Max Fleischer was responsible for many gems. Ones that were amusing and charming, though over-cuteness did come through in some efforts and the stories were always pretty thin, with appealing characters, outstanding music and visuals that were inventive and with innovative animation techniques.
He may not be at his very best here, but 'The Tantalising Fly' lives up to its name and is among his better very early efforts. Love the character of the clown (an early version of one of the studio's better early recurring characters Ko-Ko), as well as the amusing fly and clever use of Max. The interaction between the clown and Max is a delight and very imaginative and clever.
Sure, there is not much special or anything much for that matter to the story, which is generally best to be forgotten.
Everything else though is done so brilliantly that any issues had with the story don't stay for long.
One expects the animation to be primitive and very low quality. While Fleischer became more refined and inventive later certainly, the animation is surprisingly pretty good with some nice visual wackiness and wit.
'The Tantalising Fly' is lively in pace and the bizarre and wild nature of the humour is done very imaginatively and never less than fun to watch.
Summing up, tantalising indeed. 9/10 Bethany Cox
