Koko Nuts (1925) User Reviews

Very good silent short from Fleischer Studios

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 21 June 2015]

This is a silent short in the Koko the Clown series produced by Fleischer. There will be spoilers ahead:

This short begins with live action footage of Max Fleischer reading a newspaper, with a headline telling of an escaped lunatic at large. Max joggles the inkwell and Koko and Fitz the dog come out. Max looks at Koko, deciding he doesn't look right. Coming to the conclusion that Koko is "cuckoo", Max draws a building which he labels "Nut House".

Max then places a phone call to the keeper inside the building, telling him two are outside. Koko changes his hat to look like a cap with Keeper on it and fools the keeper, who leaves Koko in charge while he goes off looking for nuts.

The bulk of the cartoon is spent with Koko and Fitz keeping watch over the various nuts, many of whom are seen with corny inter-titles with punchlines on them. There's an almost obligatory gag about Napoleon and a squirrel also makes an appearance.

The short ends with Koko getting even with Max and Koko and Fitz are seen celebrating at the end.

This short deserves to be more widely known. Recommended.

Wonderfully nuts

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 18 February 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. 'Ko-Ko Nuts' is nonetheless a wonderfully nuts cartoon and a great representation as to why early Fleischer is well worth watching and why Ko-Ko is one of the better recurring characters of theirs deserving of more recognition.

Like all Ko-Ko cartoons, there is not much special or anything much for that matter to the story, which is generally best to be forgotten.

Everything else though is done so brilliantly that any issues had with the story don't stay for long. The delight of the character interplay and how well the animation and live action is handled so seamlessly for so early on, the wild fun and the ever entertaining and brilliantly used inclusion of Max are just a few of the great things about 'Ko-Ko Nuts'.

One expects the animation to be primitive and very low quality, judging by that it's the early 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.

'Ko-Ko Nuts' is lively in pace and the bizarre and wild nature of the humour is done very imaginatively and never less than fun to watch. Koko as ever is very likeable and amusing, Fitz is just a fun supporting character and what else can be said about Max?

In summation, great, wonderfully nuts Ko-Ko cartoon. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Not at timeless as most!

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 13 May 2020]

Although the Koko the Clown cartoons were brilliant for their time, they also age well despite being over a hundred years old in some cases. However, there are exceptions and "Koko Nuts" (1925) hasn't aged as well as most of the Kko shorts.

When the story begins, Max (Max Fleischer the animator) is once again frustrated with Koko. So, to punish him, he calls the attendant in the local 'Nut House' and instructs him to lock up Koko and his dog, Fitz. However, the attendant has 'issues' and ends up instead leaving Koko in charge of the asylum. From this point on, there are countless gags about how funny the mentally ill are...with several of them dressed up like Napoleon and the like.

Back in 1925, terms like 'Nut House' and 'crazy' were perfectly acceptable. However, fortunately, modern views on mental illness are a bit more enlightened and making a cartoon that pokes fun at Schizophrenia and the like aren't seen as funny...just offensive. While I hate some aspects of political correctness, I can definitely see a point that such cartoon humor isn't particularly nice, nor funny.