I've Got to Sing a Torch Song (1933)

Simply Perfect

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera, Studio Ghibli and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. With significantly broader knowledge of different directors, animation styles and studios, actually appreciate and love it even more now.'I've Got to Sing a Torch Song' may not one of my favourite cartoons or an amazing one, there are funnier, more inventive and livelier cartoons about. Not that 'I've Got to Sing a Torch Song' is devoid of any of those things, just that other cartoons do it better. It is a lot of fun still and is very charming with a lot to like. Deserving to be more widely known, having come from a period with stiff and more well known competition from major pioneers in animation.It is very flimsy in story sure and is fairly familiar, it is not hard to figure out how the cartoon was going to end.Did feel that the cartoon was slightly over-cluttered and it is agreed that familiarity is in order with the caricatures, references and their antics. This was a case of recognising some and having no clue what others were, making the content/humour somewhat hit and miss.On the other hand, the animation is great. Full of attractive shading, meticulously detailed backgrounds, smooth movement and crisply drawn character designs, one is convincingly immersed in the bugtown world. The music is lush and full of energy, with an infectious song. Many of the things shown here is impressive in how it synchronises with the music and animated dazzles and amazes.Much of 'I've Got to Sing a Torch Song' is amusing, despite the content being hit and miss, with some wit and it never tries too hard to be cute. The charm factor is high and the caricatures and references that were recognised by me were really fun to spot and well incorporated. All in all, worthwhile for a look of what it was like in the 1930s, and very interesting in that aspect, but didn't blow me away and it is dependent on how one is familiar with what is being referenced. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Like others have already said, this cartoon is a fine example of the difference between "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies". A lot of people will say that music videos didn't come around until the 1980s, with the airing of MTV, but in reality these could be considered the earliest forms of music video. While the actual singer or band that wrote the song doesn't perform it, it should be noted that the film/record company, Warner Brothers, owned the rights to the song, so they could use it in any way they saw fit, which was a common practice at the time when this cartoon was produced, including having it performed by various celebrity caricatures, a bunch of babies (Shuffle Off to Buffalo), or two foxes and a few billboards (Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!). They could even alter the lyrics to match the plot or theme for the film in which the song would be reused (see: Shuffle Off to Buffalo, I Love to Singa), as a way to get audiences to purchase the records or sheet music for that song, and play it themselves. Back then you could buy song books or subscribe to a monthly magazine that featured sheet music and lyrics to popular songs of the time.

They didn't have videos way back in the 1930s, and they didn't have television, either. However, you can still do aerobics from a voice on the radio encouraging and instructing you. That's what we see in the opening minutes as people of all ages are seen exercising in unique and clever ways. One guys is doing pulleys from the girdle on his fat wife! An old rich guy is doing arm exercises while reading ticker tape on the stock market quotations. There are a lot of these type of things, all in a short space of time.Then the story, if you want to call it that, switches from aerobics to celebrities as we see movie stars and others on the radio and people listening to it from all over the globe, from Shanghai to Alaska. Some of the celebrities I couldn't recognize, making this a cartoon more for folks back in the that era.This cartoon was a showcase by Warner Brothers for some of its stars and the title song comes from "Gold Diggers Of 1933," one of their films.

This short doesn't really have a plot to speak of, but is instead a series of sight gags, celebrity caricatures and a version of the song which provides the title. Consider this a spoiler warning: The cartoon is a bunch of gags loosely connected by radios. The viewer is bounced around the world from one radio to the next. Some of the bits would probably be offensive to some in this day and age, like scenes involving Chinese policemen and African natives and a slightly risqué (for 1933, anyway) scene with a harem girl.There are also celebrity caricatures, including Ben Bernie, a takeoff on Bing Crosby (here, he's Cros Bingby), Greta Garbo, Zazu Pitts and Mae West, plus quite a few who clearly were caricatures whom I didn't recognize. Oh-there's also a scene where Jimmy Cagney and an actress have a bit together.The performance of "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" is done by, among others, Garbo, Pitts and West and the end title has Garbo saying, "That's all, folks!" All in all, a nice little short, if nothing special. Well worth watching once. Recommended.