A Wet Knight

A solid Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon as Oswald and Bunny go canoing, it starts to rain and they decide to take shelter -- in a haunted house, of course. There is a long tradition of scary children's cartoons, but they began shrinking in importance by the mid-1930s in favor of funny ones until only Columbia maintained a regular tradition of Hallowe'en cartoons and Warners would start to do routines in which Bugs Bunny would treat the scary monster -- in tennis shoes -- with no more respect than Elmer Fudd.

But they're still a lively genre at this stage, and this one mixes the scary and funny gags at a brisk clip -- and supplement it all with a music score in which piano and xylophone dominate. Definitely worth your time.

Despite Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his cartoons being popular and well received at the time, they have been vastly overshadowed over time by succeeding animation characters. It is a shame as, while not cartoon masterpieces, they are fascinating for anybody wanting to see what very old animation looked like.

The 1932 batch of Oswald cartoons, despite being of an uneven overall standard, has generally been far better than the 1931 group, of which only six were above average or more and the rest were average at best and a few less than that. Of the 1932 batch, 'Wins Out' and 'Let's Eat' were mediocre and 'The Winged Horse' was on the forgettable side, but 'Grandma's Pet', 'Beau and Arrows' and 'Mechanical Man' were good.

Like as was said with the previous cartoon 'Cat Nipped', 'A Wet Knight' is up there as one of the better 1932 cartoons and is one of Oswald's overall best in a while, comparing extremely favourably as far as Lantz-era Oswald cartoons go. The story is not exactly special and structurally on the thin side, but with the execution of the gags that is not as big a problem as it has been in previous early 30s cartoons.

Best assets are the gags and the music. The gags are some of the funniest and imaginatively timed of the 1932 cartoons, so refreshing after seeing many previous early 30s Oswald cartoons where the humour has been hit and miss and not particularly funny. Nothing feels random or repetitive. The music is infectiously jazzy and dynamic as well as lushly orchestrated, synchronising very well with the music. The synchronisation is remarkably natural.

Also good is the animation. It may occasionally lack refinement, but most of it is smooth and detailed with Oswald's movements, gestures and expressions still very much natural, like the generally freer, more elaborate and faster look of a good deal of Oswald cartoons at this time. Drawing has occasional crudeness but is mostly fine and transitions don't feel as choppy and incomplete as some of the worst Oswald cartoons.

Standing out too is the atmosphere, remarkably atmospheric, in a creepy and strangely surreal way, for an Oswald cartoon. Oswald is very likable and Kitty is adorable.

Overall, very enjoyable and atmospheric, nothing at all wet here. 8/10 Bethany Cox