User Reviews

Farmer Al Falfa and a parrot are caught in a storm at sea and stranded on a desert island in this variation on Robinson Crusoe.

It's a high-speed black and white cartoon that was rereleased by Castle Flms and shown on TV -- the copy I watched was marked as a television print. It is also a prime candidate for the censors on the grounds of being too scary (it starts off with a terrifying storm at sea and involves a lot of hungry lions and cannibals) sexual content (a blond girl in a coconut brassiere and grass skirt); violence (Al fires a gun at a bunch of stuff); but mostly for racism (primitive Black cannibals). Once you discount those, it's a mediocre cartoon.

The Terrytoons are oddly interesting, mainly for anybody wanting to see (generally) older cartoons made by lesser known and lower-budget studios. They are a mixed bag in quality, with some better than others, often with outstanding music and with some mild amusement and charm and variable in animation, characterisation and content.

1933 saw a hit and miss batch for Terrytoons, like all the other years. 'Robinson Crusoe' (with very little in common with the source material) is neither among the best or worst, instead somewhere in the low middle. Instead of the unexceptional but watchable standard, it's oddly interesting but pretty weird and difficult to rate. 'Robinson Crusoe' is also watchable, completest sake is the main reason to see it but it's not the only reason.

Best asset is the music, which predictably is incredible. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. The ambitious, elaborate detail in the backgrounds is still great to see and some synchronisation is neat.

A few parts are amusing, especially with the lion, and one is surprised at how adult and ahead of its time the content is (with mixed results mind, the storm at sea being most successful). Some of it charms and some of the pacing is lively. The storm is very well done.

Outside of the backgrounds however, the animation is primitive at best with a fair bit of crudeness, over-simplicity and choppiness. Especially the cannibals.

The story is also paper thin and over-familiar, and there are other parts where the pacing is erratic. The gags are too few and too many of them are not particularly funny and some of the content, like the cannibals, is not for the faint-hearted or easily offended (am not one of those people but it was to me pretty questionable). The characters are generally bland, the most memorable is actually the girl for her sexiness).

Overall, difficult to rate but oddly interesting. 5/10 Bethany Cox