I've Got to Sing a Torch Song (1933) User Reviews

Pretty Funny But More For Folks Who Knew The '30s

[ccthemovieman-1 · 6/10 · 27 March 2007]

They didn't have videos way back in the 1930s, and they didn't have television, either. However, you can still do aerobics from a voice on the radio encouraging and instructing you. That's what we see in the opening minutes as people of all ages are seen exercising in unique and clever ways. One guys is doing pulleys from the girdle on his fat wife! An old rich guy is doing arm exercises while reading ticker tape on the stock market quotations. There are a lot of these type of things, all in a short space of time.

Then the story, if you want to call it that, switches from aerobics to celebrities as we see movie stars and others on the radio and people listening to it from all over the globe, from Shanghai to Alaska. Some of the celebrities I couldn't recognize, making this a cartoon more for folks back in the that era.

This cartoon was a showcase by Warner Brothers for some of its stars and the title song comes from "Gold Diggers Of 1933," one of their films.

This Merrie Melodies cartoon, I've Got to Sing a Torch Sing, is okay as short filler

[tavm · 5/10 · 10 January 2013]

This was another of the Merrie Melodies cartoons based on the songs from Gold Diggers of 1933 that is now on that movie's DVD. In this one, we see many celebrity parodies such as Bing Crosby in the bathtub (here, he's Cros Bingsby), Greta Garbo, Mae West, Ed Wynn, etc. There's plenty of movement and some amusing gags though nothing really hilarious. Still, I was entertained enough by the way the animators were trying to fill the 6-minute running time that was standard for these theatrical filler cartoons meant to fill a block program that also included one live action short, a newsreel, some trailers, and the main feature. So on that note, I've Got to Sing a Torch Song is worth a look if you're interested enough.

Apparently, in the 1900s, most American families spent more on lingerie . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 8 November 2016]

. . . than they did on food. At least, that's one of the main Take-Aways of I'VE GOT TO SING A TORCH SONG, which doesn't even reach its title tune until about five minutes of this seven-minute animated short have passed by. In the Looney Tunes Universe, American families would exercise to radio music while grouped together in their underwear, with 12-year-old Little Sis just wearing her panties. Rooms full of college coeds would come together in their bras and panties as Bing Crosby crooned. Harem gals would dance for their owners clad in even less. Beyond animated sex, TORCH is crammed full of Racist sight "gags" and recurring cameos by long-forgotten Dead People. Most folks Today cannot recall very many key cast members of MY AMER!CAN COUSIN (which Abe Lincoln was viewing when a Racist shot him to keep Black Lives from Mattering), and the caricatures incorporated into TORCH are of equal Unimportance. That's why very few of Today's cartoons are built around "immortalizing" fleeting personalities such as Tiny Tim, PeeWee Herman, or Donald "You're Fired!" Trump. As Warner learned, "celebrities" are here Today, but gone Tomorrow.

"One, two, one, two, breathe, deeply, ...."

[slymusic · 14 October 2008]

"I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" is an unusually wacky black-and-white Warner Bros. cartoon, made before any star characters such as Porky Pig and Daffy Duck were even created. This cartoon is essentially about THE RADIO, one of the entertainment industry's finest inventions during the early 20th Century. Where there's a radio, you can be darn sure there will be scores of ardent fans tuning in!

Here are my favorite highlights from "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song". I especially like the hilarious physical & vocal caricatures of Bing Crosby (ALL the gals listen to him!), Mae West, and Marlene Dietrich. In addition, a bearded, hookah-puffing sultan thinks nothing of his harem girl's dance; he'd much rather listen to Amos 'n' Andy!

If you want to see an early thirties cartoon with a lot of quirk, try "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song". By no means my favorite Warner Bros. cartoon, but certainly not one that makes a descent into inferiority!

The Most Soulless Animation Ever Created

[defabbio-32087 · 1/10 · 20 March 2023]

This Merrie Melodies cartoon, released on September 23, 1933 in theaters with I Loved a Woman and the first Merrie Melody from Termite Terrance, is the most soulless, pointless, plotless and repetitive cartoon I've ever seen. Buddy's Day Out is also pure garbage (ironically both cartoons have the same director Tom Palmer) but at least that cartoon has a story to go along with it. This cartoon though has no story at all, it's literally 7 minutes of random stuff happening and that's about it. The "humor" if you want to call it that, is painfully unfunny, slow and just cringe. The animation is mediocre, sometimes smooth but mostly choppy though out, the characters all only have one trait and the song is just absolutely stupid and absurd. Just, what even is this thing?! This is the absolute worst WB cartoon and although I'm not done binging all cartoons, I highly doubt that future cartoons will overtake this one in terms of abysmalness.

A worthwhile torch song

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 14 August 2018]

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera, Studio Ghibli and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. With significantly broader knowledge of different directors, animation styles and studios, actually appreciate and love it even more now.

'I've Got to Sing a Torch Song' may not one of my favourite cartoons or an amazing one, there are funnier, more inventive and livelier cartoons about. Not that 'I've Got to Sing a Torch Song' is devoid of any of those things, just that other cartoons do it better. It is a lot of fun still and is very charming with a lot to like. Deserving to be more widely known, having come from a period with stiff and more well known competition from major pioneers in animation.

