User Reviews

Oswald is driven out of his store by mice, so he turns to a cat for help in this Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon from Walter Lantz.

The era of synchronized cartoons, which were basically silent cartoons timed to a synchronized score, had ended about eighteen months before this cartoon came out. It was gone but not forgotten and this cartoon is a series of gags timed to jazzy square dance tunes orchestrated by James Dietrich. It feels like much more, however. There is a sense more of a story driven by the music, a real plot, rather than the random series of timed gags. Perhaps this was in response to Disney's advancing techniques with his Silly Symphonies, but it feels more like Lantz' Swing Symphonies of the following decade. It's also very engaging as it uses the gags to advance the plot.

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.

The 1932 batch of Oswald cartoons, despite being of an uneven overall standard, has generally been far better than the 1931 group, of which only six were above average or more and the rest were average at best and a few less than that. Of the 1932 batch, 'Wins Out' and 'Let's Eat' were mediocre and 'The Winged Horse' was on the forgettable side, but 'Grandma's Pet', 'Beau and Arrows' and 'Mechanical Man' were good.

'Cat Nipped' is up there as one of the better 1932 cartoons. The story is not exactly special and structurally on the thin side, but with the execution of the gags that is not as big a problem as it has been in previous early 30s cartoons.

Best assets are the gags and the music. The gags are some of the funniest and imaginatively timed of the 1932 cartoons, so refreshing after seeing many previous early 30s Oswald cartoons where the humour has been hit and miss and not particularly funny. Nothing feels random or repetitive. The music is infectiously jazzy and dynamic as well as lushly orchestrated, synchronising very well with the music. The synchronisation is remarkably natural.

Also good is the animation. It may occasionally lack refinement, but most of it is smooth and detailed with Oswald's movements, gestures and expressions still very much natural, like the generally freer, more elaborate and faster look of a good deal of Oswald cartoons at this time. Drawing has occasional crudeness but is mostly fine and transitions don't feel as choppy and incomplete as some of the worst Oswald cartoons.

Oswald is very likable and pits well against the mice which are good foils.

In conclusion, very nice and one of the better 1932 Oswald cartoons. 8/10 Bethany Cox