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A silent short from Paul Terry.
I'm going to say something that is bound to make some readers mad.... SOME cartoon makers from the good 'ol days sucked. I know it's not kind to say this, but some cartoon makers simply made cartoons as quickly and cheaply as possible...and it shows. This has clearly been the case of Paul Terry's cartoons, particularly from the 1920s. In an industry choked with folks turning out cheap products during the era, his were among the cheapest. And, this explains why today most folks haven't heard of him....and even his later, and more famous stuff (such as Mighty Mouse and Heckel 'n Jeckle) doesn't age well either. Why? Well, it wasn't just the cheapness of the cartoons but they lacked humor or and edgy quality to make them memorable.
"Little Parade" was NOT a silent cartoon that changed my mind about Terry's work. It was cheap and unfunny....period. Much of the cartoon consists of a parade of animals coming into town with the circus. Later, a mouse and hippo do a trapeze act. Again...none of it funny and it's pretty hastily drawn. While some competitors were also quickly drawn, such as Mesmer's 'Felix the Cat', the character was funny due to good writing. And, the quality of "Little Parade" is many steps down from the great work begin done by the Fleischer Brothers (with 'Ko-Ko the Clown') or Disney. All in all, a dull little film.
Oddly, the copy I found on YouTube had a Cartoon Network watermark on it...but I cannot ever recall seeing any old cartoons from this era ever shown on the channel. Also, oddly, in the beginning is some captioning...in Japanese.
"Little Parade" was NOT a silent cartoon that changed my mind about Terry's work. It was cheap and unfunny....period. Much of the cartoon consists of a parade of animals coming into town with the circus. Later, a mouse and hippo do a trapeze act. Again...none of it funny and it's pretty hastily drawn. While some competitors were also quickly drawn, such as Mesmer's 'Felix the Cat', the character was funny due to good writing. And, the quality of "Little Parade" is many steps down from the great work begin done by the Fleischer Brothers (with 'Ko-Ko the Clown') or Disney. All in all, a dull little film.
Oddly, the copy I found on YouTube had a Cartoon Network watermark on it...but I cannot ever recall seeing any old cartoons from this era ever shown on the channel. Also, oddly, in the beginning is some captioning...in Japanese.
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- planktonrules
- May 25, 2021
Details
- Runtime6 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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