Aladdin's Lamp (1943) User Reviews

Fairly good wartime short

[llltdesq · 7/10 · 30 August 2015]

This is a cartoon in the Gandy Goose series produced by Terrytoons. There will be spoilers ahead:

Terrytoons was one of the mid-range animation studios, somewhere between Disney, Warner Brothers and the other studios on the first tier and studios like Van Beuren at the bottom. Most of what they produced was fluff of average (at best) quality. Even their better work pales in comparison to the work done at the top end. Paul Terry wanted to make money.

Even so, Terrytoons did rise above the general level of mediocrity surrounding most of their output. Cartoons like this one are an example of their better work. This short features Gandy Goose and Sourpuss, with Gandy patterned after Ed Wynn and Sourpuss patterned after Jimmy Durante. The two are seen in uniform, with Gandy reading "Tales of China" while Sourpuss is trying to get some sleep. Gandy is reading about Aladdin (which isn't Chinese, but why quibble?) when Sourpuss orders him to get to sleep.

Cue dream. Gandy and Sourpuss on plane. There's a nice bit on the plane and then the plane makes a forced water landing. Enter Aladdin, as a small and silent duck, as he rescues the two. Instead of rubbing his lamp, Aladdin gongs it instead, transporting them to a garden. Another gong brings refreshments. Enter three Chinese lamps/Chinese dancing girls. Gandy and the refreshments disappear.

Sourpuss finds Gandy lounging with the girls, being pampered. It is, after all, Gandy's dream. Nothing quite works out for Sourpuss. Ultimately, Gandy and Sourpuss wind up dancing with each other, looking like they're wearing zoot suits. The ending is funny, if predictable.

This short is available on at least one PD DVD, if I recall correctly. I think it is anyway. Deserves to be more widely seen.

Gandy's Arabian Nights

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 24 May 2019]

Generally the Terrytoons cartoons are worth watching, if for some for one time only and mostly to be seen for completest sake, if wanting to see all of their available cartoons. That was my main reason for seeing them. The studio's quality though is very variable. Some of their cartoons are decent, few great, and a lot of average ones but there are a lot of lacklustre or less ones.

1943's batch was still variable, but compared to previous years for Terrytoons there were fewer lacklustre or less cartoons. And more that generated interest on a historical level, like seeing the earliest cartoons of Mighty Mouse, named Super Mouse, at this point. At this point, Gandy and Sourpuss were two of the studio's most frequently used characters and their pairing, potentially mismatched but actually just about works, could be seen in a sizeable series of cartoons with them. 'Aladdin's Lamp' is above average as far as the Gandy and Sourpuss cartoons go, which were starting to become on the tired side at this point with the Gandy dream premise starting to wear a little thin, and one of Terrytoons' better 1943 cartoons. As far as Terrytoons' overall output goes too, 'Aladdin's Lamp' doesn't fare too shabbily there either.

There are a good number of good things here in 'Aladdin's Lamp'. It looks great and is one of the best-looking Gandy and Sourpuss cartoons. That the animation fares very well here was not a surprise as this aspect had come on enormously by this point with Terrytoons. It is nicely detailed, lively and colourful without being garish, particularly in some imaginative visuals in the dream sequence. Again, the music, the thing that was the most consistently good thing from the very beginning with Terrytoons, is a big strength. It is beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is terrific fun to listen to and the lively energy is present throughout, doing so well with adding to the action.

Everything with the dream is imaginatively done on a visual level with some amusing moments too. There is energy and charm that is completely natural. Gandy and Sourpuss carry the cartoon reasonably well, with Sourpuss being more interesting as a character, though it does have to be said that to me Gandy has come on significantly since he first appeared in the 30s (where he was very bland as a lead but from 1941 onwards he fares much better). Their chemistry gels surprisingly well, considering that on paper this should have been a senseless mismatch.

'Aladdin's Lamp's' story is predictable though and structurally is not an awful lot different to other Gandy dream cartoons, the army element being typical Gandy and Sourpuss in the army as well. There are lapses in energy in the non-dream parts and wouldn't have said no to more gags.

One can be forgiven too for feeling that at this point Terrytoons were running out of ideas and were recycling old ones, something that had been happening for a while now, personally did feel in a way that that was the case here.

In summary, above average but not much mind-blowing. 6/10