The Early Bird and the Worm

Voices of: Bernice Handsen, The Rhythmettes
Directed by: Rudolph Ising
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Animation, Short
Length: 9 minutes
1936

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A young worm is chased by a bird.

Review:

Tim: I enjoyed the 1936 animated short The Early Bird and the Worm. It takes a famous saying and turns it into an entertaining 9 minute children's film. What I liked about this film is that it feels like there's so much happening. The main story involves the titular early bird chasing the worm, but there's also a snake chasing the bird. What starts out as a simple chase scene soon becomes one where the chaser is also the chased. There's a lot that is thrown into the mix- you have two crows also chasing the worm, you have an alliance between the worm and the early bird- it all just adds up to a fairly zany nine minutes. I had fun watching it.

The animation is pretty good. The worm and the early bird are especially fun. You like these characters and get at least somewhat invested in their story. The snake is well depicted as well. I do have to mention something that often shows up in these short films- and that is racism. It's pretty obvious the two lazy crows showcase a terrible racial stereotype. It's uncomfortable to watch today (especially since we haven't exactly solved racism in 2017), but it's a good reminder of how far we've come (maybe). The outcry if something like this happened in a children's cartoon today would be swift and strong. And yet, a short 80 years ago, this was absolutely acceptable. It's stunning to think about that.

Besides that unfortunate feature, this is a pretty entertaining animated short. There's so many of these and I have no desire to watch and record them all, but I'm opportunistic about seeing them. This is one I was glad I watched.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



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