You're an Education

Have You Got Any Castles and Book Revue are classics and proof that the object-come-to-life formula can work. It still does work in You're An Education, just not as well. Travel brochures are not the most exciting of objects to base a cartoon on admittedly, but You're An Education does a credible job still. The cartoon could have been paced more crisply, and the middle section is not quite as inspired or as funny as the beginning and end, it drags a little here and the gags are much stronger at the start and end. The animation is beautifully drawn though and the colours are done very charmingly. The music is put to really clever use, maintaining the character of every gag, place and character it's accompanying and making it sound good. The gags are on the most part very well done, they come thick and fast at the beginning and they work, but the cleverest part is the final one, also where the visuals are the most impressive. There isn't much of a story to speak of, in fact You're An Education is pretty much plot less, but it doesn't come across as too much of an excuse to string the gags together and it could have been easier to do that. The characters and locations are colourful, and we have exuberant vocals from Billy Bletcher and especially Mel Blanc. Overall, good entertainment but not the best example of the formula that it bases itself around. 8/10 Bethany Cox

If you don't know, Warner Bros did this tradition with Looney Tunes where products like books, groceries or even billboards come to life in the rain or at night and they dance and sing. The animation in this is pretty good but this is pretty boring and dull and I almost fell asleep while watching this. There are better Frank Tashlin cartoons out there like "Now that Summer is Gone" or "Plane Daffy" but at least it's... watchable. Overall, this is really really bland but it's kinda okay. (Certainly doesn't deserve a 10/10 though like "What's Opera, Doc?" or "Rabbit of Seville" which are both really great cartoons.)

Watching "You're an Education" in the 21st century, it's probably most recognizable that many of the images are pretty racist. As long as we understand that, it's OK to luxuriate in the cartoon itself. This was one of many shorts portraying inanimate objects (books, food, clothes) coming to life. In this case, travel brochures interact with each other, until the Thief of Baghdad steals some diamonds from Transvaal. There are plenty of jokes along the way: the Russian Steppes are a staircase, the Cape of Good Hope is a real cape, and Italy turns into a boot.

So, it's an OK time. But just realize that some of the images are pretty racist.

Frank Tashlin's 'You're an Education' is another of the many inanimate-objects-come-to-life cartoons, the final of three directed by Tashlin in 1938. In this case, the publications suddenly becoming animated are brochures in a travel agents, leading to a long stretch of country-specific musical cues. In the tradition of the format, a villain emerges towards the end, in this case the Thief of Baghdad. 'You're an Education' is by far the worst of Tashlin's 1938 trilogy, lacking decent gags or any opportunity to really build up much energy. It's not as attractive as the so-so 'Speaking of the Weather' and it falls a long, long way short of the great 'Have You Got Any Castles' (which 'You're an Education' actually references in the opening minute). This sub-genre of cartoons often depended on the potential of the inanimate objects that formed its central concept and, frankly, travel brochures is a dull starting point. I have a soft spot for these type of cartoons since they can be spectacular when done well (the aforementioned 'Have You Got Any Castles' and the pinnacle of the genre, Bob Clampett's masterful 'Book Revue') but 'You're an Education' is probably my least favourite of the lot.