In general, I find the cartoons from Van Beuren Studio to be awfully saccharine--and a far cry from the quality of rival studios Disney and Fleischer Brothers. However, I was pleasantly surprised with "The Little King"--a sweet little cartoon if I've ever seen one.
The character 'Little King' was a creation of Oscar Soglow and it was so popular in "The New Yorker" that William Randolph Hearst paid handsomely to bring Soglow to his paper and make the strip a daily. And, from the 1930s until his death in the late 1970s, Soglow made a ton of these cute cartoons. And, like "Henry", the Little King didn't speak.
Van Beuren made several Little King cartoons but I only see a couple listed on IMDb. I assume that this is the correct place to review "The Little King: Merry Christmas". It begins with the King going about town just before Christmas. He meets two nice hobos and they become friends. So, in the spirit of Christmas, he invites them home for the holidays and they have a lovely time.
As I said above, this film is awfully sweet--but not to the point of being saccharine. It's more just a very nice little film that made me smile. Not brilliant, but it was worth seeing.
The character 'Little King' was a creation of Oscar Soglow and it was so popular in "The New Yorker" that William Randolph Hearst paid handsomely to bring Soglow to his paper and make the strip a daily. And, from the 1930s until his death in the late 1970s, Soglow made a ton of these cute cartoons. And, like "Henry", the Little King didn't speak.
Van Beuren made several Little King cartoons but I only see a couple listed on IMDb. I assume that this is the correct place to review "The Little King: Merry Christmas". It begins with the King going about town just before Christmas. He meets two nice hobos and they become friends. So, in the spirit of Christmas, he invites them home for the holidays and they have a lovely time.
As I said above, this film is awfully sweet--but not to the point of being saccharine. It's more just a very nice little film that made me smile. Not brilliant, but it was worth seeing.