The Mechanical Cow (1927)

Too much of everything

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Fresh and Exciting

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

In THE MECHANICAL COW, Oswald has a robotic cow that gives milk. His rounds are disrupted when a gang of thugs kidnap Oswald's girlfriend and the cow and Oswald give chase. And, of course, there's a happy ending.This is the third Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon. During the first year the toons were made, Walt Disney directed the films. Later, when they became successful, Universal Studios rewarded Walt by threatening to cut his and the rest of the staff's salaries! No wonder Walt and his chief animator (Ub Iwerks) left and went on to make their own film character, Mickey Mouse.This cartoon is pretty typical of the early Oswald cartoons in style--pretty simple black and white drawings, silly gags and a completely silent film. Later, sound effects and music were added to the films AFTER the success of Disney's STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928). The version I saw did have the added sound. In many ways the film looks a lot like the early Mickey cartoons--the characters look and act a lot alike, have a girlfriend who is very similar and the gags are almost interchangeable. It's all very good for 1927.

For years, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was an unseen legend known only to cartoon geeks who devoured animation history books (the fact that my father saw them as a child and regaled me with stories about them also helped). The rediscovery of these films prove that the acclaim about them is not merely the stuff of film folklore.This episode tells the story of a robotic cow that serves as the heroic hare's "Cow Friday" (perhaps inspired by the sci-fi silent classic "Metropolis?"). The title character is quite sympathetic and the toon as a whole displays far greater character development and situation comedy than was typical of cartoons of that era. But this does not get in the way of the gags, which are quite plentiful and well done within six or seven minutes. Strongly recommended.

The Mechanical Cow is the first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon I've ever seen. If the plot seems familiar, maybe because it's done by Walt Disney before he lost Oswald to the character's copyright owners and started his own studio to create Mickey Mouse. The rabbit gets waken by an alarm clock who punches him in the face. He then tries to wake the title character who takes awhile. When they're both up they ride into town and come across a hippo mother and baby. Oswald feeds the baby with a giant bottle he takes from the mechanical cow's "body" and, with a tube attached, siphons it to the baby. Oswald then visits his rabbit girlfriend and he shoos the cow away so they can be alone together. Moments later, the girlfriend gets kidnapped by some dogs (I think) and the cow comes back to help Oswald rescue her. They find the kidnappers who chase after them after the girlfriend is rescued. Oswald, the girlfriend, and the cow stop at a cliff and wait for the kidnappers to fall into a pit of sharks below before the rabbit, his girlfriend, and cow ride off into the sunset. The end. Amusing from beginning to end. If you're interested in Disney's pre-Mickey creations, this Oswald short is highly recommended!

No doubt, some people believe Walt Disney started with a certain mouse and, in one sense, they'd be right-Disney started working more or less as an independent in 1928 and Plane Crazy, the first Mickey, was his first effort. But Disney actually did shorts for a number of years under contract, until Charles Mintz basically offered Disney a deal he had to refuse, that Mintz probably intended he refuse from the beginning. The character of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was the principal character and series Disney was doing for his contract with Mintz, but Disney didn't hold the rights to Oswald and lost him when the deal didn't renew. Had the deal renewed, while Mickey would likely have developed anyway, the attention would have continued to be with Waldo and Disney would have taken a different road. Of such things is history made. Exit rabbit enter mouse.As for this cartoon, it's a very good early Disney silent. Fairly good sight gags and good imagination from the animators to make the short funny even with no sound and the inherent limitations (and advantages) that lack caused. Good fun and you could see glimpses of the Disney touch. Well worth seeing. Recommended for animation fans.