Dancing on the Moon

I realize that my summary is VERY judgmental, but most of the cartoons of the 30s were, compared to those of the 40s and 50s, really crappy. Most tended to have lots of singing and dancing as well as cutesy characters. Edgy, they were not! "Dancing on the Moon" is just such a cartoon--full of cutesy characters and jam-packed with LOTS of singing from start to finish. Folks of the 30s might have enjoyed this, but you'd be hard-pressed today to find any kids who would sit still for this boring stuff! And, if you showed it to prisoners, Amnesty International would raise a fuss!

The cartoon begins with a god-awful song ("Dancing on the Moon") and it continues throughout the film. There isn't a lot of plot--just lots of animal couples taking a Buck Rogers-style ship to the moon where they cavort about and smooch. That is, all but a sad cat whose girlfriend is left behind. That's all there is to it--cutesy animals singing and singing and singing. Yuck. The only reason I even gave this one a 3 is because the Cinecolor (another form of Two-Color Technicolor) was innovative and interesting and, as usual, the Fleischer studio did nice quality animation--even if it did make most things look orangy and greenish and the plot was pure torture.

I saw this cartoon before work many years ago on a classic movie channel. The music and lyrics stayed in my head for years as I desperately searched for it. I didn't know what it was or who Max Fleischer was. I now own his whole collection. For early cartoon buffs, this is a delight! What an artist Fleischer was! I would recommend the entire collection to anyone who enjoys this cartoon. So much better than the technologically advanced but flat, boring cartoons of today! These do indeed take you to "Dreamland." On a warm night, when the moon is full, you can still see the little rocket taking off, for a night of fun and frolic way up there. Go ahead... buy your ticket.

It's the story of dancing and singing animals who are making their honeymoon... on the moon.

There's a problem. The cat's wife miss the ship, and stay alone on earth.

It's quite cute but a little bit cruel in the end.

This must have looked pretty spectacular to audiences at the theater in 1935. The color animation is pretty good and it just has a lavish appearance to it and, as far as I know, most material on screen was in black-and-white, including cartoons.

We begin by spotting a big heart-shaped sign which advertises "Honeymoon Express To The Moon." It is next to a big rocket ship, which looked, by the way, very cool. This was the era of Flash Gordon, wasn't it? It reminded me of his old ship.

Hey, you can't beat the price for the trip: $1 to go dancing on the moon. Such a deal!

Cows, elephants, insects, giraffes, etc., are all on the ship, ready for a night of dancing. They are still in the wedding gowns and tuxes. The male giraffe tells his bride that this is a good place for necking and then she, with her longer neck, gives her Mae West impression with "Come up and see me some time." Other than that, there wasn't a lot of humor in here. One of the brides - a cat - was left at the gate, so to speak, so the husband pines away on the moon.

The music, which plays a large part of this, is right out of the early '30s Busby Berkeley musicals, except we had about eight couples dancing instead of hundreds.

In all, a curiosity piece but not funny and only mildly entertaining. The ending was awful and unsatisfying.

Various animal couples board a rocket ship to go to the moon on their honeymoons. It's one dollar per couple. The male cat gets on at the last second but the female cat gets left behind. The male cat gets very lonely as the other couples enjoy their trip. They return to storks bringing their babies except the cats.

It's a Dave Fleischer cartoon in color. It's a mix of animation and some real backgrounds with some shots of the miniature rocket. The mix is fine but it may work better as fully animated. The cat has to be the main character but he's not that compelling. He's crying in most of this. I do like the look of the rocket.