Spider and the Fly
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaReleased as a split reel along with Huck Finn's Cousins (1922).
Featured review
Happy is Work Ethic Challenged
"The Spider and the Fly" comes very near the end of the Bray/International Film Service series of Happy Hooligan cartoons. Very few of these subjects have survived; this one was directed by Bill Nolan, who later became Walter Lantz' chief collaborator at the Universal unit Lantz led. In it, Gloomy Gus is chopping away at some wood while Happy saws a log of his own. Gus attempts to compel Happy to get off his lazy duff, but Happy is distracted by a spider who spins him a ladder to heaven. Turns out St. Peter expects work too, so off Happy goes to the alternative, and this leads to the very short subjects' best scenes -- Happy plunging through the earth, meeting with the Prince of Darkness, etc. Nolan's animation is primitive, but fluid -- it's not quick and dirty. But it is easier to see a confluence between Lantz' work of the time and that of Lantz' own studio than this; it almost feels like an Out of the Inkwell short, which it isn't. It is, however, highly enjoyable, despite some continuity gaps that suggest missing scenes.
helpful•00
- DLewis
- May 25, 2013
Details
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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