Down in Dixie (1932) User Reviews

Imagine...turning "Uncle Tom's Cabin" into a comedy short!!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 1 September 2020]

"Down in Dixie" is the sort of short cartoon that went over well back in the day...but would likely cause coronaries if shown today! This Van Buren film is one that you can find on YouTube...but considering what it is, you might not want to bother.

The film features some of the major characters from the book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" but with little of the plot. You see Uncle Tom, Topsy and Little Eva...as well as Simon Legree. But the situations...well they are pretty new and weird. After begin chased off by Legree, the characters wander into the snow and ice...which is odd as the film is set in the South and is warm...at least initially. Then why does it look like Alaska for much of the rest of the film....and Alaska in winter!!

The bottom line is that the plot is a confusing mess and the characters are clearly the sort that are bound to offend. I've seen worse...though this is hardly a glowing endorsement! And, at least Legree is seen as a villain and the characters good.

Down in cartoon quality

[TheLittleSongbird · 2/10 · 24 January 2018]

Van Beuren cartoons are extremely variable, especially in the number of gags and whether the absurdist humour shines through enough (sometimes it does, other times it doesn't), but are strangely interesting. Although they are often poorly animated with barely existent stories and less than compelling lead characters, they are also often outstandingly scored, there can be some fun support characters and some are well-timed and amusing.

'Down in Dixie' is another one of the worst 1932 Van Beuren cartoons and among their worst overall. It's not just because it's not for the easily offended, with poorly drawn ugly and offensive racial stereotypes, it's also because it's not good in quality at all.

It does contain pretty much all of the faults of Van Beuren's worst, or all the faults of many Van Beuren cartoons, while having a few good points. Van Beuren have actually done quite a number of watchable or more cartoons, a few pretty good even though imperfect. So it's not as if they are all being hated on.

Its best asset is the music score, pretty much the best thing consistently of Van Beuren's output. Sometimes even the only good thing, like here. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action.

Synchronisation can be sloppy however and the energy just isn't there.

The animation is not good, in fact it is downright bad most of the time with erratically sloppy character designs in particular while the simplistic background detail and lack of fluidity and crispness are just as difficult to ignore.

None of the characters are that interesting or fun, most are over-cutesy and unmemorable and others are pretty annoying. On top of being poorly drawn and stereotypical, even those who don't find it quite as offensive as others will find themselves cringing.

Story is very slight to the point of non-existence and suffers from a lack of energy. It feels aimless and also random and disjointed. If you are looking for sense too, look elsewhere.

Basically 'Down in Dixie' is a stringing along of gags structured in a way that's disorganised and random. Generally it is very low on laughs, actually none of it is remotely amusing. Nothing is inventive, never rising above the forgettable and there is not much absurdist about them. Even for a studio that had an absurdist humour style, 'Down in Dixie' goes well overboard on the bizarre factor.

Overall, very bad cartoon where only the music is good. 2/10 Bethany Cox