The Quail Hunt

Tex Avery co-directs his third film for Lantz, still uncredited. He would soon jump to Schlesinger and begin a career that could be called "distinguished", except it's inappropriate. So let's call him a genius and be done with it.

In actuality, the director of a cartoon is more akin to a producer than what we would call a director for a live-action movie. He sets the stage for the animators and allows them to execute their sequences. Given that there is no exact equivalence and the credited director was head of the studio, let's consider the film.

It's about Oswald and his dog who go out quail hunting. Oswald takes a nap. The quail don't take things lightly and counter-attack. It can be viewed as an early version of Avery's later THE CRACKPOT QUAIL, but really, it's like all those cartoons in which Elmer Fudd goes hunting and runs into Bugs or Daffy. The result is a movie that is very good, but is more interesting for where it would lead.

Despite Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his cartoons being popular and well received at the time, they have been vastly overshadowed over time by succeeding animation characters. It is a shame as, while not cartoon masterpieces, they are fascinating for anybody wanting to see what very old animation looked like.

Oswald in the Disney years saw mostly good to very good cartoons, and while the Winkler years had some duds there were also cartoons as good as the best of the Disney years. The 1929-1930 batches of Walter Lantz-directed Oswald cartoons were a mixed bag, with some good, some forgettable and not much special and a few mediocre. The 1931 batch was mostly underwhelming, with only 6 out of 18 cartoons being above average or more. The 1932 batch had a few not so good, though the cartoons in question were nothing compared to the worst of the previous 3 years, cartoons, but most were decent to good and some even very good. The 1933 batch is one of the most consistent, with the weakest 'Beau Best' still being decent. The 1934 batch were mostly nice and decent if unexceptional, with a few average ones and 'Sky Larks' and 'Toyland Premiere'.

Of the 1935 Oswald cartoons available to watch, all so far have been of good quality, this and 'Towne Hall Follies' being very good even. It would lead to better things concept-wise, with some of the cartoon on the predictable and thin side, but the result is one of the better later Oswald cartoons.

However, the animation and gags are particularly good in 'The Quail Hunt'. Once again the animation is terrific, it is elaborate, beautifully and cleverly drawn and rich in detail in the backgrounds, some of it in the gags is quite imaginative too.

Gags are inventive and enormous fun and there is plenty of them, which, as was said for 'Towne Hall Follies', is a nice change from previous 1935 cartoons where there could have been more of them that could have been funnier.

The characters are endearing and enjoyable, with a great foil in the quail. Also love the music, which is very characterful, bouncy and beautifully and lushly orchestrated and performed. The cartoon is fun and charming to watch and the action synchronises beautifully, also avoiding the trap of being too saccharine like too many of the 1934 cartoons did.

Overall, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox