User Reviews

This late Famous Studio's Screen Song varies the format a touch. Instead of having a series of blackout gags on a theme, it beins with a concert hall performance -- by cartoon animals, of course -- of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. This is soon sabotaged into a swingy version and we get to hear and sing Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band."

Although not Berlin's first hit it's certainly one he is well remembered for. Producers didn't care for it, for various reasons; it ws too long, it was too complicate,d it wasn't a rag..... but. Emma Carus did, and introduced it on April 18, 1911, at the American Music Hall in Chicago, and toured the Midwest with it.

While it was an inconsistent series, the Kartunes series from Famous Studios made in the early 1950s was still worth watching. Some of the cartoons were not great, with the first half generally being better than the second (something that was very obvious in the cartoons between 'Snooze Reel' and this), but the weakest ones still managed to not be misfires (unlike the better known Screen Song cartoons) and the best surprisingly very good, like for example the first 'Vegetable Vaudeville'.

For me, 'Philharmaniacs' is easily one of the best in the Kartunes series (the best since 'Vegetable Vaudeville'), as well as one of the funniest and most inventive. It helps that the premise itself (seeing music performed in concert by animals) is one of the series' best, it is the type that has been used a lot in animation (Disney, Looney Tunes, Tex Avery and Tom and Jerry being prime examples of the premise working brilliantly). 'Philharmaniacs' does it really, really well.

The story is admittedly a slight one, basically a series of gags centered around music.

Do think that the singalong portion is not quite as strong as everything that comes before it, where it isn't as imaginative and stylistically it jars a little bit.

So much is fantastic though, with the music being the shining star. Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 is very cleverly and lushly arranged for orchestra and played with real exuberance. Despite saying that the singalong isn't as good as the rest of the cartoons, it is actually still one of the series' best singalongs. With there being a lot of energy and nice visuals, and that the song is such a classic (one of Irving Berlin's most famous for a reason) plays a big part. The other outstanding aspect is the animation, the colours are vibrant and there is meticulous attention to detail in the backgrounds.

Furthermore, enough of the gags are visually inventive, full of energy and don't come over as cutesy. It is on the corny side at times, but the gags are also plentiful and to me they were very amusing on the whole. A beautiful job is done with the music setting, especially visually and the characters are cute with a good deal of personality. Pacing is fine, with a lively first half.

Concluding, very well done cartoon and one of the series' best. 8/10.