9.8 /10 1 Votes
Release date(s) September 24, 1930 Director Dave Fleischer Voice Billy Murray Cast Billy Murray | 4.9/5 Big Cartoon DataBase Distributed by Paramount Pictures Initial release 24 September 1930 Film series Talkartoons | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Animation by Willard BowskyTed Sears Similar Bimbo's Initiation, Mysterious Mose, Dizzy Dishes, Barnacle Bill, The Defection of Simas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Swing you sinners
Swing You Sinners! is a 1930 animated cartoon short, directed by the Fleischer Brothers. The cartoon is notable for its surreal, dark and sometimes even abstract content.
Contents
Swing you sinners fleischer studios
Plot
Bimbo is seen late at night, trying to steal a chicken. After several attempts he accidentally grabs a policeman by the hand. As he tries to walk away as if nothing happened the chicken follows him anyway, as does the policeman. Eventually the chicken and its little chickens flee, while Bimbo enters a cemetery. To his fear he finds out that the place is haunted, complete with ghosts and monsters who tell him that he will be punished for his sin. Throughout the rest of the film Bimbo is threatened and chased by them until a huge skull devours him.
Background
The cartoon was released on September 24, 1930 in the Talkartoons series and animated by Ted Sears and Willard Bowsky. George Cannata, Shamus Culhane, Al Eugster, William Henning, Seymour Kneitel and Grim Natwick also worked on it, but are uncredited in the title card. The cartoon was animated by a complete new staff who'd never worked in animation before because the studio had to replace some animators who quit. It is now in public domain. The man with the bowler hat, beard and Yiddish accent who appears in front of Bimbo at one point, shrugging and saying: "Ah, you needed it!" is a caricature of Jewish comedian Monroe Silver.
Music
The soundtrack was composed by W. Franke Harling, with lyrics by Sam Coslow.
Legacy
John Kricfalusi named it one of his favorite cartoons and played during a retrospective of his personal favorite animated shorts. He also compared it to Walt Disney's The Skeleton Dance (which was also set on a cemetery) and felt Swing You Sinners was superior.
In 2012 Cracked hosted an article describing "5 Old Children's Cartoons Way Darker Than Most Horror Movies" and listed "Swing You Sinners" at No. 1.
Video game developers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer based the atmosphere of their game Cuphead on several Fleischer cartoons, including "Swing You Sinners". Chad Moldenhauer called Fleischer Studios "the magnetic north of his art style". Kill Screen described Max Fleischer's studio (run with his two brothers) as having "transportive, transformative, and massively fucked up" short films, such as "Swing You Sinners!"