This is a short from Columbia studios. There will be spoilers ahead:
Back in the 1930s, there was a definite and fairly clear pecking order among the cartoon departments of the various studios. Disney was at the top, with Fleischer their principal competition during the early part of the decade, Warner Brothers and MGM getting to the upper echelon in the latter half of the decade. Lantz was just below them, hitting his stride with first Andy Panda and then Woody Woodpecker as the 1940s began. Then there were the also rans, Van Beuren, Columbia, Terrytoons and briefly Iwerks.
Columbia was one of the mediocre studios, basically turning out yard goods more out of expectation than desire and it usually showed. For every cartoon like The Little Match Girl or Holiday Land, there were a dozen like this one. Similar shorts were done much more effectively by Disney, Warner Brothers and others. By 1935, even Iwerks was doing better shorts most of the time. It's a wonder that Columbia was able to do a short like The Little Match Girl two years later.
The basic premise here is tried but true. A little boy is outside a candy shop, nose pressed to the window. In spite of the most treacly music imaginable, the cartoon begins promisingly with a fly on a sugar buzz taunting the boy.
Sadly, this promising beginning degenerates into the predictable, with the boy being taken to Candy Town. The bits are largely warmed over retreads of gags long past their expiration date, which is actually not as fatal as it sounds. Many much better cartoons than this have gags so old, they've got whiskers. The difference is that a studio like Disney can make old gags fly because the cartoons are sharp and well paced. The pacing and animation here are marginal at best. The most promising bit-Santa with a belly actually made out of jello-is essentially wasted, because it's just a throwaway.
This short can be found online. It's probably better than I make it sound and children will probably like it well enough. I've simply seen much better.
Back in the 1930s, there was a definite and fairly clear pecking order among the cartoon departments of the various studios. Disney was at the top, with Fleischer their principal competition during the early part of the decade, Warner Brothers and MGM getting to the upper echelon in the latter half of the decade. Lantz was just below them, hitting his stride with first Andy Panda and then Woody Woodpecker as the 1940s began. Then there were the also rans, Van Beuren, Columbia, Terrytoons and briefly Iwerks.
Columbia was one of the mediocre studios, basically turning out yard goods more out of expectation than desire and it usually showed. For every cartoon like The Little Match Girl or Holiday Land, there were a dozen like this one. Similar shorts were done much more effectively by Disney, Warner Brothers and others. By 1935, even Iwerks was doing better shorts most of the time. It's a wonder that Columbia was able to do a short like The Little Match Girl two years later.
The basic premise here is tried but true. A little boy is outside a candy shop, nose pressed to the window. In spite of the most treacly music imaginable, the cartoon begins promisingly with a fly on a sugar buzz taunting the boy.
Sadly, this promising beginning degenerates into the predictable, with the boy being taken to Candy Town. The bits are largely warmed over retreads of gags long past their expiration date, which is actually not as fatal as it sounds. Many much better cartoons than this have gags so old, they've got whiskers. The difference is that a studio like Disney can make old gags fly because the cartoons are sharp and well paced. The pacing and animation here are marginal at best. The most promising bit-Santa with a belly actually made out of jello-is essentially wasted, because it's just a throwaway.
This short can be found online. It's probably better than I make it sound and children will probably like it well enough. I've simply seen much better.