Swing You Sinners!

They don't make them like this anymore. The complete surrealism of early Fleischer cartoons is working on all six cylinders here- everything has a life of its own and the very background pulsates to the jazzy soundtrack.

It starts out simply enough with some pretty basic cartoon gags, but it slowly builds to a completely mind-blowing finish: as if tombstones growing rubbery faces and singing weren't weird enough, once the scene switches to a barn, there's no turning back from this nightmarish world: a bag of grain becomes a pig, a rake becomes a scythe which then grows a mouth and speaks, the animation becomes more and more grotesque and the imagery becomes completely abstract, with random shapes and strange creatures forming from out of nowhere: a scat-singing quasi-frog, a big human face sprouting from a tree-like shape, until the final, macabre image of a skull zooming towards the camera.

It's hard to believe this dark, insane, Daliesque phantasma was a TYPICAL product of the Fleischer studio at this time, and even harder to believe that something like this was produced in an era before marijuana and LSD were commonly used. If you can find this cartoon, watch it- it might scare the hell out of you, but it's an absolutely incredible film!

In one of the Fleischer Brothers more famous Talkartoons was its September 1930 "Swing You Sinners!" Designed by a couple of newly-hired animators, Ted Sears and Willard Bowsky, the cartoon introduced a surreal quality to cartoons never seen on the screen before. Its final product was a testament to the Fleischers' more liberal outlook when they green-lit this wildly abstract cartoon. The short film looks at death and the moral consequences its lovable pup, Bimbo, has to pay for attempting illegal acts. The dog tries to steal a chicken, only be to chased by a cop into a cemetery. There, the ghosts of the dead rise up to dole out punishment to Bimbo. Motion Picture News wrote, "The clever cartoon pen of Max Fleischer again demonstrates itself in this Talkartoon. An off-stage chorus sings the lyrics to the rhythm of the action and the result is usually diverting."

The Fleischer Studio was undergoing a staff changeover at the time, where the more conservative animators were leaving for its competitors while younger, more daring animators were taking their place. The studio, which later introduced Popeye the Sailor Man to the public, became one of the leading cartoon creators for theaters. The publication 'Cracked' in 2012 listed "Swing You Sinners" as the top "Five Old Children's Cartoons Way Darker Than Most Horror Movies."

Bimbo, who gets his comeuppance for stealing chickens, encounters various talking gravestones with faces, many farm animals, a walking barn, and plenty of spooks and ghosts in one of the most musically jazzy surrealistic cartoons I've ever seen. Both the music and the animation makes you wonder how much drugs were taken to get the images that were presented here in the pre-Code era. Everything presented here is so unusual, so collage-like, that there's no way this would pass muster on Saturday morning television. Anyone with a love for both jazz and Fleischer animation should definitely check this one out. Hard to imagine Disney doing something like this, even when he made Fantasia.

Cracked Online recently posted an article listing five cartoons that are DARKER than most horror movies. "Swing You Sinners!" was #1 on the list! They also said "...there's no way it was created without massive doses of acid being pumped into everyone involved". And, after seeing it, I would have to agree.

This is an early talking cartoon from the Fleischer Studios--the same folks who made Popeye. This film stars Bimbo, Betty Boop's friend the dog. Bimbo tries to steal a chicken and is chased by a cop into the cemetery. There, a completely surreal nightmare occurs--as if drawn by Salvador Dali...on drugs! It's really hard to describe but is very imaginative, splashy, weird and morbid--with lots of corpses, ghosts, knives and razors trying to kill Bimbo and the like! And, by the end of the cartoon, you really have no idea whether or not poor Bimbo even survived!! Overall this IS a fun film with very catchy music but it's not something to show the kids...it's more a morbidly curious film to show older audiences to get their reactions!

THE STORY & GENRE -- Bimbo tries to rob a hen-house, then gets his comeuppance from ghosts & demons. Fleischer Studios.

THE VERDICT -- Wow, this is weird! I LOVE IT.

FREE ONLINE -- Two versions available. The original Paramount and the UM&M re-release. Online, the UM&M is clearer and there doesn't seem to be any content difference other than the title cards.