Swing You Sinners!

If you are a fan of fleischer studios cartoons this one is a must watch. It's very dark and surreal, it has quite a good score to it and it is very catchy.

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.

If you're a fan of animation, this is a must watch. The animation itself is perfect and there's so much going on with such cool designs on par with other works by Fleischer's.

The sound design is perfect with an awesome song to boot.

There isn't much story at all, but it flow seamlessly and it really doesn't need any at all.