Tramp, Tramp, Tramp the Boys Are Marching (1926)

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. Fleischer may not be at his very finest and there are far better Ko-Ko cartoons than 'Tramp, Tramp, Tramp the Boys are Marching'. It is still pretty good though as long as not too much is demanded.The story is as thin as ice, not really one at all. Sometimes it's a bit pat and with little surprises. Ko-Ko could have had more to do.However, there is a good deal to like. The animated sing-along portion is fun and charming and the character interplay likewise. One expects the animation to be primitive and very low quality, judging by that it's the 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, the animation is surprisingly good with some nice visual wackiness and wit.Everything is bright and breezy and there are amusing moments, though never particularly imaginative. The characters are likeable. In summation, pretty good. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Finding this one on IMDb was tough as there really is no title given on this animated short! I knew it was from 1926 and that the song "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" was in it.In the 1920s, Koko the Clown was one of the best cartoon characters from the Fleischer Brothers' Out of the Inkwell series. In each, Koko climbed out of an ink bottle and had all sorts of adventures. In this one, however, he climbs out and really doesn't do much of anything. Instead, the cartoon turns out to be a singalong and Koko isn't really important to the film. And, unlike other singalongs I have seen, there really isn't anything more to the film than that...no comedy, no cleverness, nothing. The only interesting aspect is some reverse painted animation...but it sure isn't enough to recommend this one. Instead, I strongly encourage you to find another Koko short...ANY Koko short in fact!

This short actually has a story in the animated portion which more or less leads into the song itself. Because I want to discuss the short, there will be spoilers below: The short opens with an animated sequence featuring a dog-like creature in uniform stopping by to see a girl. There are some nice musically-oriented bits (a piece of gate used like a harp, for one) and the soldier winds up in the girl's room.Meanwhile, the commander uses his horse to call his unit, the soldier doesn't go and is arrested and put to labor, breaking stones with a hammer, deriving some musical bits there, notes placed in time with blows on the rock from the hammer. He also reduces a rock in size and makes it into the "bouncing ball" to cue the lyrics of the title song, which can be related to the basic story.There's some incidental animation of marching soldiers during the sing-along and the short is quite effective overall. Recommended.

Always the innovators, the Fleisher brothers were making synchronized sound cartoons two years before Disney. The first portion of this cartoon is a primitive (and somewhat naughty) bit of animation. A soldier dog is visiting his girl friend. After playing some bed springs like a harp and dancing for her, he climbs in her window. When the bugle calls him back to camp he jumps out the window, his girl friend leans out to say good-bye and then his pants jump out the window to join him. The sergeant catches him and marches him to jail - apparently he is guilty of desertion. While working on the rock pile he discovers that he can play tunes by banging on different rocks. He then fashions a ball out of one of the rocks and it becomes our bouncing ball for the sing-along portion of the film where we are invited to sing the American Civil War song, "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the boys are marching." The animation in the sing-along portion is typical Fleisher - drawn well and very clever.