User Reviews

This "puppetoon" is what got me into Dr. Seuss' second book for children, as someone who has four favorites from this author. I came across the short online on YouTube. But they took off, and then it came back, which made me glad.

For those who have read the original book, you may know that the story's about a boy named Bartholomew Cubbins, who, when he tried to take his hat off in front of the king, another mysteriously appeared. After Bartholomew is was brought to the castle, many people tried, in vain, to take the hat off of his head. In my opinion, it's still a fantastic cartoon, even though they omitted Sir Snipps, the royal hatter, the king's wise men, the king's haughty young nephew, the Grand Duke Wilfred, a fantastic bowman, and the court wizards. I was also unaware that it was an Academy Award nominee. You know, I also would like to see another puppetoon adapted from another Dr. Seuss book, "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street."

Almost all of the children's books by Ted Geisel ("Dr Seuss") were written in rhymed couplets. One of the very few exceptions was 'The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins', which Dr Seuss wrote in straight prose. Freed from the constraints of rhyme and metre, Geisel was able to write a deeper and more complex story here: one of his very best books. (Even better is the sequel, 'Bartholomew and the Oobleck', which is also written in prose.)

The 1943 movie version is an animated short, produced by George Pal in his virtuoso stop-motion animation technique which he called 'Puppetoons' ... in which a flexible armature body is moved one frame at a time, whilst a series of individual heads (with slightly different facial expressions) are placed on the body's neck. This technique was remarkable and distinctive at the time, but has since become overfamiliar from its use in other venues, such as in the Pillsbury Doughboy adverts.

Most of Pal's Puppetoons are quite funny (occasionally marred by some racial stereotyping) and can be enjoyed by children and adults even today. 'The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins' manages to be clever rather than funny. When this movie was made in 1943, audiences were likely impressed more than amused ... and nowadays they're not likely even to be impressed, as animation techniques have improved so much.

There are some distinct changes from Seuss's story. In Seuss's original book, Bartholomew Cubbins is a boy who wears a small red hat. When the King rides by in a carriage, Bartholomew loyally removes his hat ... but an absolutely identical little red hat instantly appears in its place on his head. When he removes this second hat, an identical third hat replaces it... and so on, well into the 400's of hats. From this point, the hats gradually become more complicated: one hat sprouts a feather, the next has two feathers, until the 500th and last hat becomes very elaborate indeed.

In Pal's animated version, EVERY hat after the first one is extremely elaborate, and each hat is different ... so that we get no sense of them becoming increasingly complicated. Since the Puppetoon mannequins and their props are three-dimensional physical objects (not animated drawings), it's amusing for us to see these huge bespangled chapeaux popping out of nowhere underneath Bartholomew's tiny original hat, but Seuss's original dramatic progression is lost. When the King's servants stuff Bartholomew into the carriage and drive away with him, he leaves a long trail of hats behind, each hat looking utterly different. This is about as funny as the movie gets.

I'm a fan of George Pal and a fan of Dr Seuss, but they both did much better work elsewhere. I'll rate this animated short 4 points out of 10. Most modern kids are too jaded to like this sort of thing.

An entertaining adaptation, and far more opulent than the same studio's "And to Think that I saw it on Mulberry Street" of the following year. The panoramic landscapes and colorful interior and exterior shots are well crafted. But my four-year-old had to cover her eyes during a scene with a guillotine and an executioner. Not recommended for younger kids. That being said, the Marxist overtones and political themes will be of interest to adults (as are the subtexts of so many of Dr. Seuss's books) and all will be delighted with the extravagant hats. Kudos to the IFC Center in NYC for showing this short in their "Rare Dr. Seuss films" festival. While some of these shorts are available on DVD, there is little comparison to seeing them in a theater with other kids.