Spooks
"A Hauntingly Hilarious Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Adventure!"
Plot
In a macabre and surreal setting, a masked Phantom stalks a graveyard at night, pausing to insult an inquisitive owl before making his way to a local opera house. Inside, he becomes infatuated with Kitty, a feline singer who harbors deep jealousy toward the show's star, a large hippo with a deep, husky voice. To win Kitty's favor, the Phantom sabotages the hippo by literally popping and deflating her, then rigs Kitty's performance by hiding a phonograph under her skirt to simulate a beautiful singing voice. Despite the record skipping and slowing down, requiring the Phantom to manually crank it from below, Kitty becomes a sensation but ultimately rejects the Phantom for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Enraged by her betrayal, the Phantom abducts Kitty and drags her into the dark catacombs beneath the opera house, prompting Oswald to embark on a perilous rescue mission through a series of supernatural obstacles.
Director
Cast
About the Production
This film was produced during the transitional period when Walter Lantz had recently taken over the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series from Charles Mintz. It is notable for being one of the early 'sound-era' Oswald shorts, utilizing synchronized sound and music which was still a relatively new frontier for animation in 1930. The animation style reflects the 'rubber hose' aesthetic common in the early 1930s, characterized by fluid, limb-stretching movements. The production faced the challenge of balancing the horror elements of the 'Phantom of the Opera' parody with the lighthearted slapstick expected of the Oswald character.
Historical Background
In 1930, the 'Talkies' revolution was in full swing, and animation studios were scrambling to integrate sound effectively. 'Spooks' was released during the Great Depression, a time when audiences sought escapism through surreal and grotesque humor. Furthermore, Universal Pictures was beginning to establish itself as the 'Home of Horror' with the upcoming releases of Dracula and Frankenstein; 'Spooks' served as a comedic animated extension of the studio's interest in gothic and macabre themes.
Why This Film Matters
As an early parody of 'The Phantom of the Opera', 'Spooks' demonstrates how quickly cinema began to reference its own history. It represents the 'Lantz era' of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which helped sustain the character's popularity after Walt Disney lost the rights to him. The film is also a significant example of the 'spooky cartoon' subgenre that flourished in the early 1930s, influencing later works like Disney's 'Silly Symphonies' and the Fleischer Studios' darker shorts.
Making Of
The production of 'Spooks' occurred shortly after Universal took animation production in-house under Walter Lantz. Lantz wanted to move away from the Disney-influenced style of the early Oswald shorts and lean more into slapstick and topical parodies. The animation was handled by a small team including Bill Nolan, who was known for his incredibly fast drawing speed. The sound recording was done using the Western Electric sound-on-film system, which was the industry standard at the time. Animators had to carefully time the character movements to a pre-recorded beat or 'click track' to ensure the musical gags, like the skipping phonograph, landed perfectly with the visuals.
Visual Style
The film utilizes high-contrast black and white animation to evoke a 'noirish' or gothic atmosphere appropriate for a horror parody. The use of shadows, particularly in the graveyard and catacomb scenes, was quite sophisticated for a 1930 cartoon. The 'camera' movements are simulated through panning backgrounds, creating a sense of depth as Oswald descends into the opera house's basement.
Innovations
The film is a technical showcase for early sound synchronization in animation. The ability to sync the 'skipping' audio perfectly with the character's physical stuttering was a complex feat of editing and timing for 1930. It also features early examples of 'morphing' animation, where characters change shape (like the deflating hippo) with fluid transitions.
Music
The soundtrack features a jaunty, orchestral score typical of early 1930s cartoons, with heavy use of 'Mickey Mousing' (where the music mimics the physical actions on screen). The highlight is the operatic sequence where the music intentionally skips and slows down to match the visual gag of the malfunctioning phonograph.
Famous Quotes
The Phantom to the Owl: 'Why don't you go get a job in a clock?'
The Phantom: 'Curses! Foiled by a rabbit!'
Memorable Scenes
- The opening scene where a skeleton treats a skeletal cat like a domestic pet, setting the surreal tone.
- The hippo singer literally deflating like a balloon after the Phantom pricks her with a pin.
- The sequence where Kitty 'sings' via a phonograph hidden under her dress, and the Phantom has to frantically crank her leg to keep the music playing.
Did You Know?
- This short is a direct parody of the 1925 silent horror classic 'The Phantom of the Opera', which was also a Universal Pictures property.
- Pinto Colvig, who provided voices for this short, later became world-famous as the original voice of Disney's Goofy and Pluto.
- The character of Kitty is a precursor to the more standardized love interests seen in later 1930s animation, though her personality here is notably vain and opportunistic.
- The gag involving a skeleton putting out a 'skeleton cat' for the night is a recurring trope in early 1930s 'spooky' cartoons.
- At one point in the film, the Phantom breaks the fourth wall by insulting an owl, a common trait in Walter Lantz's early directorial style.
- The 'deflating hippo' gag was a popular piece of surrealist animation that could only be achieved in the medium of cartoons at the time.
- This was one of the first Oswald shorts to be released in the 1930s, marking a decade of significant evolution for the character.
- The use of a phonograph to fake a singing voice was a topical joke, as 'lip-syncing' and sound synchronization were major talking points in Hollywood in 1930.
What Critics Said
At the time of its release, 'Spooks' was praised for its imaginative use of sound and its clever parody of Universal's own library. Modern animation historians view it as a fascinating bridge between the silent era's surrealism and the more structured storytelling of the mid-1930s. It is often cited in retrospectives of Walter Lantz's career as one of his more creative early efforts before the character of Oswald was redesigned into a 'cuter' version.
What Audiences Thought
Audiences in 1930 responded well to the film's slapstick violence and the recognizable parody of the Phantom. The character of Oswald remained a top-tier cartoon star, and the 'spooky' theme was a perennial favorite for theater-goers of the era.
Film Connections
Influenced By
- The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
- The Skeleton Dance (1929)
- The Cat and the Canary (1927)
This Film Influenced
- Mickey's Haunted House (1929)
- The Mad Doctor (1933)
- Phantom of the Operetta (1939)
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Film Restoration
The film is preserved and exists in various archives, including the UCLA Film & Television Archive. It has been released on several 'Classic Cartoon' DVD collections and is available in the public domain.