Make Believe Revue (1935)
Article 5926 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-11-2021
Directed by Ben Harrison
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Columbia Color Rhapsody

Mother Goose takes a young boy to the land of make-believe to watch a make-believe revue.

There’s Mother Goose herself, a few characters from her nursery rhymes, and lots of gnomes/elves/dwarfs/leprechauns (take your pick) dancing and singing in what look like animated versions of Busby Berkeley musical numbers. It’s more whimsical than funny, and it’s smoothly animated and sometimes creative. It’s all very pleasant and pretty, but that being said, it never transcends itself, and that makes it a bit forgettable. It also reminded me that one of the big appeals of Busby Berkeley musical numbers is that they’re being done with real people on real sets, and that’s actually more impressive than animating them.