It's must be "public domain" as the copy quality varies a great deal. Most copies suffer from drab, faded colors-reddish brown. It's a cute story: "Gabby", the Lilliputian night watchman, discovers Gulliver, "the giant" on the beach so they tie the giant up and transport him to town. Meanwhile, the two kings are fighting over the proper song to be sung at their children's wedding, which leads to war between the two countries. Gulliver stops the war by rounding up all the gunships and towing them to shore. There are several humorous characters: the spies, a goofy carrier pigeon, the townspeople. The story is really more about them than Gulliver. It seems padded, as there is not much going on, and the scenes seem to drag. Is it cute? Yes. Is it in the same class as Disney animation from the same period? Not even close. The first part of the film is very well-animated, but the rest of it seems "rushed" to be finished. One good song: "It's a Hap Hap Happy Day". Mis-shot frames abound, but this is always a problem with early cell animation. A few shorts with "Gabby" were also made after this feature. Paramount then set up their own "Famous Studios" after "firing" Max Fleischer; which would be like firing Walt Disney! (I am looking for "Mr. Bug Goes to Town." I have never seen it, and it is supposedly Max Fleischer's best animated feature.) "Gulliver" is still great fun to watch, but it's hard to find a decent copy. The new Blue Ray is terrible, as it "stretches" the picture and "cuts off" heads.

Paramount's animation department never got the same acclaim as Walt Disney's or Warner Brothers or MGM. But Max Fleischer who created the Popeye cartoons for Paramount made his bid for immortality with this animated version of Gulliver's Travels with radio announcer Sam Parker voicing Gulliver and radio singers Lanny Ross and Jessica Dragonette as the Blefuscuan prince and the Lilliputian princess who in fact are a love match and would like to rule peacefully if they're fathers can keep from reuniting old animosities.In the Jonathan Swift book it was which end of the eggs do you crack, the big or the small end. Here it is the song with the same music and the same lyrics save for one word, Faithful for Lilliput and Forever for Blefuscu. Mankind does go to war stupidly over some trifles and sad to say still does.The song sung by Ross and Dragonette received one of the two Oscar nominations for this film for Best Song. The songs were written by Paramount contract team, Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger. The scoring of the film netted the second Oscar nomination for Victor Young.I have a feeling had this been done over at Disney or Warner Brothers some additional zip would have been in the film. It moves way too slowly. The closest treatment of Swift's satire to what he had in mind is probably in the film that Ted Danson did as Gulliver back in the Nineties.

In 1699 sailor Lemuel Gulliver's ship is caught in a storm. Lemuel is knocked over board, and washes up on shore in the land of Lilliput, where he is a giant in comparison to the locals.Princess Glory of Lilliput is set to marry Prince David of Blefuscu, but when their fathers argue over wedding details, war is declared between the two kingdoms. When King Little of Lilliput is told of the giant on the beach, he sees Gulliver as the perfect weapon to defeat King Bombo once and for all.Released in 1939, just 2 years after Disney's "Snow White," Gulliver's Travels was the second feature length animation ever produced. The film makers, Dave and Max Fleischer are better known for their work on Popeye and Betty Boop. The brothers feature film making efforts were ill fated however, with Gulliver's Travels released at the beginning of the second world war and their follow up "Mr Bug Goes to Town" released just two days before the bombing of Pearl Harbour, were it not for these events, the work produced at Fleischer's studio may be as famous today as that of Walt Disney.The film is an adaptation of the classic Novel by Jonathan Swift, intended as a biting social satire, Gulliver's adventures span four novels. Most well known is the first regarding his arrival in Lilliput, though Gulliver visits several other mysterious places. The book tells the story of a man finding himself in strange lands, while the film approaches the subject mostly from the Lilliputians point of view.On its release the movie was nominated for 2 Oscars for its soundtrack (Best Animated Feature wasn't a category until 2001) The opening song "All's Well" is a catchy number with a great twist, however the tunes are very 'of their time' and may not prove popular with today's children.The film has a certain innocence to it, it keeps a slow, steady pace rather than racing from one set action piece to another as modern films often do. There's a scene of perhaps 15 minutes without any talking as the Lilliputians tie up Gulliver and transport him, unconscious, back to the city and the King's palace. Their methods are ingenious and highly amusing feats of engineering. The extreme differences in size are used to great comic and visual effect, King Little dances with Gulliver's hand, three Lilliputians are trapped in Gulliver's pocket watch and he is able to put out a house fire by cupping water in his hands.A charming film, wonderful for younger children, though perhaps a little gentle and slow for older ones. The film is also a great starting point to discussions about filmmaking and the evolution of animation.

I used to love this animated film version of Gulliver's Travels when I was a child, and hadn't seen it for almost twenty years. A few times over the last few years, I'd seen it on a shelf at video stores and thought about hiring it out, but had always moved on, which was unfortunate, because it's a genuinely lovely film. The animation can't be compared to Pixar or Dreamworks, as it was the standard of animation almost seventy years ago, but you can tell by watching it that the film was made with a lot of skill and love by the artists. The world created within the film seems a lot more innocent than today's fare due to the era in which it was created - you won't find any popular culture references like in Dreamworks' Shrek or Disney's Aladdin, which is a good thing, the story is able to stand on its own two feet.*Spoiler* I was surprised by how much a few of the comical moments in the film made me laugh - the part where the town-crier (Gabby) goes to the king's chambers and tells the king that the giant won't fit in his room, and the king's response? 'So, it's not good enough for him?', followed by the king seeing the giant for the first time, and immediately streaking back to his chambers, being pursued by a whirlwind of flying furniture that his wind motion has generated, I honestly couldn't stop laughing! Don't expect this film to be at the standard of today's animation, because you'll be disappointed. But if you view it as a children's film which was lovingly made and has excellent artwork considering that it was all hand-drawn, then you may very well like me find yourself watching it again two or three times within a week before reluctantly returning the copy to the video store. Highly recommended.