Dutch Treat is a weird little cartoon mess (and I kind of like it)

So, is Dutch Treat worth your time today? Honestly, only if you have six minutes to kill and you like watching animals behave like absolute lunatics. If you are looking for a plot that makes sense or some deep meaning, just skip it. This is purely for the people who enjoy that grainy, jittery animation from the late 20s and early 30s.

It is a Frank Moser joint. You can tell because everything feels like it is vibrating. The premise is basically: a cat and a cow are mad at each other. Why? Who knows. They start brawling near a dam, and it is one of those classic escalation cartoons where a small shove leads to a town being completely underwater.

I noticed the cat's face looks slightly different in every other shot. It is like the animator forgot what he drew five minutes ago. It is kind of charming in a messy, unpolished way. There is this one bit where the cow gets this look in its eyes. It is genuinely creepy and reminded me of the weird energy in The Breath of a Nation.

The Physics of Chaos

The dam bursting is the big moment. But it is mostly just wavy lines and white space. It is not exactly high-budget stuff, even for the time. The physics are completely broken. Water flows in ways that would make a scientist cry, but that is the point, I guess.

Paul Terry was not trying to win an Oscar here. He was trying to get a laugh out of a kid in 1931. Or maybe just fill time before the main movie started. I think about movies like The Ballyhoo Buster and how they had a bit more structure. This is just pure, unadulterated chaos.

Did you see the way the cow’s legs move? They do not have bones. They are just rubber tubes that bend in the middle. It is that classic rubber hose style that feels so alien now. It makes the fight scenes feel more like a dance than a battle.

The ending is incredibly abrupt. It just... stops. Like they ran out of paper or ink and said good enough. It is a weird little relic. Not a masterpiece, but a weird thing that exists in the corner of film history.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Dutch Treat (1930) through its definitive frames.

Small Details and Weird Vibes

• The cat pulls a face at one point that looks like a melted clock.
• The background art is so sparse it feels lonely.
• The cow is a total menace, not cute at all.
• There is a fish that looks very confused about the flood.

I’d say it is more entertaining than What's Your Reputation Worth? just because it does not try to lecture you. It just wants to be loud and fast. If you have seen Gorira, you know how these early shorts can be a bit out there. Dutch Treat fits right in that bucket.

I wonder if Frank Moser was having a bad day when he drew this. The violence feels very personal. It is definitely more interesting than The Man-Getter, which is a different kind of weird altogether. The sound is crunchy, too. It sounds like someone eating toast next to a microphone.

Frank Moser had this way of drawing eyes. They are always just a bit too big for the head. It makes everyone look like they have seen a ghost. Maybe they did, considering the world in 1931 was a pretty scary place. Maybe a flooding dam was the least of their worries back then. 🌊

I also noticed the way the cat walks on his tiptoes. It is very dainty until he starts throwing punches like a middleweight boxer. It is a weird contrast. One second he is a pet, the next he is a street fighter.

I think about Gow the Head Hunter and how different adventure looked back then. This is adventure on a backyard scale, but with the stakes of a natural disaster. It is a funny little piece of history that I am glad I watched, even if I won't watch it again for a decade.

The way the cow’s udder bounces around is... a choice. The animators back then really did not have any filters. It is distracting and a bit strange to look at now. I like how the movie doesn't try to wrap things up with a lesson. The town is flooded, everyone is wet, and that is it. No moral, just water.

It is a lot like Snowbound in that it is just a slice of chaotic life. Except with more drowning. Wait, that sounds darker than it actually is. It is just water. Animated water. Which is basically just air. Anyway, go watch it if you like old ink and have a short attention span. 🎷

"The cow's face at the end will be burned into my retinas forever."

It is short, it is messy, and it is kind of ugly. But it has a soul. It is the kind of soul that has been trapped in a projector for ninety years. Don't expect a masterpiece, just expect a cow and a cat making a huge mess. Sometimes that is all you really need on a Tuesday afternoon. I'll remember that cow's face for a while. Thanks, Paul Terry.