MovieChat Forums > Merbabies (1938) Discussion > What did you rate ''Merbabies'' (1938)?

What did you rate ''Merbabies'' (1938)?

posted 15 years ago by J. Spurlin
8 replies | jump to latest

I rated this lovely, if a bit too cutesy, undersea fantasy 7/10. What did you rate it? What did you think of it?

I'm curious about this trivia item:

Produced not at the Disney Studio but at the Harman-Ising Studio. Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, who worked for Walt Disney in the 1920s, had been let go of their contract with MGM and needed work. Disney, in turn, needed help finishing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. So Harman and Ising lent Disney their facilities, and in turn produced this cartoon for release under the Disney banner.

Does that mean the Harman-Ising studio made this film with no help from the Disney people?

While this cartoon is not among the best "Silly Symphony" cartoons, it's far better than any Harman-Ising film I've seen. It's true that Harman-Ising made lush, expensive-looking cartoons. But none of them have the charm of this film.

...Justin

[–] Sweet_Melissa 15 years ago

7/10 from me, too, even thought I'm all about cutesy. It was one of the first Silly Symphonies I watched when I made it a quest to watch every film from the series, and I rated it higher at first, before seeing what else the series had to offer. After seeing other pieces I changed my rating because neither the music nor the animation is really outstanding compared to others. Still, I didn't rate any of the 75 films lower than 6/10; it's a fantastic series overall.

It appears that the trivia fact you quoted is at least partially correct. According to disneyshorts.org, Merbabies was indeed "farmed out" to the Harman-Ising Studio: http://www.disneyshorts.org/years/1938/merbabies.html

I haven't seen anything to suggest that Disney didn't have a hand in supervising production, though. The Big Cartoon Database lists Walt as the film's producer and Rudolf Ising as one of its directors, just like IMDb has. Wikipedia says that Harman and Ising were "freelancers" on the project. Regardless of whether Disney actually had a hand in it, Merbabies fits in quite well with the rest of the series.

[–] J. Spurlin 15 years ago

Regardless of whether Disney actually had a hand in it, Merbabies fits in quite well with the rest of the series.

I think so, too. Too well for it to be a totally, or even mainly, non-Disney product.

The characterizations are too good and too varied. The gags are too well-conceived and well-executed. It's just too good. A Harman-Ising might be able to pass as a Disney for a few seconds, but not much longer.

There is one notable flaw, though. It starts at 1:15: youtube.com/watch?v=4yuFin91uk8. Because all the merbabies look identical, it isn't clear, when the camera cuts to a third character, that it really is a third character. The first time I saw it, it looked as if the camera was cutting to a closer shot of the character on the left. I had to watch it again before it was clear there were supposed to be three merbabies in that splashing scene.

...Justin

[–] Sweet_Melissa 15 years ago

That all the Merbabies look identical is definitely a problem. I didn't like the overuse of diagonal wipes between scenes, either. I shouldn't even notice something like that.

[–] J. Spurlin 15 years ago

It's interesting that Disney (or whoever) chose to have the merbabies look identical. That had to save money, but Disney was the pioneer in making characters distinctive. Any other studio would have had three identical pigs and six identical dwarfs (along with a seventh one that they allowed to be different).

Are all the Water Babies the same in Water Babies (1935)?

...Justin

[–] Sweet_Melissa 15 years ago

The Water Babies are similar looking, but they have varying hair colors. There is no mistaking one character for another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imOL1gImZb8

[–] J. Spurlin 15 years ago

I rated that one 7/10. It was funnier; and it made the wise decision to give the babies different hair colors. I liked the ending of Merbabies better. What a haunting idea to have the babies disintegrate once they hit the surface of the water!

By the way, I agree that it's impossible to rate any of the Silly Symphonies lower than 6. In fact, when comparing them to the 1930s output of the other studios, it's tempting to give them all a 9 or 10.

...Justin

[–] Sweet_Melissa 15 years ago

In fact, when comparing them to the 1930s output of the other studios, it's tempting to give them all a 9 or 10.

So true. The more animation I see from that time period, the more obvious it is that all the other studios were playing catch-up to -- or even flat-out copying -- Disney; and the Silly Symphonies were the best of what they were offering at the time.

[–] J. Spurlin 15 years ago

Fleischer, with its Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons, was the only one offering something different; and even that studio succumbed to Disney-imitation by the second half of the 1930s.

Everyone else was doing cheap Mickey Mouses and pale Silly Symphonies.

...Justin