Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (1934)

While not one of my favourites, Ub Iwerks was responsible for a lot of interesting work. Especially when working with Walt Disney, his oldest friend and one of his best, and co-creating one of animation's most famous characters in Mickey Mouse. His career since opening his own studio had interest value but the quality was variable, often being successful in the animation and music but wanting in the story and variable in gags, lead characters and tone.1933 to 1936 saw twenty five cartoons, mostly based on famous fairytales and familiar stories, as part of Iwerks's "ComiColor" series. The "ComiColor" series is very much worth watching and interesting, as is the case with many series some cartoons are better than others but there are no real animation nadirs. 1934's 'Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp' is a pretty good pleasant watch, and a step up from the previous two cartoons, with a few issues but a lot of big strengths.'Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp', while faithfully adhering to the basic details of the story while putting its own spin, is slight with not quite enough content and is at times a little too cutesy.However, 'Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp' in no way disgraces the story and has enough freshness to stop it from being stale. It avoids the over sentimental factor and is never dull.There are amusing gags, that aren't too corny and never repetitive, it's very charming, has a lively pace and there is a genuine likeability and cuteness. The characters drive 'Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp' well, with a very likeable titular character and a fun genie, the princess is a little bland though and with little to do.Furthermore, the animation is great. Meticulously detailed, fluid in drawing, vibrant in colour and often rich in imagination and visual wit. The music is cleverly and lushly orchestrated, is infectiously catchy and adds a lot to the cartoon. Overall, pretty good. 7/10 Bethany Cox

ALADDIN AND THE WONDERFUL LAMP is a brief black and white cartoon from 1934 which charts the brief adventures of the titular character. He lives an impoverished life but discovers a magic lamp that gives him the ability to woo a princess and escape the clutches of his cruel boss. This is rather crudely animated in a familiar way, with too-smoth motion and exaggerated forms.

The film begins with a nasty trader trading folks new lamps for their old ones. He's not doing this to find the magic lamp...he just uses his little slave boy (Aladdin) to clean them up to resell them. However, as Al is wiping one of them clean, a Genie pops out and begins granting him wishes....and Al uses this to try to get the Sultan's daughter in marriage (which is odd since they both are kids). Unfortunately, the slave owner returns and fights Aladdin for the lamp.This is not a great cartoon by any stretch. But the animation and color are very nice and the film is modestly entertaining. And, fortunately, unlike Ub Iwerks' poorer films, it's not saturated by cute singing characters.

I found this Ub Iwerks cartoon on iTunes (Vintage ToonCast podcasts #03) and thought that this was a fairly cute cartoon from the time of the Depression.In this, Aladdin works for a man who exchanges 'new' lamps for old ones. The 'new' lamps are just old ones that Aladdin has polished to make new again. Aladdin is pretty much locked in a basement workroom and one day manages to see the beautiful princess pass by in a parade. She drops a rose by his barred window and before Aladdin can pick it up through the bars, an elephant steps on it twice. This was enough for Aladdin to fall in love with the princess.The man Aladdin works for then dumps a large sack full of old lamps for Aladdin to polish. One is the magic lamp. Aladdin polishes this lamp and a giant genie appears offering to grant his wishes. He wants to be in the palace.Then, in the sultan's palace, what appears to be a huge meal is brought to the sultan. He takes the lid off of the meal tray and there appears Aladdin wearing the same rags that he was working in. He rubs the lamp and is finely dressed. There are a few more wishes and the man Aladdin worked for tries stealing the lamp.The lamp ends up inside the sultan and Aladdin cleverly deals with his former boss with the use of a blow torch. Aladdin then wishes to be with the princess and suddenly, he lands in her bathtub. She falls in love with Aladdin (you couldn't expect otherwise, could you?) and as the happy couple are together, you can hear the man yelling, "New lamps for old." He then gets plenty to work with.