The Cinematheque

New Restorations

“If it can be done in real life, it isn’t animation.”

Dave Fleischer

The Fleischer brothers Max (producer) and Dave (director) made many of the wildest technical leaps in the early years of animation. Their patent of the rotoscope enabled fluid, exaggerated movement based on model actors, and their studio laid claim to making the first-ever sound cartoon. Yet what truly set the Fleischers apart was their surreal, no-holds-barred ideas. Why shouldn’t a cartoon evoke the crowded cities, popular culture, and chaotic change of the 1920s? Why not integrate three-dimensional models into two-dimensional planes, making for some of the most stunning tracking shots in any film of the era? And why not push animation to the point of animism? Here, any stone, building, or creature can shape-shift, sing, dance, or stammer in fear while the world transforms before their eyes. No small wonder that artists from Tashlin to Miyazaki found endless inspiration in these shorts, which star Betty Boop, Popeye the Sailor, and Clark Kent!

Bimbo’s Initiation • 1931 • 6 min. • DCP Mother Goose Land • 1933 • 7 min. • DCP A Dream Walking • 1934 • 8 min. • DCP Minnie the Moocher • 1932 • 8 min. • DCP The Kids in the Shoe • 1935 • 7 min. • DCP Stop That Noise • 1935 • 6 min. • DCP Hold It • 1938 • 8 min. • DCP Poor Cinderella • 1934 • 10 min. • DCP The Mechanical Monsters • 1941 • 9 min. • DCP Musical Memories • 1935 • 8 min. • 35mm

“I like Fleischer works. And when I say Fleischer, I do not mean Dave Fleischer the individual, but the whole animation staff … Several of the Popeye films are absolutely first-rate.”

Miyazaki Hayao

“Undoubtedly the most important independent cartoon studio—and Disney’s most feared rival … Fleischer broke considerable new ground, paving the way for the Bugs Bunny cartoons and influencing such present-day filmmakers as Miyazaki Hayao.”

Harvey Deneroff, Sight and Sound