Monday 29 June 2020

Ain't We Got Cycle Animation

Ain't We Got Fun (1937) feels like a Friz Freleng cartoon with all the singing/dancing little animals but it’s actually by the masterful Tex Avery.

Buried amidst the proceedings is a piece of cycle animation when the abusive mice are throwing eggs at the old man who owns the house. 16 drawings take up one second of animation.



Here’s an endless loop of the cycle, slowed down from what you see on the screen. Notice the weight and balance on the main mouse.



The original screen credits state that Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones animated this. A Tex/Clampett/Jones team should have come up with something screamingly funny. This isn’t. But it has its moments. The lady mouse asking the elevator operator where the mousetraps are is the best line, and the self-satisfied look of the mouse with the cop whistle (coming after he couldn’t whistle a warning) is one of those comes-out-of-nowhere gags.

1 comment:

  1. Tex's 'cute mouse' trilogy, with "A Sunbonnet Blue" and "The Mice Will Play" all feel like Tex meeting the late 30s requirements of the Merrie Melodies series, with only a few Averyesque touches thrown into the mix (Avery and Irv Spence's work on the Ratzs Brothers' "I Haven't Got A Hat" number in the middle film of the trilogy stands out as almost a mockery of what Warners wanted from their color cartoons).

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