not as good as all the hype

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

A Brilliant Conflict

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. Actually appreciate it even more through young adults eyes, due to having more knowledge of it, various animation styles, studios, directors and how it all works.'Those Beautiful Dames' is not one of Friz Freleng's, a director who did many great cartoons and a director held in high admiration by me, best, not being one of his funniest, wittiest or freshest. For relatively early Freleng, 'Those Beautiful Dames' is worth watching though he would do much better later. It is never what one would call properly hilarious (but is never unfunny), Freleng's later efforts show more evenness and confidence in directing and the story. It is quite thin in terms of story and the structure is basically an excuse to string the events along. It is not terribly imaginative and occasionally momentum is not always there. Not all the characters are given enough time or personality to properly shine.However, many of the characters are fun, and the protagonist is appealing and easy to root for, really sympathised with her bleak plight.The cartoon has enough very amusing moments (loved those teddy bears), some variety and there is a good deal of liveliness when the toys appear. The conflict is nicely done and there is a good deal of cuteness and charm. There is a bleakness at the beginning that wrenches the heart and parts are touching, yet the sentimentality doesn't go overboard.Animation is very good, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading, vibrant and very meticulous in detail. The music is lovely on the ears, lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.Overall, worth watching. 7/10 Bethany Cox

. . . Warner Bros. warns we Future People of the 21st Century in this 1930s animated short, THOSE BEAUTIFUL DAMES. With America's Reverse Robin Hood fiscal policies of the past 20 years (that is, Steal from the Poor, Give to the Rich), all of us 99 Per Centers can identify with THOSE BEAUTIFUL DAMES' impoverished four-year-old red-headed Birthday Girl dressed in rags, whose household is so bereft that there's no heat and even the mice are starving. When something nice is finally surrendered to her--whether a chocolate birthday cake or ObamaCare--the Rich People Partiers send in their hill-topping steam shovels to snatch it away before the Poor (like she and we) can enjoy a decent bite. Alert viewers will note that this young party girl wears a wistful expression as THESE BEAUTIFUL DAMES winds down, in her acute awareness that Life as We Know It will end at noon, Jan. 20, 2017, and this party will be the "yesterday, when my troubles seemed so far away." Thanks to rampant voter suppression and an election rigged by Commie Russia's KGB, it's unlikely that this four-year-old's troubles will EVER seem "far away" again, even if she lives to be 114 like Arlene in New Jersey.

A feel-good cartoon about little toys with great big hearts, this has very dark edges and remarkable dramatic tension for a movie so short and filled with characters who aren't, technically, real. It starts with roots in Hans Christian Andersen's "Little Match Girl" before segueing (though nobody knew this in 1934) into an animated "Babette's Feast." Watch the very last shot; the little girl's mixed feelings could break your heart - if, like me, you get sentimental about the travails of cartoon characters. Chuck Jones fans will note that he got very junior billing for this. This is a little gem. I hope TCM recycles it often, especially at Christmas time.

A little girl living (alone?) in utter poverty is rescued from her dismal existence by a group of toys come to life. The flick starts out with the bleak view of the girl's life: even the mice in her shanty can't find enough crumbs to live on. Then the toys - led by a little girl and a toy soldier, last seen in "Beauty and the Beast" (1934) - slip in while the girl is asleep and totally renovate her home. The girl awakens at midnight to a party of cake and ice cream. The cartoon is amusing in its silly, Merrie Melody way. Purists might object to the title song being sung as "Those Beautiful Dolls", buy, hey, this is a kids' cartoon. Favorite bit: A line of teddy bears dances to the title song played on a record player. When the record skips back, the bears all gamely repeat the same step over and over until the little girl fixes the player.