Gandy the Goose

The Terrytoons are oddly interesting, mainly for anybody wanting to see (generally) older cartoons made by lesser known and lower-budget studios. They are a mixed bag in quality, with some better than others, often with outstanding music and with some mild amusement and charm and variable in animation, characterisation and content.

1938, like all the other years for Terrytoons, saw a hit and miss batch, more so than the other years even. Of which 'Gandy the Goose' is one of the middling ones ranking it in correlation with the rest of the Terrytoons and one of the middling 1938 cartoons. It is an unexceptional, nothing exactly special cartoon and has the same amount of problems as it has the amount of strengths. 'Gandy the Goose' is also watchable, completest sake is the main reason to see it but it's not the only reason.

Best asset is the music, which predictably is incredible. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. The ambitious, elaborate detail in the backgrounds is still great to see, as is the comparatively improved fluidity of drawing and movement, and some synchronisation in movement and sound is neat.

A few amusing moments, some imaginative and there is some zest and natural charm, and parts of it and the basic set up are nicely done. The wolf is a lot of cunning fun and interacts well.

Outside of the backgrounds and more fluidity than seen previously however, a few of the transitions are not always polished.

Likewise, the story is paper thin and formulaic with not an awful lot to it (like the cartoon in general). Gags aren't enough, they are not always very organised (fairly scattershot), and there is not much especially memorable about some and some don't serve much point. The cartoon tends to veer towards being too cute and a lot of it is pretty predictable from being a familiar premise for Terrytoons. Some choppiness too and the cartoon feels very old fashioned with Gandy in his debut appearance not being the most appealing of characters.

All in all, watchable. 5/10 Bethany Cox

The first of the Gandy Goose cartoons is not a particularly auspicious beginning. There's little of the surrealism or byplay with Sour Puss that makes him my favorite Terrytoons character. Instead, in this one he's a typical Terry character, meant to appeal to small children. He's got an Ed Wynn voice and "perfect fool" character. He looks a bit like Terry's staff was looking for a variation on a star character in a juvenile variation on Daffy Duck.

The story is a typical "kids, stay at home and listen to your folks" story. He leaves home and almost gets cooked for the next day's dinner by a wolf. It's a competent but uninspiring cartoon.