Article 4198 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-7-2013
Directed by Dave Fleischer or Alec Geiss
No voice credits
Country: USA
What it is: Cartoon

An anthropomorphic dog is kept from sleeping by a drippy faucet.

I’ve not been very impressed by the Columbia animated shorts I’ve seen to date; this is probably the best that I’ve seen. This may have to do with the presence of Dave Fleischer in the credits, but IMDB credits Alec Geiss as the director and doesn’t list any extra credits, so I don’t know if the entry is in error or if Fleischer worked in some other capacity on the short. It’s a pretty basic cartoon concept; the dog tries everything he can to try and drown out the noise, and when nothing works, he takes increasingly drastic measures to stop the leak. On top of the anthropomorphic dog (I’m not saying talking dog, because other than a shriek at one point, he keeps silent), we have a sentient drip of water and a general air of slapstick outrageousness for the fantastic content. It’s not great, but it’s fairly entertaining.