Bosko was Looney Tunes' first star...albeit only for a few years. The reason they discontinued the Bosko films was because because the directing team of Harmon-Ising left Looney Tunes to work for MGM...and the pair owned the rights to the character. This was actually a double blessing for Warner Brothers (parent company of Looney Tunes), as Bosko was a rather dull character and the Harmon-Ising style was pretty awful...emphasizing cuteness and singing/dancing over laughs. As a result, the Looney Tunes films, after a brief hiccup, only got better.
While I am very hard on the Harmon-Ising Bosko films and generally give the films low scores, I must admit that "Bosko's Soda Fountain" is a major improvement for the series. While it's not exactly brilliant, it's also not cute, there's no singing AND a nasty character was a nice counterpoint to the usual denizens of these cartoons.
In the first half of the film, Bosko is serving various guests at his soda fountain and the emphasis is on gags...a major plus. Soon, Honey calls to ask Bosko to bring over an ice cream cone for her very obnoxious cat. Bosko hurries...and is met with a lousy attitude from the ungrateful feline.
No cute characters, a few laughs...while this isn't a brilliant film, it's very good for 1931 and it's a shame Bosko wasn't always like this.
By the way, like in so many Bosko cartoons, there's a minor character that looks just like Mickey.
While I am very hard on the Harmon-Ising Bosko films and generally give the films low scores, I must admit that "Bosko's Soda Fountain" is a major improvement for the series. While it's not exactly brilliant, it's also not cute, there's no singing AND a nasty character was a nice counterpoint to the usual denizens of these cartoons.
In the first half of the film, Bosko is serving various guests at his soda fountain and the emphasis is on gags...a major plus. Soon, Honey calls to ask Bosko to bring over an ice cream cone for her very obnoxious cat. Bosko hurries...and is met with a lousy attitude from the ungrateful feline.
No cute characters, a few laughs...while this isn't a brilliant film, it's very good for 1931 and it's a shame Bosko wasn't always like this.
By the way, like in so many Bosko cartoons, there's a minor character that looks just like Mickey.