Ko-Ko's Hot Ink

The character of Koko is likely recognized from his appearances in Betty Boop cartoons, if he's recognized at all. But he started out as a character in the Out Of the Inkwell series as a silent character (actually, he "spoke" by word balloons, but the shorts were silent) with a dog. These cartoons more or less followed a pattern-a live action sequence where either one or both of the Flieschers (or occasionally some other person) would bring Koko "out of the inkwell" (i.e., draw him, usually with a creative entrance) and the bulk of the cartoon would have Koko and/or Fitz the dog acting and reacting to a specific set of circumstances. Here, Max draws his characters with heated ink, which is obviously not comfortable for them, as they spend the time mainly trying to cool off, with comic results, if little success. Intensely visual (for obvious reasons) and often surreal. Fascinating to watch. Well worth tracking down. Recommended.

When this silent cartoon begins, Max Fleischer is being a bit of a jerk towards Ko-Ko and his pup by putting the bottle of ink over a bunson burner-type set-up. Naturally, the cartoon characters become hot and beg Max to give them some relief. Max, being a jerk, tells them to break a pile of rocks he just drew and then he'll draw them a swimming hole. The pair do...and Max draws them a lake with boiling water! Tired of being jerked around by Max, the pair leave the cartoon and find a public swimming pool...and decide to get their revenge on Max through his girlfriend who is swimming there. What's next?

This is yet another cute short from the Fleischer brothers. As you'd expect, they integrated live action with cartoons quite well, the film has a nice sense of humor and it holds up well being a mostly silent film. I say mostly because like many from 1928-29, sound effects were added along with music.

Max has a sadistic side as he manipulates the world of Ko-Ko and Fitz. The become victims of "hot ink." They are put out in a hot place where the sun has been drawn with the aforementioned ink. They ask Max to let them go swimming, but he makes them break rocks in order to get their wish. When they accomplish this task, he makes them a lake, but it is boiling. They do exact some revenge. This one is quite creative.

Dave 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.

Ko-Ko similarly was an always amiable character to watch and among the better recurring characters in Fleischer's early work. Likewise, his series of Out of the Inkwell cartoons were among the best early efforts of Fleischer and silent cartoons in general. Fleischer may not be at his very finest and there are other cartoons of his that fit the word gem more. It is impossible to dislike 'Ko-Ko's Hot Ink', which put a smile on my face and is very easy to be charmed by.

There may not be much to the story and it's easy to tell where some of the material is going to go, but like most Ko-Ko cartoons there is not much to criticise.

A lot is done very well to brilliantly however. The seamless blend of animation and live action and the delightful interplay are obvious good things, but they're not the only ones.

One expects the animation to be primitive and very low quality, judging by that it's the 20s when animation techniques were not as many, as refined, as ambitious and in their infancy. While Fleischer became more refined and inventive later certainly, the animation is surprisingly good with some nice visual wackiness and wit.

It all goes at a bright and breezy pace, while there are a fair share of funny and suitably wild (not always imaginative, but always well timed and clever) moments and the surreal elements are interesting visually and suitably weird. Koko as ever is very likeable and amusing and Fitz and Max are similarly great.

All in all, another very good Ko-Ko cartoon. 8/10 Bethany Cox