Ham and Eggs: A weird, frantic little relic

Is this worth a watch?

Honestly, only if you are deep into animation history or just have a weird obsession with how cartoons used to look before they figured out timing. If you’re looking for a tight story, look elsewhere. If you want to see a frantic, jerky precursor to the stuff that became legendary, jump in. Just don't expect it to feel like the polished stuff you remember from Saturday mornings.

It’s got this nervous energy, like the animators were afraid the screen would go blank if they let a single second pass without something moving. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it just makes your eyes twitch a bit. The pacing is absolutely frantic.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Ham and Eggs (1933) through its definitive frames.

The Good, The Weird, and The Jerky

There’s a specific bit involving the eggs that felt so disjointed I actually had to rewind it twice. It’s not graceful, but it’s got personality. It reminds me a bit of the raw, unrefined energy in The Skeleton Dance, though with way less charm and way more shouting.

You can tell they were experimenting with how characters interact with their environment. The way the lines jitter on the screen makes the whole thing feel like it’s vibrating. It’s like watching a sketch that hasn't quite decided if it wants to be a professional product or a high-effort doodle.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Ham and Eggs (1933) through its definitive frames.

The humor is definitely from a different era. Some of the gags land with a thud, and others just feel like they’re trying too hard to be loud. It’s not subtle. Like, at all. It makes The Auction of Virtue look like a slow-burn drama by comparison.

• The backgrounds are basically just suggestions.
• The sound effects have a weird, tinny crunch to them.
• I’m still not sure why the pig did that one thing.

There’s this one sequence where the character walks, and it’s like his legs are having an argument with his torso. It’s funny in a way that feels unintentional. I wonder if they noticed that in the booth back then. Probably not. They were likely too busy worrying about the ink drying.

If you watch this back-to-back with modern stuff, the contrast is hilarious. It’s like comparing a high-end sports car to a wooden wagon with a loose wheel. Still, there is something honest about it. It’s not trying to sell you a theme park or a breakfast cereal. It’s just trying to be a cartoon.

Maybe skip it if you get motion sickness. The frame rate or whatever you call those old-timey technical glitches makes the whole thing shimmer in a way that’s slightly hypnotic. Or maybe I just need to get my glasses checked. 🍳