The Haunted Ship (1930)
Well, it's time for another weird Van Beuren cartoon from 1930. "The Haunted Ship", released on 27th April (my birthday ;-) is a real classic of the spooky and surreal early '30s style. I'd even compare it with the best Fleischer cartoons of the similar kind. Animation is certainly above the average Van Beuren standard of that time. This is also the first cartoon that featured two obscure characters named Waffles the Cat and Don Dog. Only three more cartoons were made, before Waffles and Don morphed into the well known human duo called Tom & Jerry.
Note: as you probably know, Van Beuren "Tom & Jerry" were a pair of humans, and they are in no way related to the famous Hanna-Barbera cat & mouse. You can find a complete filmography and lot of info about VB Tom & Jerry and their precursors HERE.
posted by Hammerson at 1:17 pm
7 Comments:
Despite some off-model moments, the character designs are great, especially the prohibition-bending turtles and smiling eels. The perspective shot of the stingray must have been an accomplishment for 1930. And the studio sure had a thing for frogs with belly buttons.
Who else would have animated this besides Foster and Bailey?
10:10 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0eMxsXRDj4
10:38 pm
Loving that octopus character with the top hat!
9:03 pm
The version of this film on You Tube has different opening titles. In particular, it has the title as THE Haunted Ship," and credits John Foster and Mannie Davis, rather than Foster and Harry Bailey. Can anyone explain this?
3:03 pm
I just watched a Van Beuren opus called "The Three Little Kittens" this past weekend. Wild stuff! A rat grabs one of the kittens and tries to kill him using a deli-slicer. The other cats come to the rescue and kill the rat by beating him to death. The cartoon ends with a scarey cat-head poking out at the screen like these turtle heads.
As always, thanks for sharing!
12:15 pm
Anonymous said...
The version of this film on You Tube has different opening titles. In particular, it has the title as THE Haunted Ship," and credits John Foster and Mannie Davis, rather than Foster and Harry Bailey. Can anyone explain this?
The version on YouTube has its original titles intact, while the version posted here has recreated titles, as it aired on the Arte programme "Cartoon Factory".
9:10 pm
Wow! What a great blog! I wasn't aware Tom & Jerry (Dick & Larry) had an even earlier incarnation as Waffles the Cat and Don Dog. You taught me something I didn't know, for which I'm most grateful.
I was aware that Betty Boop was actually first drawn as a dog with floppy ears, only to morph into a vamp and be replaced by floppy earrings. But you guys know that ...
Your concept of showing lots of stills from the toons is brilliant, and your contribution to animation history is much appreciated. Keep up the terrific work!
6:27 pm
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