The Tree's Knees (1931)

Must See Movie...

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The Bosko cartoons may not be animation masterpieces, but they are fascinating as examples of Looney Tunes in their early days before the creation of more compelling characters and funnier and more creative cartoons.Generally, from personal opinion, 'The Tree's Knees' is one of the weaker Bosko cartoons. As ever with a Bosko cartoon, the story is slight, would actually agree that it's even more slight and more samey than usual and the slightest parts are thin as ice. There are some inventive gags here, but they don't come consistently and others are forgettable and tired in timing. Some are very crude and predictable as well.Another issue is Bosko himself, not an interesting character and not a particularly endearing one either. The supporting characters are not too memorable, and their material is too inconsistent to make more of an impression. The pacing is rather pedestrian, and the cartoon in its slightest moments is pretty dull.On the plus side, the animation is not bad at all. Not exactly refined but fluid and crisp enough with some nice detail, it is especially good in the meticulous backgrounds and some remarkably flexible yet natural movements for Bosko.The music doesn't disappoint either, its infectious energy, rousing merriment, lush orchestration and how well it fits with the animation is just a joy.In conclusion, one of the weaker and more forgettable Bosko cartoons. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Bosko is about to cut down a tree when a squirrel pops out of its hole and begs him to spare it. The anthropomorphic tree cowers as little trees gather around to protect it. Everyone is relieved when Bosko pulls a harmonica out of his pants and plays. The little trees dance around the big one as if it were a maypole. "Ain't that cute!" gushes Bosko. But one little tree blows him a raspberry. Bosko gives chase, grabs the tree and pulls off its bark. The poor tree shivers with cold. Bosko grudgingly gives the tree back its bark. The tree puts it back on as if it were an overcoat, then ungratefully kicks Bosko in the shin. The tree throws up his behind at Bosko as a gesture of contempt and walks away. "Well, shut my mouf!" exclaims Bosko.Quickly recovering from his anger, Bosko takes his ax and goes whistling through the forest. He is charmed by a mother bird singing "Rock-a-Bye Baby" to her baby birds as a tree rocks them in their nest. "Ain't that cute!" he gushes again, just as a bird dropping falls on his hat. Disgusted, he flicks it off and then looks up. He sees a bird on a branch above him chewing tobacco. Bosko barely avoids the next "dropping" as the bird spits out its juice again.Suddenly, a butterfly goes by and Bosko happily tries to catch it. The butterfly leads him to six trees lined up in a row. Bosko plays the trees as if they were harp strings. Another tree, with the long "hair" typical of musicians, pulls out three tiny branches from the side of its face and plays them like violin strings.And so on. Only a few cartoons after "Ain't Nature Grand!" (1931) -- where he was a fisherman who felt sorry for a fish -- Bosko again spares the thing he had set out to kill and goes cavorting through the woods instead, making music. Again he gushes over nature and again nature returns his enthusiasm with contempt. (You can hardly blame it.) "The Tree's Knees" has a laugh or two, but it's mainly crude and silly.

Since the previous reviewer mentioned most of the story and gags, I'll just mention once again that the two mice in this short-as in many Harmon-Ising cartoons-bear a resemblance to a certain Famous Mouse from Disney except this time, besides the fact they are so small, they also wear no clothes! Most of the gags are indeed pretty unusual by today's standards though many of these types were common in many '30s cartoons particularly the musical ones. Watching this, I was reminded of Flowers and Trees, Disney's first three-strip Technicolor cartoon that won the Oscar two years later. Mainly because of the human-like trees and the way they made music. So, in summation, The Tree's Knees is highly recommended for anyone interested in early Warner Bros. animation before Tex Avery and many of the characters created in his wake gave the studio a new attitude...

This short is a fairly interesting early Bosko, with a lot of the typical types of gags found in these shorts. I will discuss some specifics from this cartoon, so this is a spoiler warning: Bosko starts out with the intention of chopping down a tree, but decides instead to spare it when a lot of baby trees plead with him and he plays a harmonica and the small trees dance, the first of several musical interludes (most of them on the unusual side, which happens a lot in Bosko shorts).Bosko turns several small trees into strings and plays a tune on them. Not to be outdone, an old tree makes like Isaac Stern and his playing is so lovely, a goodly number of tree start crying (particularly a "weeping willow"-the character design here is exceptionally nice, by the way). The strangest musical gag involves two mice forming a phonograph and playing a "record" while a tree dances. There really are some nice bits, although the short tends to wander a bit.One of the more interesting Bosko shorts and well worth a look if you get the opportunity.