Thursday, October 4, 2007

Flip the Frog in "Africa Squeaks"

Here's a third and final Ub Iwerks post for some time. In case you missed my previous posts dedicated to the less known work of this great animation pioneer, take a look here:

Reducing Creme (Willie Whopper, 1934)
The Frog Pond (Color Rhapsody, 1938)



OK, we're talking about Flip the Frog today, and you probably know everything about this character that seem to be more popular among the animation aficionados today, than during his brief screen life (1930-33). One of the reasons for Flip's cult status and popularity today are several outrageous pre-code cartoons ( The Office Boy , Room Runners , Soda Squirt) that contained sexual jokes and innuendos, some mild cursing and adult situations. Africa Squeaks belongs to these "naughty" and risque cartoons, and as you can guess from the title, it is an exponent of the popular "cannibal cartoon" genre. Of course, it's rather politically incorrect and rarely seen, and it was not included in the comprehensive Ub Iwerks DVD compilations Cartoons That Time Forgot vol.1 & 2. The only place where you can currently find this cartoon is the French complete Flip the Frog DVD set released couple of years ago by mk2 company.
This well animated and highly entertaining cartoon was released on October 17th, 1931.








































Here's a typical Ub Iwerks moment. He animated many similar scenes in his Disney cartoons (Skeleton Dance for example).