1936 Animated Short Oscar Analysis
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1936 Animated Short Oscar Analysis
The category of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film gets one pretty weak year which is 1936. Finally, a Popeye the Sailor cartoon gets a nomination which is of course great. Another entries include the Happy Harmonies entry and the obligatory Silly Symphonies cartoon. But none of the three shorts are truly terrific in my opinion and they could have picked many better and more deserving shorts from these and the other series. These films are fine, don’t get me wrong, just not great.
My Ranking of the Nominees:
3. The Old Mill Pond
The weakest of the nominees is this Happy Harmony. Yes, The Old Mill Pond is definitely very charming and so well animated with memorable swamp imagery and solid character designs of the frogs. The jazz music is also quite catchy and energetic here. But there is nothing more here than a showcase for jazz as the plot is non-existent as is the character development. I am okay with this type of film if you at least give me some gags, but the humor is also sorely lacking here leading to a solid, but not particularly memorable Oscar nominee.
2. The Country Cousin
The city mouse calls his cousin from the country to visit the city, but he doesn’t like it and ends up fleeing it in that highly memorable and amusing finale. The animation here is quite charming and the overall film is very endearing. The two characters are well established and quite likable. However, this Silly Symphony is far from great in the end because its middle section overstayed its welcome as the humorous situations weren’t all that funny to begin with and the overall short is just never great. It remains solid and sweet, but not up to the series’ high standards.
1. Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor
And here we come to the first ever nomination for Popeye the Sailor which is one magnificent and highly underappreciated series sadly. And as evidenced by this ranking, this short is the best nominee here which should have won the award. However, it is far from my favorite Popeye cartoon. The color animation is gorgeous and highly advanced and the storytelling is fantastic for sure, but these longer cartoons are never as funny as their black-and-white counterparts which is also the case here. It’s pretty good, but not fantastic.
Films That Should Have Been Nominated:
The Blow Out – This is another shamefully snubbed Warner Bros. short which is by far the best Looney Tunes entry up until this point in time. The premise is simplistic, but works wonders for the series as the execution is so good with fantastic action and humor. Porky Pig is at his best as such a childlike, endearing presence.
I Love to Singa – This is another terrific Warner Bros. film, this time coming from Merry Melodies. It is a perfect exploration of ignorance toward different kinds of music which is not only beautiful in message, but also great in humor as it never forgets to be amusing and entertaining. The color animation’s great too.
Three Little Wolves – This is easily the best Silly Symphony in a weaker year for this series. I absolutely adored this sequel to a masterpiece and it’s easily the best sequel that classic got. The animation is stellar, the message is this time about the dangers of false alarms and it’s well conveyed and again the characters are all so memorable. That iconic machine steals the show though as it’s so well detailed and a lot of fun.
Bridge Ahoy! – Wimpy choosing to get mustard instead of helping Popeye is one of the funniest scenes ever in this series and the best part of this highly entertaining and hilarious Popeye film which is the best of the year and should have been nominated instead of Sindbad. The action is also great and the bridge is so superbly used for action.
A Clean Shaven Man – Popeye and Bluto are forced to shave each other and whereas Popeye does truly shave him, he gets tortured when his turn comes. That premise is definitely simplistic, but so well executed with Popeye’s facial expressions and redneck talk stealing the show. It’s another hilarious Popeye film.
