I Like Mountain Music

During the 1930s, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising made a lot of cartoons...mostly for Warner Brothers and later for MGM. While I respect the quantity of work they did and the artistry, their films generally are terrible when seen today. Much of it is because their style of cartoons shorts are very dated...with tons of singing and cutesy characters. And, incidentally, when they left each studio, the studio's output improved considerably. For example, just after they left, Warner Brothers introduced its best characters and silliest cartoons, such as Bugs Bunny.

Imagine my surprise when I watched "I Like Mountain Music" when it turned out to be reasonably good. Much of this is because it wasn't a cutesy film starring the likes of Bosco nor Snuffles--two saccharine and annoying regulars in their films. Instead, the cartoon is a familiar thing...but not for bad reasons. In this case, various magazine covers and photos come to life. Included among the many characters are some real life ones, George Arliss, Jack Dempsey, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Eddie Cantor, Will Rogers, Sonja Henie, Ed Wynn, Edward G. Robinson, and Benito Mussolini, all immortalized in cartoon form. One of them, the final one, is very inexplicable...though back in 1933, Mussolini was a well respected man across the globe.

So is it funny? Not especially. But it's not annoying and the singing is kept to a minimum. So, in Harman-Ising terms, it's a winner.

There were quite a few cartoons built around the premise of covers coming to life on books/magazines at a bookstore/newsstand. They generally had caricatures of stars of the period and/or fictional characters, as is the case here. There's usually a villan, which allows for good guys and chase scenes and a song or three gets sung. This is an early example and though it has moments, it isn't as good as some of the others. Well worth seing anyway. Recommended to anyone who likes the old black and white cartoons

This cartoon is included in the "Flying Down To Rio" DVD. It is a nice little cartoon with good music and gags. A bonus is spotting the celebrity caricatures. I rated this an 8 out of 10. It is also a little naughty with one of the girls in silhouette and you can see she is quite anatomically correct. :-) All of the celebrities utter a quote that is more or less instantly identifiable with them. It would be great if more of the Harmon - Ising cartoons were available as an individual DVD. They contained some memorable early animation characters as well as some very snappy musical arrangements. This cartoon is definitely worth watching. I highly recommend it.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera, Studio Ghibli and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. With significantly broader knowledge of different directors, animation styles and studios, actually appreciate and love it even more now.

As has been said a few times already, 'I Like Mountain Music' is fairly typical of Harmon-Ising, leaning towards the cute kind of cartoon with a lot of sentiment in alternative to the laugh a minute and hilarious kind, the latter being the one that a lot seem to prefer (understandably, though am hardly biased against the former). This approach has varied with Ising. In some instances it has been very sweet and charming, in others it can be cloying and too cutesy. Generally 'I Like Mountain Music' belongs in the former category, despite the danger of falling into the latter with the premise.

'I Like Mountain Music' has a lot to like although not a great cartoon, not one to completely overlook if not a cartoon to watch repeatedly.

Yes it gets a bit too saccharine in places, like with the lyrics, and it is best perhaps to not talk about the story because there really isn't much of one. Not all the characters, while charming enough, are particularly memorable.

What 'I Like Mountain Music' does so well however eclipses these problems. The animation is rich in detail for design and backgrounds, vibrant in colour and crisp. Composer for the prime-era 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons and regular Tex Avery composer Scott Bradley provides a lush and atmospheric music score. The voice acting is also on point.

It is hard not to fall in love with the fun characters even if they are not especially distinctive, and it has enough likeability and personality to not be dull. 'I Like Mountain Music' is rich in natural sweet charm and some very imaginative ideas and visuals. There is not much hilarious and the cartoon's hardly laugh a minute, but a good deal of it does raise a smile. The pace avoids being draggy and the parodies are great fun, though familiarity is in order.

In conclusion, nice and well made but not a masterpiece. 7/10 Bethany Cox