Not So Quiet (1930) Online

Just watched this Universal-Walter Lantz Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon on YouTube. In this one, Oswald is a soldier during World War I who has to send a message. I'll stop there and just say there are some amusing gags like when the sun is up and Oswald tries to pull it down but this was a mostly musically animated short where there's a female cat singing of love for the rabbit and that rabbit does the same for her or there's some metal objects being hit on surfaces to the beat of the score. Interesting animation throughout but only partially entertaining since there's not much story and the characterizations are mostly happy-go-lucky. Still, if you're interested in vintage animation, Not So Quiet is worth a look. P.S. Among the listed animators are Clyde Geronimi and Pinto Colvig, with the former among the later legendary Disney directors of many of the studio's animated features and the latter the eventual voice of Goofy.

†his is a thoroughly bizarre, absurd, almost dada cartoon. At times, it seems as if Walter Lantz and company were not making it for children. It's a fine Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and the only items I can compare it to are some of the last Bugs Bunny cartoons that Bob Clampett made before he fled Termite Terrace forever: stretching the techniques of exaggeration honed in PORKY IN WACKYLAND past the breaking point to see if anyone noticed. It is also very enjoyable.

The whole thing is structured as a burlesque of the First World War, with occasional musical interludes, suggestively drooping and reviving guns and 'rubber tube' animation technique that surely must have made even the children watching this blink.

Despite Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his cartoons being popular and well received at the time, they have been vastly overshadowed over time by succeeding animation characters. It is a shame as, while not cartoon masterpieces, they are fascinating for anybody wanting to see what very old animation looked like.

Not all the Walter Lantz Oswald cartoons are good representations of Oswald or Lantz, a few for historical interest only. Some are good, and while the premise isn't the most original (the war theme having been done about twice before and a little better) 'Not So Quiet' is one of them.

Again, story is thin and slightly predictable, and the pacing at times could have been tighter.

On the other hand, there isn't much wrong with 'Not So Quiet'. Sound quality for a cartoon so old and techniques still in its early days is not as primitive as it could have been. Atmospherically it entertains and moves. Oswald is endearing.

'Not So Quiet's' music is as energetic as ever too, and Oswald is endearing. The animation is quite good, pretty detailed, not as crude as in some of the Lantz Oswald cartoons and Oswald's movements, expressions and gestures are well done.

All in all, well done stuff. 8/10 Bethany Cox