"All's Fair at the Fair" is a wonderful example of the sort of cartoons Fleischer Brothers Studio was capable of back in the day. While today they're mostly known for the incredibly formulaic and predictable Popeye cartoons, they also made a wide variety of other cartoons--and a few of which are real gems...like this film.The film is about a couple of oldsters who go to the new World's Fair (exactly WHERE it never says). It's a completely insane fair--with robots doing all sorts of amazing things, beauty treatments that will take decades off your looks and cars that come out of vending machines. It's all very silly and quite charming. Most importantly, it holds up very well today and shows the sort of high hopes folks had back then when it came to the fairs. Well worth seeing and available for free download at archive.org.

This Fleischer Technicolor short film from right before World War II is another film this time centering on world's fairs. Fatty Arbuckle and Mable Normand were there, Elvis will be there too and here the two voice actors who usually made us hear Popeye and Olive play a different set of characters, a married couple consisting of a woman where Olive would fit in thrice and a man who could easily tell Popeye some manners. The two take a trip to the world fair to see the newest achievements in technology when it comes to building houses, automation or robots, with whom they both put wild dance on the floor. The animation is okay as a whole, but has done better at that time already too.Occasionally it reminded me of Fleischer's later work on the Superman short films, not the characters obviously, but the whole setting and tone of the film. It's one of Fleischer's lesser known works, but even it's inferior to most of the Disney stuff from before shortly before World War II, it's still not a totally bad result at all. It has its moments and I'd recommend it, only to animation enthusiasts only though.

A "World's Fair" was a big deal for many years back in the old days. I haven't heard much about them in years but, trust me, they were big, big events in the United States Many times they featured what they thought the world would look like in the future including some wild inventive machines.Oh, man, some of the material here still looks great, even 70 years later. These art deco designs, futuristic-looking cities and inventions are still very cool to watch. This cartoon is unknown gem and I'm fortunate to have this as part of a cheap DVD package that was a tremendous bargain ($5 at Wal-Mart for "150 Cartoon Classics").This must have really impressed theater audiences back in 1938 and having it color didn't hurt, either. Having veteran Dave Fleisher director and voice-artist Jack Mercer also gives you an idea of the caliber of this animated short.We go along with "Elmer and Mirandy," a married country-ish couple, as they tour the Fair. I particularly enjoyed the sardine trains; the sweater-making machine; the mud pack, and some of the expressions of the day ("Oh, you kid," etc.)Overall, not super funny but cute and a nostalgic look at the past.

This cartoon is one I've seen countless times since I was a kid. It's got some great animation and incredible backgrounds. The art deco designs clearly went on to inspire later creations, and it's funny to see a sideways look at these utopian inventions. Fans of Fleischer won't be disappointed. I don't think anyone would be, really.The bare bones story concerns Elmer and Mirandy, a married couple who go to witness the wonders of the World's Fair in all of its futuristic utopian glory. For you kids that have no clue what I just said, it means that it looks really, really cool.If you can get a hold of a restored copy of this cartoon, do it. I happen to be stuck with a lousy VHS copy made sometime in the mid-80's. Any fan of classic animation will dig this- anyone in particular will enjoy it.