Old Mother Hubbard (1935) User Reviews

It's A Dog Day Afternoon So 'Cheer Up'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 6/10 · 30 April 2008]

Mother Hubbard is a laundress for the king. She needs the work for the money to feed everyone, because you know the story: her cupboard is bare. However, as she says early on, she still likes to sing. Many of these early-to-mid 1930s cartoons were song-oriented. Either a ton of songs were sung during the 7-8 minute cartoon or the entire dialog was sung.

This cartoon turns out to be about Mother Hubbard's dog, not her. He is the real star of the cartoon. As Mother's helper, he gets in some jams, like being picked up by the dog catcher, but always finds a clever way out of trouble. He's definitely fun to watch In the end, we winds up entertaining the down-and-out king and gets rewarded for his optimism.

A song, "Cheer Up," is sung by the dog and seems to be the theme of this animated short. It reminds me of a number Shirley Temple or Betty Boop would sing, and it's typical of the upbeat, positive songs out in the '30s, trying to pick up the spirits of a nation dealing with The Great Depression. It might have a tough period but we certainly got some wonderful songs from that period. "Cheer Up" certainly is one good example.

This was the seventh cartoon in a series of old ones in a DVD called "Cartoons That Time Forget: The UB Iwerks Collection Vol. 1" and is highly-recommended if you need your spirits perked up!

Hardly bare

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 12 June 2018]

While not one of my favourites, Ub Iwerks was responsible for a lot of interesting work. Especially when working with Walt Disney, his oldest friend and one of his best, and co-creating one of animation's most famous characters in Mickey Mouse. His career since opening his own studio had interest value but the quality was variable, often being successful in the animation and music but wanting in the story and variable in gags, lead characters and tone.

1933 to 1936 saw twenty five cartoons, mostly based on famous fairytales and familiar stories, as part of Iwerks's "ComiColor" series. The "ComiColor" series is very much worth watching and interesting, as is the case with many series some cartoons are better than others but there are no real animation nadirs. 1935's 'Old Mother Hubbard' is remarkably very well done and one of the better cartoons of the series.

'Old Mother Hubbard', while faithfully adhering to the basic details (and also spirit) of the story while putting its own spin, is slight and not exactly ground-breaking, and gets off to a very saccharine start.

To me, the titular character could have had more to do, being somewhat underused in her own cartoon, really the main character here is the dog. And yes (am glad it was the thoughts of others here) the Maurice Chevalier caricature is horrendous, to the extent one is unsure as to whether it is actually him or not.

However, 'Old Mother Hubbard' in no way disgraces the story and has enough freshness to stop it from being stale. It avoids the over sentimental factor generally, apart from at the start and is never dull.

There are very amusing moments, that aren't too corny and never repetitive, it's very charming and there is a genuine likeability and cuteness without being over-sentimental on the whole (the beginning did give the impression it would be). The characters drive 'Old Mother Hubbard' well generally, though the best character by far is the dog with the most interesting personality.

Furthermore, the animation is great. Meticulously detailed, fluid in drawing, vibrant in colour and often rich in imagination and visual wit. The music is cleverly and lushly orchestrated, is infectiously catchy and adds a lot to the cartoon.

All in all, a few faults here but well done. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Not as bad as you'd first suspect.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 8 February 2017]

The story is about the dog looking for food after he and Mother Hubbard discover that they have none. The dog meets the king and everyone soon has a grand old time.

When this color cartoon from Ub Iwerks begins, it's pretty dreadful as the characters are doing what they did in many insipid cartoons of the 1930s...sing! Despite this terrible start, however, the film has its merits and it's worth seeing providing you aren't expecting a top quality product.

This cartoon is from a period after Iwerks left Disney. He was responsible for helping create Mickey and much of what made the studio famous but Walt owned everything. So it's not surprising he'd leave to make his own cartoons...though in general you can see why his cartoons were never a match for those of his old company. Too often they have overly cutesy characters and singing...and this one definitely has the singing. Fortunately, it's not as cloying as many of the Iwerks cartoons and the color is amazingly good since the studio was forced to use a two-color process, since at that time Disney owned the exclusive rights to the three-color version of Technicolor...which gives much truer colors and a wider spectrum. You might not suspect this watching "Old Mother Hubbard" since it manages to hide many of the defects of the more primitive system.

By the way, I couldn't score the cartoon any higher because towards the end it has the absolute WORST celebrity impersonation ever. It's supposed to be Maurice Chevalier...though many would have no idea it was supposed to be the French crooner!!

Wacky, rather bizarre cartoon with the worst attempted caricature I've ever seen (or would want to!)

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 22 November 2003]

The fairy tales adaptations generally work better than the Flip or Willie Whopper shorts do because story and plot were Ub Iwerks' Achilles heel. Fairy tales as source matter overcome that problem by already providing both. This short takes the old poem about Old Mother Hubbard and her dog and turns it on its proverbial ear, making it strangely musical (or musically strange, if you prefer). One prominently bizarre moment is also the worst celebrity caricature I've ever seen! Iwerks tried these, like virtually every studio did at the time, with decidedly mixed results. The attempt at Maurice Chevalier here is so bad it's painful to watch. I may have to join the French Foreign Legion to forget this. It's that bad! Other than that lapse, this is a beautiful, seriously odd little piece and well worth watching. Recommended.

The Tunes Make it Worthwhile

[Michael_Elliott · 21 June 2016]

Old Mother Hubbard (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Old Mother Hubbard does laundry to pay the bills but one day her best friend, her dog, is taken away and soon he finds himself with the King where the two of them sing some songs. I won't spoil what follows but it's really not too hard to figure out. These Ub Iwerks fairy tale adaptations weren't the greatest thing he ever did but this one here manages to be slightly catchy due in large part to the songs. These certainly aren't Oscar-quality songs but they're cute and catchy enough and there's no question that the animation itself is quite good. As was the case with most of the series, the actual stories aren't all that great but fans should enjoy this.