Modeling (1921)

It's a shame that so many wonderful silent films have been pretty much ignored by folks in recent decades. While I can easily understand the greater appeal of talking pictures, there are some old silents that really should not be forgotten. Such as the lovely old Koko cartoons from the Fleischer brothers. In the films, there is a wonderful combination of real life footage and Koko, the very mischievous clown, moving out into the real world--much like you saw in the 1980s with "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?".In "Modeling", Max Fleischer is working on his latest Koko drawing while one of his assistants is making a clay sculpture of a very unattractive man. The man is NOT happy because the sculpture looks too much like him! So, Max comes over to help. Meanwhile, Koko amuses himself on the canvas. After a while, Koko gets bored and gets into trouble...and leaves to enter the real world where, once again, he's a pain. It's all very fun to watch and it's also amazing how good these films are after nearly 100 years. Well worth seeing...and fun.

Dave Fleischer was responsible for many gems. Ones that were amusing and charming, though over-cuteness did come through in some efforts and the stories were always pretty thin, with appealing characters, outstanding music and visuals that were inventive and with innovative animation techniques. Ko-Ko similarly was an always amiable character to watch and among the better recurring characters in Fleischer's early work. Likewise, his series of Out of the Inkwell cartoons were among the best early efforts of Fleischer and silent cartoons in general. 'Modeling' is a great example of this, one of Ko-Ko and Fleischer's best early efforts, even if the material of the later cartoons was wilder and more inventive.The story, as can be expected, is slight, do agree that some sound would have elevated things even more and personally do prefer the later Ko-Ko cartoons in terms of humour style, but criticisms are very few.Everything else though is done so brilliantly that any issues had with the story don't stay for long. The delight of the witty character interplay and the remarkably seamless mix of animation and live action are only a couple of things.One expects the animation to be primitive and very low quality, judging by that it's the early 20s when animation techniques were not as many, as refined, as ambitious and in their infancy. While Fleischer became more refined and inventive later certainly, 'Modeling' is remarkably good visually, with well drawn and clever animation and nicely shot live action that gel with each other beautifully.Pacing is lively and 'Modeling' is never less than very funny with adept gag execution. Ko-Ko has great comic timing and is very likeable, and Max is a great match.In summary, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This "out of the inkwell" silent cartoon and it certainly is different. It's also extremely good, as most of them were. You can't believe something 85 years old on film could still be this entertaining!You get a two live-action stories mixed in with an animated character who you see created by one of the two artists. Max Fleischer draws Koko The Clown "out of the inkwell" and tries to put some life into him, creating an ice skating rink and putting skates on him.Meanwhile, an unnamed sculptor (his brother Dave?) is creating a clay bust for a subject who doesn't like it because it looks exactly like him! The man has a huge nose and apparently is a bit self-conscious about it.What ensues is remarkable stuff, which must have stunned audiences in 1921, really clever material that goes from animation to real-life, back and forth with so many things happening it would take the whole page here to explain it....but it's all good.The only thing missing which would have made it better is some sound, namely sound- effects. This whole thing is in dead silence and could use a little beefing up with a kazoo or any instrument. This was one of the "From the vault" extra features from disc 3 on the "Popeye The Sailor Man Volume One DVD set

As Max tries to get Ko-Ko more enthusiastic in movements, a sculptor tries not to make a male model's bust too accurate since the model has a big nose. After Max draws some snow, an ice pond, a cabin, and some skates on Ko-Ko, he goes to the sculptor and model to advise. As the clown skates, he ends up drawing the model's face on the ice as he skates. Luckily the ice lines disappear before Max and the others can see it. Suddenly, a bear appears as Ko-Ko follows him into the cabin. A cow then appears along with a lamb. They disappear again when the cabin self-destructs as Ko-Ko and the bear get out. The clown then makes a snow sculpture of the model and this Max sees as he throws clay at the clown's head which hits it. Ko-Ko then sneaks off the drawing board and goes to the bust where he constantly moves the big nose as he goes under it making the model fall down his chair! Ko-Ko escapes covered in clay even after the three men grab the cover. As the model leaves in a huff, he aims the clay at the sculptor but accidentally hits a side of Max's face. The clown then goes back in the inkwell and closes it with Max frantically opening it and seeing nothing but ink spilling out...Pretty amusing early Out of the Inkwell entry with wonderful movements of the clown skating. Worth a look for Fleischer enthusiasts.