What are the best Fleischer Cartoons?

[HassanChop!]

I bought the 600 cartoon collection back in January and havent used it much, if even once. I bought it because of the $8 price tag and to introduce me to some Fleischer studios cartoons. I am a huge Warner fan and a pretty big fan of MGM and classic Disney, but never really got into things like Betty Boop and Popeye. I own the Warner Academy Awards set and thought the Superman and Popeye cartoons were OK. But i hear good things about these cartoons all the time and wonder what are the best cartoons from this studio? I figured the best place to ask this question was here. So fellow GACers, what are the best Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons?

[Cartman]

IMO,the best cartoons from the Fleischer Studios would be the Talkartoons, pre-code Betty Boops, and the Popeyes up to the late 30's. I'm not big on the Color Classics. I think Fleischer made a mistake trying to copy Disney. They should have stuck to their own style of surrealism. However, there are some exceptions (e.g. FRESH VEGETABLE MYSTERY, POOR CINDERELLA).

You can actually view a lot of these cartoons on Youtube.
I'll get you started:

The Male Man

Teacher's Pest

Hot Dog

Minnie the Moocher

[tristar]

• Almost any Betty Boop from 1930-1934 (before the cartoons were censored)
• Almost any Popeye from 1933-1939
• Talkartoons from 1930-1932 (The few examples I've seen from the 1929 Talkartoons haven't impressed me, maybe I should see more)

(PS. 700 Posts)

[FleischerFan]

Oh my, where to start?

Ko-Ko’s Earth Control

Bimbo’s Initiation

Minnie the Moocher

Betty Boop’s Bamboo Isle

Is My Palm Read?

Snow White

Grampy’s Indoor Outing

The Man on the Flying Trapeze

Shoein’ Hosses

Shiver Me Timbers

A Dream Walking

Beware of Barnacle Bill

Choose Yer Weppins

Adventures of Popeye

The Spinach Overture

A Clean Shaven Man

Brotherly Love

Never Kick a Woman

Popeye Meets Sinbad the Sailor

Lost and Foundry

Popeye Meets Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves

The Jeep

Goonland

Dancing on the Moon

Somewhere in Dreamland

Christmas Comes But Once a Year

Hold It!

All’s Fair at the Fair

Superman (a.k.a. The Mad Scientist)

Mechanical Monsters

Terror on the Midway

...to name but a few (I went beyond Popeye & Boop to include stuff from the entire Fleischer output)!

[Thad]

These would be my nominations for the best Fleischer cartoons. As brilliant as a lot of those pre-code shorts are, I'm having a hard time picking out individual titles from that era. The best use their incoherency to make something completely wonderful and unique; the rest are just incoherent (and not very well animated at that).

"Swing You Sinners" (this would be my #1)
"Wise Flies"
"The Male Man"
"The Herring Murder Case"
"In My Merry Oldsmobile"
"Barnacle Bill"
"Bimbo's Initiation"
"Minnie the Moocher"
"Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle"
"I Heard"
"Snow White"
"The Old Man of the Mountain"
"Morning, Noon, and Night"
"Let's You and Him Fight"
"A Dream Walking"
"For Better or Worser"
"What No Spinach?"
"Brotherly Love"
"Hold the Wire"
"A Clean Shaven Man"
"Popeye Meets Sindbad"
"Popeye Meets Ali Baba"
"I Yam Lovesick"
"Goonland"
"The Jeep"
"Wotta Nitemare"
"Hello How Am I"
"It's the Natural Thing to Do"
"Popeye Meets William Tell"
"With Poopdeck Pappy"
"The Raven"

And I thought I didn't like Fleischer cartoons.

[lonesome-lenny]

Originally Posted by Thad

These would be my nominations for the best Fleischer cartoons. As brilliant as a lot of those pre-code shorts are, I'm having a hard time picking out individual titles from that era. The best use their incoherency to make something completely wonderful and unique; the rest are just incoherent (and not very well animated at that).

"Swing You Sinners" (this would be my #1)
"Wise Flies"
"The Male Man"
"The Herring Murder Case"
"In My Merry Oldsmobile"
"Barnacle Bill"
"Bimbo's Initiation"
"Minnie the Moocher"
"Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle"
"I Heard"
"Snow White"
"The Old Man of the Mountain"
"Morning, Noon, and Night"
"Let's You and Him Fight"
"A Dream Walking"
"For Better or Worser"
"What No Spinach?"
"Brotherly Love"
"Hold the Wire"
"A Clean Shaven Man"
"Popeye Meets Sindbad"
"Popeye Meets Ali Baba"
"I Yam Lovesick"
"Goonland"
"The Jeep"
"Wotta Nitemare"
"Hello How Am I"
"It's the Natural Thing to Do"
"Popeye Meets William Tell"
"With Poopdeck Pappy"
"The Raven"

And I thought I didn't like Fleischer cartoons.

Great selection, Thad! I'd add the other POPEYE two-reeler to the list, plus the Color Classics "Dancing On The Moon" and "Hold It," and "Hot Dog," "Up To Mars" and a few other pre-Boop Talkartoons. But I wouldn't take a single one of yours off the best-of list!

[Ray Pointer]

Originally Posted by Cartman

IMO,the best cartoons from the Fleischer Studios would be the Talkartoons, pre-code Betty Boops, and the Popeyes up to the late 30's. I'm not big on the Color Classics. I think Fleischer made a mistake trying to copy Disney. They should have stuck to their own style of surrealism. However, there are some exceptions (e.g. FRESH VEGETABLE MYSTERY, POOR CINDERELLA).

It was not Fleischer's choice to "copy Disney." It was Paramount's management that dictated it. As for "sticking to their style," they may not have been truly aware of what it was. If they had been, they would have matured in their own direction. The leanings toward Science Fiction/Film Noir could have been that direction that was never realized.

[frizfrelengfan]

I have little to add to the other posters. I agree with them that the early Talkartoons and pre-code Bettys are the best of the Fleischers. The Color Classics are a mixed bag. I would add to the list "Play Safe", which is my favorite of the Color Classics.

[J Lee]

I'd also throw in the WWII-themed Fleischer cartoons (even though by then the style was as much Warner Bros. as it was Fleischer), "Small Fry" from the Color Classic series (or basically all of the nightmare-themed cartoons Willard Bowsky did), and even a few of the very-late-in-the-game musical Betty Boop cartoons, like "Sally Swing", "So Does An Automobile" and "Musical Mountaineers".