Onions...boy, those old-time animators never stopped using their imaginations for a minute, did they! It does make one wonder, just what the heck is there that doesn't have a weird old cartoon about it? I thought this was a pretty fun, jolly little show, considering the absurdity of the subject matter! But then I usually do tend to go for the old animations that feature unique realms or anthropomorphic food or candy! That sure gave things a big leg-up for me with this. The story being set in a loopy little vegetable-world was something of a healthier alternative to other obscure mini-classics such as The Cookie Carnival, the Hot Choc-Late Soldiers, and the Bon-Bon Parade! It was quite bizarre, and featured several first for me-like, it was the first time I'd ever seen a banana skinny dip and then slip on its own peel, a caterpillar think it's Tarzan and of course an onion cry. I liked it better than the 1935 short Poor Me, which has practically the same plot, except it's all about a skunk. The quality of the animation was a little rough compared to some of the other animations of this time, but nonetheless I still thought it was very lush and bright and pretty. I don't know if it was just the one version, but the one I saw on Youtube was very amber-toned and yellowy. The little peach-girl looked a bit like Betty Boop, and I thought the main character was the cutest little noodle! That cool trick where he used his "hair" like a propeller was so neat! It was a little mean, but I found it really funny how in the scene after the pint-sized onion-boy has been rejected after trying to join in the play, the other fruits and vegetables rapidly jury-rig a contraption that fires corn like a machine gun at the little guy out of a knife and a corn-on-the-cob!!! I thought the purple-eyed, multi-armed galloping hairy caterpillar menace was pretty interesting, and its design was really cool. I loved the out-of-it expression on the thing's face when the onion's fumes start getting to it! He decides that just because food is running around and talking, is no good reason not to eat it! The little scrap between the onion and the caterpillar was surprisingly good and violent! The un-happy happy ending was so odd... Sure, the hero may have saved the day, but the girl was still crying, and all the others had decided to make the best of it by wearing gas masks and pinned clothes to tolerate the smell as they dance around him! It takes a special kind of creativity to make a short about walking-talking veggies and have it fly and not come off as really dumb and in fact really cute and fun! So kudos, Fleischer bros!
3 Reviews
It's certainly a funnion, this veggie-fable!!!
Foreverisacastironmess12328 June 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Don't Weep Over Its Absence
boblipton16 December 2010
One of the poorer of the Fleischer Brothers' cartoons, this suffers from a hackneyed plot -- no one likes the hero because of something that he is not responsible for (in this case, being a smelly onion) until it turns out that they need him (in this case, various fruits and vegetables) for rescue from an evil menace (in this case a caterpillar that looks a lot like a dragon from a Betty Boop cartoon half a decade earlier). Then joy and acceptance: now they like him because the caterpillar might come back and we need him, so put up with the stench.
On top of that, it's one of the most poorly drawn Fleischers, with no fluidity of line -- although that might be an artifact of the print.
On top of that, it's one of the most poorly drawn Fleischers, with no fluidity of line -- although that might be an artifact of the print.
Strange tears
TheLittleSongbird7 November 2019
Am a big fan of animation with Disney and Looney Tunes being particularly big influences, but would be lying when saying that everything animated is great. Not so, there are numerous animated films/shows/cartoons that are not even good and some even terrible. Like to love quite a lot of Fleischer Studios' work too, but at the same time not all their output worked for me especially their later stuff when they declined.
So there is no bias towards them on both sides of for and against. Despite being one of the lower rated cartoons in Fleischer Studio's "Color Classics" series, to me 'The Tears of an Union' is not one of the worst of it. It is not one of the best either, if anything it is one of the difficult to rate and review ones and just below being one of the middling ones and more in the mixed feelings category. Actually had to rack my brains on what to write and how to express it, which is usually not a problem for me.
There are things that didn't work from personal opinion. Along with 'The Fresh Vegetable Mystery', 'The Tears of an Onion' one of the strangest of the "Color Classics" series, considering the premise it was clear it was meant to be. Did feel though that the cartoon overdid the strangeness, becoming uncomfortably bizarre, and didn't have enough of anything else to balance it out. What little there is of the humour is, apart from the use of some cool contraptions and the onion's fumes getting to the caterpillar, rather corny and occasionally on the mean side. What was intended to be cute comes over generally as pretty bland, especially the characterisation of the onion, and any charm is lost under all the weirdness going on.
Have to agree that the story is very hackneyed, well when it was somewhat discernible. It never really came to life and there are no real surprises, the outcome of the conflict being obvious early on. It is also wrapped up too tidily with a sort of ending one has seen better done elsewhere and pretty old before this was made and released. With the exception of one, other than seeing vegetables as you've never seen them before and won't look at them in the same way again, the characters don't have enough to them to make them compelling. Agree too that it is not one of the better animated cartoons from the studio, the fluidity and finesse aren't there and they were things actually that were apparent in some of the studio's decline era cartoons.
Not that all the animation is bad, actually the colours are never too drab or garish and a lot of care clearly went into the backgrounds. The opening shot was nice. The music is the best asset in 'The Tears of an Onion', the way it's orchestrated is sumptuous and clever and the amount of lively character in the scoring is also striking.
It may be low on humour, but there are some amusing and cool moments such as the reaction of the caterpillar to the onion's fumes. The caterpillar is both amusing and formidable, by far the most interesting character and the only one actually. Jack Mercer does what he can and comes off better as the caterpillar.
On the whole, alright but unexceptional. 5/10
So there is no bias towards them on both sides of for and against. Despite being one of the lower rated cartoons in Fleischer Studio's "Color Classics" series, to me 'The Tears of an Union' is not one of the worst of it. It is not one of the best either, if anything it is one of the difficult to rate and review ones and just below being one of the middling ones and more in the mixed feelings category. Actually had to rack my brains on what to write and how to express it, which is usually not a problem for me.
There are things that didn't work from personal opinion. Along with 'The Fresh Vegetable Mystery', 'The Tears of an Onion' one of the strangest of the "Color Classics" series, considering the premise it was clear it was meant to be. Did feel though that the cartoon overdid the strangeness, becoming uncomfortably bizarre, and didn't have enough of anything else to balance it out. What little there is of the humour is, apart from the use of some cool contraptions and the onion's fumes getting to the caterpillar, rather corny and occasionally on the mean side. What was intended to be cute comes over generally as pretty bland, especially the characterisation of the onion, and any charm is lost under all the weirdness going on.
Have to agree that the story is very hackneyed, well when it was somewhat discernible. It never really came to life and there are no real surprises, the outcome of the conflict being obvious early on. It is also wrapped up too tidily with a sort of ending one has seen better done elsewhere and pretty old before this was made and released. With the exception of one, other than seeing vegetables as you've never seen them before and won't look at them in the same way again, the characters don't have enough to them to make them compelling. Agree too that it is not one of the better animated cartoons from the studio, the fluidity and finesse aren't there and they were things actually that were apparent in some of the studio's decline era cartoons.
Not that all the animation is bad, actually the colours are never too drab or garish and a lot of care clearly went into the backgrounds. The opening shot was nice. The music is the best asset in 'The Tears of an Onion', the way it's orchestrated is sumptuous and clever and the amount of lively character in the scoring is also striking.
It may be low on humour, but there are some amusing and cool moments such as the reaction of the caterpillar to the onion's fumes. The caterpillar is both amusing and formidable, by far the most interesting character and the only one actually. Jack Mercer does what he can and comes off better as the caterpillar.
On the whole, alright but unexceptional. 5/10
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