It is very flimsy in story sure and is fairly familiar, it is not hard to figure out how the cartoon was going to end.

Did feel that the cartoon was slightly over-cluttered and it is agreed that familiarity is in order with the caricatures, references and their antics. This was a case of recognising some and having no clue what others were, making the content/humour somewhat hit and miss.

On the other hand, the animation is great. Full of attractive shading, meticulously detailed backgrounds, smooth movement and crisply drawn character designs, one is convincingly immersed in the bugtown world. The music is lush and full of energy, with an infectious song. Many of the things shown here is impressive in how it synchronises with the music and animated dazzles and amazes.

Much of 'I've Got to Sing a Torch Song' is amusing, despite the content being hit and miss, with some wit and it never tries too hard to be cute. The charm factor is high and the caricatures and references that were recognised by me were really fun to spot and well incorporated.

All in all, worthwhile for a look of what it was like in the 1930s, and very interesting in that aspect, but didn't blow me away and it is dependent on how one is familiar with what is being referenced. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A collection of caricatures, sight gags and a bit of music

[llltdesq · 7/10 · 17 March 2007]

This short doesn't really have a plot to speak of, but is instead a series of sight gags, celebrity caricatures and a version of the song which provides the title. Consider this a spoiler warning:

The cartoon is a bunch of gags loosely connected by radios. The viewer is bounced around the world from one radio to the next. Some of the bits would probably be offensive to some in this day and age, like scenes involving Chinese policemen and African natives and a slightly risqué (for 1933, anyway) scene with a harem girl.

There are also celebrity caricatures, including Ben Bernie, a takeoff on Bing Crosby (here, he's Cros Bingby), Greta Garbo, Zazu Pitts and Mae West, plus quite a few who clearly were caricatures whom I didn't recognize. Oh-there's also a scene where Jimmy Cagney and an actress have a bit together.

The performance of "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" is done by, among others, Garbo, Pitts and West and the end title has Garbo saying, "That's all, folks!" All in all, a nice little short, if nothing special. Well worth watching once. Recommended.

once you know the difference between Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, it makes more sense

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 19 December 2007]

Way back long ago, before Bugs, before Daffy, even before Porky - heck, they weren't even filming anything in color yet - Leon Schlesinger Studios tried various and sundry ideas in their cartoons. "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" shows several people around the world exercising to a radio broadcast, with a few gags along the way, and caricatures of famous people from the era.

If you're wondering why they named the cartoon after the song, that was the policy with Merrie Melodies cartoons. You see, when Leon Schlesinger Studios started releasing Bosko cartoons in 1930, all the cartoons carried the Looney Tunes tag. Before too long, they created the Merrie Melodies tag (playing off Disney's Silly Symphonies). While the Looney Tunes cartoons continued showing off Bosko - and later Buddy, and then Porky - the Merrie Melodies cartoons would have the names of songs, and the characters would sing the song in one scene. Such was the case not only with this one, but also "I Haven't Got a Hat" and "I Love to Singa", among others. Eventually, they stopped having characters sing title songs. When the Looney Tunes switched to color, the two series became indistinguishable.

Overall, this is a look into Warner Bros. animation's very early days. Within ten years, their cartoons didn't look the same at all. Hell, within five years, the combination of stars Porky and Daffy, plus directors such as Tex Avery, had totally changed the look. But this one is still worth seeing. Because Greta Garbo did want to be let alone.

I never knew that Bing Crosby was already famous in 1933. Of course, I have no kind words for him.

Interesting Cartoon

[forestkeeper · 8/10 · 3 September 2009]

Like others have already said, this cartoon is a fine example of the difference between "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies". A lot of people will say that music videos didn't come around until the 1980s, with the airing of MTV, but in reality these could be considered the earliest forms of music video. While the actual singer or band that wrote the song doesn't perform it, it should be noted that the film/record company, Warner Brothers, owned the rights to the song, so they could use it in any way they saw fit, which was a common practice at the time when this cartoon was produced, including having it performed by various celebrity caricatures, a bunch of babies (Shuffle Off to Buffalo), or two foxes and a few billboards (Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!). They could even alter the lyrics to match the plot or theme for the film in which the song would be reused (see: Shuffle Off to Buffalo, I Love to Singa), as a way to get audiences to purchase the records or sheet music for that song, and play it themselves. Back then you could buy song books or subscribe to a monthly magazine that featured sheet music and lyrics to popular songs of the time.

Pretty standard early Merrie Melody

[rdoyle29 · 7/10 · 17 November 2022]

Merrie Melodies started as something like animated music videos. Leon Schlesinger sold Warner Brothers on the idea of a series of animated shorts that would feature songs from Warner Brothers movies, serving partially as ads for the movies. This one features the titular song from "Gold Diggers of 1933".

It's a pretty straightforward series of blackout gags featuring (then) famous folks singing the song ... George Bernard Shaw, James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Benito Mussolini (yes, indeed), Bing Crosby (identified as "Cros Bingsby"), Greta Garbo, ZaSu Pitts, Mae West and Ed Wynn all show up. It's very very thin, but hey ... I was amused.

It also unfortunately has a string of really unpleasant racial stereotypes in the middle that were cut when in aired on TV in the 1980s.