The Raven

This was another cartoon I found on Uncle John's Crazy Town blog. This was a Max Fleischer Color Classic that ran for two reels which is approximately 14 minutes instead of the usual six. Very loosely based on the Edgar Allan Poe poem, the title character is a reformed criminal who now sells vacuums. His old friend, the fox, convinces him go to a castle in which a Scottie inhabits. What follows is some highly amusing gags concerning the fox's attempt to rob the safe while the raven demonstrates disastrously how his vacuum works though something equally funny redeems the raven and the vacuum at the end. Oh, and the rhyming lines and accompanying classical, as well as some big band, music also works here. If there's one big quibble, it's that I wished the version I watched hadn't looked so faded as the colors really looked washed out. Otherwise, I recommend The Raven as this was one of the last shorts made by Max and Dave Fleischer before Paramount forced them out of their studio, renamed it Famous, and then moved the building and the remaining crew back to New York from Miami.