SWING YOU SINNERS! (1930)
Article 4819 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-11-2015
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Featuring the voice of Billy Murray
Country: USA
What it is: Weird cartoon

Bimbo, on the run for chicken thievery, takes refuge in a cemetery and gets trapped inside.

If there’s one thing you can say about the Fleischers and their cartoons during the early thirties, it’s that they weren’t afraid to unleash demented surrealism when the spirit took them, and it this cartoon, the spirit REALLY took them. The first half of the cartoon where Bimbo crosses swords with a chicken and a cop is relatively sedate; it’s only after Bimbo takes refuge in the cemetery and finds himself set upon ghosts, ghouls and talking tombstones that it kicks into high gear, with all these beasties accusing, condemning and chasing the poor guy, all to the beat of the jazzy/scary music playing. Some of the creatures are indescribable; they’re funny, scary and outlandish in equal parts. This one may be even stranger than BIMBO’S INITIATION.

SUPERMAN (1941)
aka The Mad Scientist
Article 4816 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-8-2015
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Featuring the voices of Joan Alexander, Julian Noa and Bud Collyer
Country: USA
What it is: Animated superhero action

A mad scientist threatens to terrorize Metropolis with his death ray. Can Superman stop him?

I suppose it could be argued that the Fleischer Superman cartoons suffered from bare-bones plots and thin characterization, but to do so would miss the point that those were the least important aspects of the productions. What mattered was the nonstop action, the bright colors, the superb animation and the rousing score, and those are here in spades, and I’m willing to bet that’s just what the Superman fans of the time wanted. Apparently, the Fleischers were initially reluctant to take on the task of animating Superman, claiming it would require a huge budget to pull off the realistic animation necessary to make it work; amazingly enough, Paramount coughed up the dough and it was the most expensive cartoon series of its time. The only element that seems out of place is the mad scientist’s comic-relief pet vulture, a touch that seems to belong in a different cartoon. Other than that, this is a pretty rousing introduction of Superman to the big screen.

THE STUPID CUPID (1944)
Article 4815 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-7-2015
Directed by Frank Tashlin
Featuring the voices of Mel Blanc and Frank Graham
Country: USA
What it is: Warner Brothers cartoon

Cupid is on the loose again and causing all of the animals to fall in love. He sets his sights on Daffy, but Daffy, who has bad memories of his last amour, wants none of it. However, he may not have a choice…

There is a certain perverse logic to casting Elmer Fudd as Cupid given his well-known love of hunting. Furthermore, Daffy Duck (in his manic incarnation) is a good choice for his victim. This is a fairly standard Warner Brothers cartoon of the period, but it does have a few standout moments. My favorites include a snapshot of Daffy’s family which shows that there is a strain of genetic mutations in his DNA, and there’s a fun variation on the “Well, now I’ve seen everything…” gag. Oddly enough, Blanc does the voice of Elmer Fudd in this one, but that’s explained by the fact that Elmer doesn’t have any dialogue; he just giggles. Director Tashlin would move on to non-animated features after his stint as an animator; he brought a certain cartoony quality to many Jerry Lewis movies.

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM (1912)
Article 4810 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-1-2015
Directed by Lawrence Marston
Featuring Florence La Badie, James Cruze, William Russell
Country: USA
What it is: Biblical tale

Three wise men from the east follow a star to Bethlehem so they may worship the birth of a new king.

According to a useful user comment on IMDB, this movie was three reels long, but all that survives is a condensation reel that runs about fifteen minutes. I somehow sensed the movie was incomplete, though I do wonder what was cut. My gut feeling is that the movie either told more of the story involving Herod (the movie opens with scenes involving Herod who drops out of the action afterwards) or it goes farther back in time to watch the Magi leave on their quest. I suspect this condensation was put together by a very devoted Christian; most of the movie seems to involve people seeing the star, kneeling down in worship, and then getting up long enough to follow it some more, then kneeling down and worshiping some more, and then getting up etc. This is very reverent, no doubt, but dramatically, it’s more than a bit dull. It’s interesting to note that the star seems to be fairly low hanging; during a scene in a doorway, it only seems to be hanging a few feet above their heads. I do find it a bit ironic, though, that a movie as reverent as this one opens with a lengthy sequence in which dancing girls perform for Herod, a scene that is dramatically unnecessary and starts the movie off at a snail’s pace.