The Clown's Little Brother (1920) User Reviews

Good but it could have been a bit better.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 12 May 2020]

The Koko (also called 'Ko-ko') cartoons from about 1919 to 1930 were amazing for their time and still are very enjoyable when seen today. In each, Koko the Clown (a cartoon character) ends up interacting with the real world...much like you saw decades later in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".

When the story begins, Max Fleischer (Koko's animator) receives a letter. Apparently, it's for Koko and it is from his little brother who is soon arriving for a visit. When the little guy arrives, he and Koko try to outdo each other with acrobatics and later Koko is attacked by a kitten.

The animation is lovely. But the story really seemed wanting, as it really didn't look like they knew what to do in the cartoon once the brother arrived. Much much in the way of story.

Who's Better? Koko Or The Kid?

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 7 December 2008]

I like these Max Fleischer written and directed silent animated shorts and think many of them were extremely clever. I am grateful that many of them have been included on the Popeye The Sailor Man DVDs in the last couple of years. Max liked to feature "Koko the Clown" and often featured him interacting with the cartoonist in his studio, mixing animated and real-life. That's the case here, too.

In this one, Koko's little relative comes to visit him and the two clowns have a contest on who is the better magician, juggler and acrobat. The little kid wins every time with some amazing stunts.

At the end, Koko goes off the "page" and plays patty-cake with a real-life cat. The cartoons ends with the customary inkwell scene as Max, who had been away, comes back into the office just in time to see the ink spill on the floor.

These "out of the inkwell" cartoons are good stuff, but you have to get used to seeing a cartoon with no sound. If you can get by that, you'll enjoy ones like this.

A tale of two clowns

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 18 March 2018]

Dave Fleischer was responsible for many gems. Ones that were amusing and charming, though over-cuteness did come through in some efforts and the stories were always pretty thin, with appealing characters, outstanding music and visuals that were inventive and with innovative animation techniques.

Ko-Ko similarly was an always amiable character to watch and among the better recurring characters in Fleischer's early work. Likewise, his series of Out of the Inkwell cartoons were among the best early efforts of Fleischer and silent cartoons in general. Fleischer may not be at his very finest and there are other cartoons of his that fit the word gem more. It is impossible to dislike 'The Clown's Little Brother', which put a smile on my face and is very easy to be charmed by.

There may not be much to the story and it's easy to tell where some of the material is going to go, but like most Ko-Ko cartoons there is not much to criticise.

A lot is done very well to brilliantly however. The support characters delights as does the interplay between the characters. They are obvious good things, but they're not the only ones.

One expects the animation to be primitive and very low quality, judging by that it's the 20s when animation techniques were not as many, as refined, as ambitious and in their infancy. While Fleischer became more refined and inventive later certainly, the animation is surprisingly good with some nice visual wackiness and wit.

It all goes at a bright and breezy pace, while there are a fair share of funny and suitably wild, well-timed and clever moments, also some of the most imaginative of the early Ko-Ko cartoons. Ko-Ko as ever is very likeable and amusing and his little brother is every bit as much of both.

In summation, great cartoon and one of the best early Ko-Ko cartoons. 9/10 Bethany Cox