The Detective

When Cock Robin is found dead with an arrow in him, Pete arrests the bow-carrying Oswald. Then there is a trial in this excellent Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon from Walter Lantz.

The trial, which is the main part of this cartoon, is a lot of fun. It is paced like a burlesque routine, or perhaps a Marx Brothers skit. Like the best of the Walter Lantz Oswalds, it is an intensely silly effort, offered with an air of people just having a good time thinking up what can be done next.

During 1930, Walter Lantz' Oswald cartoons were the best in the business Oh, Disney had the leading character and was doing some excellent experimentation with the Silly Symphony cartoons. If, however, you wanted cartoons that were fun, you had a choice between the Fleischers and Walter Lantz.

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 however. Although one wouldn't think so looking at the low rating, 'The Detective' is one of those good ones and one of the better Lantz Oswald cartoons. It is also on the same level even as the best of the Disney and Winkler eras.

There is the occasional visual crudeness and the pacing occasionally is slightly frenetic.

However, there is very little wrong. The story mostly is less than great in an Oswald cartoon, often the weak spot. 'The Detective' actually manages to be an exception, being more eventful than most. The court setting is intriguing and lots of fun too. The sound quality for a cartoon so old and techniques still in its early days is not as primitive as it could have been. Oswald is very endearing and you do believe in his innocence.

Music is as energetic as ever too. The animation is mostly quite good, a huge improvement over that in the previous cartoon 'The Singing Sap' (which also as a cartoon was very weak). Oswald's movements, expressions and gestures are well done and the detail and smoothness is there. The gags are funny and imaginative and the pacing is mostly lively.

In conclusion, surprisingly good and compares favourably as far as Lantz Oswald cartoons go. 8/10 Bethany Cox