Sunken Treasures

The Terrytoons are oddly interesting, mainly for anybody wanting to see (generally) older cartoons made by lesser known and lower-budget studios. They are a mixed bag in quality, with some better than others, often with outstanding music and with some mild amusement and charm and variable in animation, characterisation and content.

1936, like all the other years for Terrytoons, saw a hit and miss batch, more so than the other years even. Of which 'Sunken Treasures' is one of the middling ones ranking it in correlation with the rest of the Terrytoons and one of the middling 1936 cartoons. It is an unexceptional, nothing exactly special cartoon and has the same amount of problems as it has the amount of strengths. 'Sunken Treasures' is also watchable, completest sake is the main reason to see it but it's not the only reason.

Best asset is the music, which predictably is incredible. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. The ambitious, elaborate detail in the backgrounds is still great to see, as is the comparatively improved fluidity of drawing and movement, and some synchronisation is neat.

A few amusing moments, some imaginative ones and there is some zest and natural charm, and parts of it and the basic set up are nice. The supporting characters, especially the fish, are fun.

Outside of the backgrounds and more fluidity than seen previously however, the animation is occasionally crude. Puddy is watchable enough as a support character but he doesn't have enough of a strong personality as a lead.

Likewise, the story is paper thin and formulaic with not an awful lot to it (like the cartoon in general). Gags aren't enough, they are not always very organised (fairly scattershot), and there is not much especially memorable about some and some don't serve much point. The cartoon tends to veer towards being too cute and a lot of it is pretty predictable. Some choppiness too and the cartoon feels very old fashioned with not all the characters being particularly memorable.

Overall, not bad if unexceptional. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Puddy and his young master find a map to sunken treasure, so they row out and the boy gets in the diving suit, while Puddy mans the pumps. However, a large and annoying fish takes an interest in these proceedings in this surprisingly good Terrytoon.

I didn't expect to enjoy this one, It looked to be yet another of the same sort of undersea cartoon adventures that Terry had been producing for a dozen years. However, the superior artwork -- including some very striking clouds in the background -- and beautiful character movement made this one quite watchable. Co-directors Mannie Davis and George Gordon may not have been able to talk their boss into new story ideas, but they knew how to get the most out of their budgets.