Despite Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his cartoons being popular and well received at the time, they have been vastly overshadowed over time by succeeding animation characters. It is a shame as, while not cartoon masterpieces, they are fascinating for anybody wanting to see what very old animation looked like.Being one of not many "Winkler era" cartoons to survive (many are lost, which is a shame), 'Yanky Clippers' is not just one of the best of that era, or at least the best up to that point, it's the most creative and funniest, particularly in the second half where the action really picks up. It is a huge improvement on the previous Oswald cartoon 'Homeless Homer', which was pretty poor and not a good representation of Oswald at all.Sure, some of the animation in the second half does give a sense of incompleteness, it has a slow start and it cried out for a music score, to me without a music score any cartoon feels bland.That said, 'Yanky Clippers' is more inventive and consistently funnier than 'Fiery Fireman' and 'Homeless Homer', and generally the timing is much sharper. There are some funny moments, as said the funniest of the "Winkler era" cartoons and one of the funniest Oswald cartoons up to this point.Mostly, the animation is very good, it's crisp and fluid enough with some nice detail especially with animation techniques still in early days. Oswald is a likable enough protagonist, nice personality and does nothing to infuriate the viewer.Overall, well done and entertaining cartoon. 8/10 Bethany Cox
... View MoreWhile most of the Oswald shorts released during the Winkler era have been lost, this one is among the few that survived. Seeing this before at a video sharing site, Yanky Clippers has no music track, and some of the sequences near the end are mixed up. But the story itself is entertaining.One of the comical things in the short is every time Oswald shaves a dog, its furs keep growing. Oswald then realizes the dog has been drinking a bottle of hair-growing formula.Perhaps the most hilarious scenes occur after Oswald disguises himself as a girl to charm a bear customer who came for a manicure. When they decided to go out on a car ride, the madly in-loved bear picks up Oswald and starts kissing him. Oswald was able to get out of the bear's arms but gets chased in the remainder of the film. Anyway, the rabbit was able to get the pursuer away him.Definitely the funniest Winkler Oswald.
... View MoreOswald The Rabbit (looking suspiciously similar to Mickey Mouse) is the local barber in this rare early toon. The first cut is rather routine, the hair tonic skit didn't make me laugh yet...the action picks up and we see a laugh-out-loud 20 seconds when Oswald goes to work on the hippo.Then...Oswald sees a guy lashing out in the other corner and dresses up as a woman and makes a move on the man! The movie ends on a car ride with the duo.Two guys kissing, weather animated animals or not was pretty edgy for 1928, even though animation has never exactly been shying out on controversial project. Technically the film is good, especially the hippo scene introduces lots of funny tricks. A shame there wasn't any kind music in the version i had, an animation this fast-paced needs some wild wacky composing.
... View More