Bubbles

Fliescher Studios (or more accurately, Max Fliescher) created a number of memorable characters, with Popeye and/or Betty Boop the most well-known these days. Come to that, Popeye isn't theirs, but that of a comic strip artist named Segar. But I digress.

For my money, in many ways, the best and most memorable of their stars was Koko the Clown. He was the first continuing character they had, starting out in the silents as a lead in shorts like this one and getting a second chance in sound cartoons as a secondary character in quite a few Betty Boop shorts. Koko was a fascinating character tailor-made for silents, as the clown persona was perfect for the surreal nature of the early Fliescher shorts. Bubbles is a very good example of the early efforts. Nothing else is even remotely similar to an early Fliescher cartoon. Bubbles is a relatively simple story with great visual imagery and holds up well some 80 years later. Well worth watching. Recommended.

"Bubbles" is an Out of the Inkwell short by the Fleischer brothers, Dave and Max. Like the other films in the series, the star, Koko, is a cartoon character who interacts with the real world...much like the animated characters in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".

I've seen quite a few of these shorts and "Bubbles", while enjoyable, is a lesser entry. The biggest reason is that there isn't a lot of plot...just lots of disparate things all having to do with bubbles. One of the plots, and it's a weird one, is Max betting Koko he can make the biggest bubble. The winner then gets to punch the loser in the nose!! That's not just awful but pretty weird. Apart from this, just a variety of bubble-related fun...and nothing particularly outstanding. Still, given how well the films were made, it's still very watchable.

This was another extremely clever silent cartoon by Max and Dave Fleischer. These cartoons were unique, unlike anything I've ever seen. In this one, artist Max and his drawn-character, "Koko The Clown," challenge each other on who can blow the biggest bubble.

The story doesn't start out that way, but leads to that in the second half. With sound effects, this would be even better but they do it here, but it does make you concentrate more on what you are seeing. It better be good or it could get boring: the dead silence, that is. However, these stories are so clever and have so many sight gags that they don't get boring.....a real tribute to the writer (s).

This was one of the "From the vault" extra features from disc 3 on the "Popeye The Sailor Man Volume One DVD set. If you own this set, don't skip these cartoons and don't think there is something wrong with your audio; it's just the way it was with no sound.

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 but 'Bubbles' is among the best of the Ko-Ko cartoons. It is impossible to dislike it and it always puts a smile on my face.

'Bubbles' is slight story wise and occasionally it's on the predictable side, but most of the time one is having too much fun to be caring about that.

The character interplay is truly delightful and the mix of animation and live action and how they blend is seamless.

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. The live action also looks good.

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 and cleverest of the early Ko-Ko cartoons. Ko-Ko as ever is very likeable and amusing and Max is terrific fun. The chemistry between the two is one of the cartoon's biggest pleasures.

Concluding, terrific. 9/10 Bethany Cox