Five and Dime

Oswald is out on the street in a good mood, but a rainstorm drives him into a Five & Dime store, where he finds songs, jokes and a bride.

This is a fine Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Except for the musical number "I Found a Million Dollar Baby in a Five and ten Cent Store", it is a silent cartoon, performed with good gags and timing -- almost plot less, but sustained by the gags.

This was a genre of cartoon from this period, as movie studios tried 'brand extension' by producing cartoons based on their song catalogues. Schlesinger's Merrie Melodies were contractually obligated to do this; the Fleischers produced their classic DID YOU EVER SEE A DREAM WALKING based on the big number from SITTING PRETTY.

. . . FIVE AND DIME stores were America's favorite shopping destinations. The "five" in FIVE AND DIME referred to nickels, of course. When this picture first was released, the heads side featured the former mascot of Cleveland's Major League Baseball team. Controversial trafficker T. J. would not appear on five cent pieces for another half decade. At any rate, buying sprees during 1933 were a lot simpler--and far less expensive--than Today. Small appliances such as can openers, toasters and cast iron pot-bellied stoves went for a nickel. "Big ticket" items including pianos, patio awnings and Packard jalopies set customers back an entire dime. Those were the Good Old Days, before the Fed ruined our Economy with their rampant interest rate hikes.

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 animation characters. It is a shame as, while not cartoon masterpieces, they are fascinating for anybody wanting to see what very old animation looked like.

Oswald in the Disney years saw mostly good to very good cartoons, and while the Winkler years had some duds there were also cartoons as good as the best of the Disney years. The 1929-1930 batches of Walter Lantz-directed Oswald cartoons were a mixed bag, with some good, some forgettable and not much special and a few mediocre. The 1931 batch was mostly underwhelming, with only 6 out of 18 cartoons being above average or more. The 1932 batch had a few not so good, though the cartoons in question were nothing compared to the worst of the previous 3 years, cartoons, but most were decent to good and some even very good.

So far the 1933 Oswald cartoons have been of a good standard with no duds yet, and far more consistent than especially the 1931 batch. The best were 'The Plumber' and 'The Shriek', two of the best Oswald cartoons in a while, and the weakest being the still decent 'Beau Best'. For me, 'Five and Dime' is the best Oswald cartoon since 'The Shriek' and one of the best of the 1933 batch.

Yes even with it being practically plot-less, what there is of a story is thin and basically an excuse to string along gags. Other than that 'Five and Dime' doesn't have much wrong with it at all.

The animation is very good. There is the looser and more elaborate look of many of the previous Lantz era Oswald cartoons, but it was surprising and lovely to see parts of the animation reminding one of the animation style of the Disney years in places.

Likewise with the music and gags. The gags are some of the funniest and imaginatively timed of any Oswald cartoon seen recently, some of them are just hilarious and have just about enough variety to stop things getting repetitive. The music is infectious and lushly orchestrated, synchronisation looks natural and the sound is not as muffled as it can be.

Also loved the "Million Dollar Baby" musical number and the caricatures of Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and Jimmy Durante, silent and classic film fans will be in heaven.

In summary, very good and entertaining. 8/10 Bethany Cox