Jail Birds

Although Walt Disney lost almost all his staff when Charles Mintz stole Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from him, Ub Iwerks and Carl Stalling stayed loyal. However, when Disney refused to share the public credit for the success of Mickey Mouse, Iwerks and Stalling bolted for producer Pat Powers and a contract with MGM, for which they invented Flip the Frog, another all-purpose clown.

Alas, Flip never developed a definite personality and remained an all-purpose clown. This meant that none of the Flip cartoons are great. However, Iwerks was a good enough producer that some were very good, and this is one of the best. Flip is a prison guard. When one his his convicts escapes, Flip goes after him in a series of beautifully timed and executed jokes, abetted by some clean black-and-white illustrations and Stalling's spot-on musical cues -- Stalling had invented "mickey-mousing" in which the music exactly matched the actions. There's nothing ground-breaking about this cartoon, but it is a fine example of what skilled, dedicated craftsmen can do with a good budget.

Ub Iwerks's Flip the Frog series of cartoons was short-lived, only lasting from 1930 to 1933. On the most part the Flip the Frog cartoons are not great or cartoon/animated masterpieces and it is sort of understandable as to why Flip didn't make it bigger. However they are far from terrible ones either and do hold some interest.

Despite not being historically significant like 'Fiddlesticks' was, 'Jail Birds' for me is among the best Flip the Frog cartoons alongside up to this point (so in correlation with the previous cartoons) 'Ragtime Romeo', 'The New Car' and particularly 'Cuckoo Murder Case'. It is a good cartoon, it is not perfect but there are things here that improve quite a bit and done much better than many other Flip the Frog cartoons.

A lot of good things in 'Jail Birds'. The animation is good, with beautifully detailed backgrounds, nice shading and characters that aren't drawn too crudely. The music makes even more of an impact, it is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, full of lively energy and not only adds brilliantly to the action it enhances it.

There are more sight gags than a lot of the previous Flip the Frog cartoons, and they are very funny, beautifully timed and at times suitably bizarre. This is easily one of the funniest cartoons in the series. There is a nice natural charm, a good deal of zest and it does a better job than most Flip the Frog cartoons in not falling into sentimentality or cutesiness. The convict is good fun, a good contrast to Flip and actually having a more colourful personality.

Flip is a bit bland personality-wise though and the story is very slight and doesn't always find it easy to sustain the cartoon's length.

Overall, one of Flip's best. 8/10 Bethany Cox