The Circus

During the 1920s, the best cartoons around were, in my opinion, the Ko-Ko the Clown cartoons from the Fleischer Brothers. They were well animated, they were fun and they were charming. However, before the film series got into gear, there were some earlier attempts that weren't quite as magical...including "The Circus". While this short does feature Ko-Ko and is pretty good for 1920, the short lacks a coherent story, charm and the high quality animation the Fleischers would be known for during the ensuing years.

The story is simple. Max says he's not finished with his cartoon and then you see it. It consists of Ko-Ko and a very poorly animated horse. Ko-Ko tries to get the horse to do tricks. Ultimately, it dies! Pretty much end of story.

This cartoon is mostly worth seeing because of its historical importance. While Ko-Ko himself is smoothly animated, the rest just looks second-rate and the story is dark and disappointing.

Dave Fleischer was responsible for many gems. Ones that were amusing and charming, though over-cuteness did come through in some efforts and the stories were always pretty thin, with appealing characters, outstanding music and visuals that were inventive and with innovative animation techniques.

Ko-Ko similarly was an always amiable character to watch and among the better recurring characters in Fleischer's early work. Likewise, his series of Out of the Inkwell cartoons were among the best early efforts of Fleischer and silent cartoons in general. Fleischer may not be at his very finest and there are other cartoons of his that fit the word gem more. It is impossible to dislike 'The Circus', which put a smile on my face and is very easy to be charmed by.

'The Circus', being an early effort, is not one of the funniest or most imaginative Ko-Ko efforts, when the humour would become more refined and inventive later.

There may not be much to the story, it is too short and it's easy to tell where some of the material is going to go, but like most Ko-Ko cartoons there is not much to criticise.

Love the interplay between the characters and the support is fun.

One expects the animation to be primitive and very low quality, judging by that it's the 20s when animation techniques were not as many, as refined, as ambitious and in their infancy. While Fleischer became more refined and inventive later certainly, the animation is surprisingly good with some nice visual wackiness and wit.

Pacing is bright and breezy and even though not hilarious or imaginative the humour is timed well and amuses. The danger and excitement of the setting is evoked well. Ko-Ko is a very likeable lead that engages throughout.

In conclusion, good. 7/10 Bethany Cox