Oswald und die Straßenbahn

I feel embarrassed with myself. All this time I've been watching below-average 1960's Looney Tunes episodes when I could have been watching Oswald the Lucky Rabbit!! This episode is more high quality than stuff I see on television nowadays (except for the fact it does not have colour)! I really enjoyed watching this, it may have been slapsticky but it was very sweet and despite some of Oswald's annoying behaviour I thought he was a good character (and those baby rabbits were SO cute!!). It is also an impressive episode considering it was made so long ago (1927 was a very early date to be making cartoons). What is also impressive is that 82 years later there are many aspects of the cartoon that can still appeal to millions of people today. If there was anything that I did not like about the cartoon it was the treatment of those poor young bunnies (You will see when you watch the episode.).

I watched a version on youtube with music composed by Robert Israel and the music managed to fit surprisingly well with the episode. The original music for the episode was made in 1931, when the once silent cartoon was re-released with sound. Even watching it in silent, the viewer can understand absolutely everything that is going on.

I recommend this episode to people who thrive on early cartoons, to people who like Mickey Mouse (for Oswald is very similar in character to the famous rodent) and to people who like watching historical cartoons (it is historical because it was so well made for the time). Enjoy "Trolley Troubles"! :-)

I've never been into Disney cartoons (I far prefer the Looney Tunes), but "Trolley Troubles" isn't bad. Starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (remember, this is before Mickey Mouse debuted) as a trolley conductor who has to deal with every crazy thing happening, it gives one a sense of the 1920s. Some of the gags are a little hokey, but I can't help but wonder what it must have been like to sit in a theater back then and watch this stuff happen for the first time.

If there's any downside here, it's that the characters look like minstrel performers. Of course, maybe I'm the only one who notices that. OK in a pinch. Anyway, a far cooler wascally wabbit came to cartoons in later years.

Available on YouTube.

Just watched this early pre-Mickey Mouse Walt Disney cartoon on YouTube. It starred Oswald the Lucky Rabbit who looks like Mickey with rabbit ears. Trolley Troubles has many amazing and funny silent cartoon gags involving the trolley, the tracks, a cow, a goat, and a crowd of passengers (all resembling Oswald). And there's a Felix-the-Cat-like gag involving the rabbit's tail. Quite amusing and well recommended for anyone interested in anything involving Walt Disney, silent cartoons, and movie history in general. Oswald's resemblance to Mickey is probably because the person who helped create both characters was one Ub Iwerks. I can hardly wait for the upcoming DVD collection of Disney Oswald shorts later this year as well as a Walter Lantz series that has some later Oswalds.

Despite Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his cartoons being popular and well received at the time, they have been vastly overshadowed over time by succeeding Disney characters (like Mickey, Donald and Goofy) and those from Looney Tunes. It is a shame as, while not cartoon masterpieces, they are fascinating for anybody wanting to see what very old animation looked like and what Disney animation was like before Mickey arrived on the scene.

'Trolley Troubles', actually the second Oswald cartoon (his debuting cartoon being the very rare 'Poor Papa'), is not great but still pretty good. The story is not much of one and has its absurd and rushed spots, and a couple of the gags are a little hokey.

Animation is not bad at all for a cartoon so old and techniques still in early days, it's crisp and fluid enough with some nice detail, sure there are some rough spots understandably especially with Disney animation becoming much more refined later. The added soundtrack and sound effects add a lot rather than distract, actually improving the cartoon's impact and making things easier to understand.

Most of the gags work very well, never hilarious as such but they are well timed and amusing, with the final two minutes being close to riotous. Oswald is an endearing protagonist and the other characters are quite fun.

Overall, pretty good. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Oswald Rabbit is a trolley car conductor. He packs it with passengers. A cow on the tracks is blocking him. After clearing the cow, he gets hit next by a goat. Oswald uses the goat to push the trolley up a hill, but it's the coming down that is the problem.

This early Walt Disney short is fine. I like Oswald. The rabbit's foot is probably the best gag in the whole thing. This is my first Oswald cartoon. My initial impression is that he's not quite Bugs Bunny, but he's pretty good as a character of his own. He just needs more unexpected humor like the rabbit's foot. Mostly, this is pretty straight forward.