Monday 13 June 2016

Cool Down, Bimbo

Bimbo’s Initiation is one of the greatest of the early Fleischer Talkartoons and is one of the most entertaining cartoons of all time. To think it was made in 1931.

Here’s one of the many fun sequences. Bimbo’s butt is burning from being spanked by some bicycle-hand contraption. He rides his bike into a pool room and tries to cool down but the water in the pool turns to cement when he dives in.

I love the little flute music that is cued to the movement of the fish in the pool. The synchronisation is perfect. Notice Bimbo’s reflection in the pool when he cycles around the far side of it. And spot the candle and watering can attached to the ceiling for no particular reason.



The door in the background leads to the next scene. One gag tumbles into the next. Just great. It’s a shame cartoons like this were replaced with Pudgy and Disney wanna-be shorts by the end of the decade.

2 comments:

  1. For what it's worth, this cartoon and "Snow White" stand out for me as the epitome of Fleischer screwiness, and are little treasures.

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  2. Would have been nice if UM&M hadn't shorn the animation credits of this an so many of the other B&W Fleischer cartoons. Hopefully a European print with full credits will show up some day, as several others have which were posted to YouTube in recent years.

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