Sky Scrappers (1928)
7/10
Sort of like Popeye....but without the spinach...and with rabbits!
6 June 2021
"Sky Scrappers" marks the end of Walt Disney's affiliation with Universal Studios. Just a short time earlier, Universal hired him and he came up with the delightful character, Oswald. Oswald was very successful....and Universal unwisely decided to cut Disney out of the films by hiring most of his animators and firing him! In the long run, this was a great thing, as it forced Walt to try other options....and his next projects, for his own studio, were Mickey Mouse cartoons. As for Oswald, after "Sky Scrappers" they made some decent shorts (helmed by Walter Lantz) but soon the character became much less funny and much less interesting....and eventually he just faded away because the studio and Lantz were inept when it came to this plucky character.

The story finds Oswald working at a construction site, building a skyscraper. When his lunch gets ruined, along comes a lady bunny and sells him one...and soon the pair start smooching. But then, Peg Leg Pete* sees her and tries to abduct her...and the rest is much like a Popeye cartoon, though Popeye still wasn't a film star for several more years.

This is not among Walt's best Oswald cartoons, but it is enjoyable and clever. More a curiosity than a great cartoon....and it was soon followed by classic Disney films, "Plane Crazy", "The Galloping Gaucho" and "Steamboat Willie".

*Pete would become a character in future Disney owned films, such as "Steamboat Willie", though he was changed to a cat. Here, he looks more wolf-like.
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