Egg Cracker Suite (1943)

Lantz




This is the last Oswald cartoon made (barring perhaps a cameo or two, which would not be an Oswald cartoon as such). It may also be the worst Oswald cartoon made; it's at least the worst I've seen, tho I've probably only seen 10%.

Note this title is what appears on the Columbia House tape these images are from (Woody Woodpecker and Friends The Collector's Edition Chew Chew Baby) , but it is not the original, presumably because of the "Universal Presents" in the title (and even then, it would depend on the print, as Universal seemed involved in the Columbia House release):
http://lantz.goldenagecartoons.com/1940s/eggcracker-title.jpg

This is a short trying, logically enough, to cast a rabbit (and by "a" I mean "army") in the role of Easter Bunny production workers. Presumably Oswald is the one in suspenders directing the other rabbits, but since this is his only theatrical appearance with this particular generic MGM rabbit look, it's hard to say. While everything lists this as an Oswald cartoon, it doesn't note that in the credits, at least not on the Columbia House release. There's a sign on a tree saying "To Oswald's Easter Egg Factory", and I suppose that's eough internal evidence.

Hate:



Awful washed out Disney color scheme. It could be the print, but based on an original background from the cartoon I own, I don't think so. The colors are not an issue in the black and white shorts, with the stark black or white Oswald reading clearly, but here the rabbits are not stark, in black, white or color. Andy Panda was black and white (and with red pants of a brighter red than Oswald's overalls), and Woody Woodpecker had his bright color scheme Washed out backgrounds allow such characters to pop. Here it is as if they took nature's plan, i.e., rabbits need to hide in their surroundings, and applied it whole heartedly. And it is a failure.

It's not just the colors; it's also the awful washed out cuteness. It's more MGM cute than Disney cute, which is probably a better choice. Still hateful tho.


Ugly bunnies. For all their feigned cuteness, they are ugly and wrong.

Oswald has a horrible voice; a weird drawling stop in it, spouting awful fialogue like "come come girls, it's time to go to work".

And there's the reused animation; they used different speeds and broke it up by other animation, but it's still cheatery, and in a way that doesn't look good.




The lame end; a mindless rabbit waving from a parachuting basket.


Love:




Wrinkly Oswald. It's better when they make them intentionally ugly instead of cloyingly "cute".

Classical music; for some reason, they don't keep it up, and switch to big band for the color extraction, which would be fine, except that it fractures the cartoon.



Dumb cluck sign. The drapes look good, and the insult to the pompous hen is good.

tympani for ostrich egg

The almost Woody-like cuckoo. It's not crazy enough sounding tho.

Pissed bunny. Again, better than cute.


The color split. It's a shame the colors aren't better.


The checkered bunny; the checks break up the monotony of the incredibly bland thing it is normally.


The naked come hither ostrich.


The uncolored ostrich faces for movement. Shame about the crappiness of the bunny...

Summary:

Overall, a sour note to end the Oswald cartoons on (supposedly it was the 195th Oswald cartoon). You can see why this, as a testing of the waters for a new Oswald series, would have meant no more Oswalds.