In my sizeable (thus far) collection of 16mm films I found this short cartoon from 1936 entitled "Novelty Shop", running about six minutes with the print being black and white (I am aware other viewers have seen the official color version as well). This film had been unknowingly given to me in a lot of around forty films of various types for a Christmas present, and despite having been labeled as consisting of mostly educational films, the lot had just about everything in it - from random peoples' home movie footage to Castle and Official Film releases. I was pleasantly surprised with the discovery of this one, as it is not every day I get one of these added to my collection.
"The Novelty Shop" is an entertaining and humorous old cartoon, despite the fact it lacks any real originality. The premise is one that had plenty of variations done on it, a story in which the owner of a toy shop leaves for the night and the toys inside come to life and start dancing, singing and playing until the owner returns. That's about all the plot to this one, although there is certainly enough humor and creativity (not to mention skill) in the animation to make it enjoyable. The most notable thing would be its cartoon portrayal of popular comedy acts such as the Three Stooges; others noted the Marx Brothers and Laurel & Hardy were included, although I am not familiar with these. Overall, a fun watch which I am glad to own a print of, if clearly just another run-of-the-mill use of the 'living toys' concept.
"The Novelty Shop" is an entertaining and humorous old cartoon, despite the fact it lacks any real originality. The premise is one that had plenty of variations done on it, a story in which the owner of a toy shop leaves for the night and the toys inside come to life and start dancing, singing and playing until the owner returns. That's about all the plot to this one, although there is certainly enough humor and creativity (not to mention skill) in the animation to make it enjoyable. The most notable thing would be its cartoon portrayal of popular comedy acts such as the Three Stooges; others noted the Marx Brothers and Laurel & Hardy were included, although I am not familiar with these. Overall, a fun watch which I am glad to own a print of, if clearly just another run-of-the-mill use of the 'living toys' concept.