Ko-Ko's Catch: A weirdly charming 1920s distraction

Is this worth watching today? Yeah, if you have seven minutes and you like seeing how people used to make magic out of ink and paper.

Who would enjoy it? People who think modern CGI is a bit too clean and miss the days when things looked a little shaky.

Who will hate it? Anyone who needs a complex plot or can't stand silent films where the music is just a piano going fast.

So, the basic setup is that Max Fleischer is sitting at his desk. He's got a new secretary, and he's clearly distracted.

He wants to talk to her, but Ko-Ko the Clown and Fitz the Dog keep popping out of the inkwell. They want attention, like bored kids on a rainy day.

To get them out of his hair, Max draws these little coin-operated mechanical devices. It is kind of funny how Max just wants to flirt while his creations are literally demanding to exist.

The secretary doesn't really do much, she mostly just stands there looking 1920s-ish. Her hat is actually pretty interesting if you look closely at the texture of the fabric.

One of the mechanical things is a little fishing game. Ko-Ko and Fitz try to use it, and the way the animation interacts with the "real" objects is still really cool to watch.

There is this moment where Ko-Ko looks right at the camera. It feels like he knows we are watching him be ignored by his creator.

The lines on the characters are always moving, even when they are standing still. It gives the whole movie this nervous energy that you don't see anymore.

It reminds me a bit of Daily Dozens, where the movement is the whole point. There isn't a deep meaning here, just the joy of seeing things move in ways they shouldn't.

Max’s acting is... well, he’s an animator, not a movie star. He does this exaggerated double-take when the secretary walks in that is honestly kind of charming in its clunkiness.

The mechanical toys look like something you'd find in a dusty corner of a museum. They have all these gears and levers that don't make sense but look perfect in black and white.

I noticed a small smudge on the lens in one of the live-action shots. It’s right near the top left corner, and once you see it, it's hard to stop looking at it.

Fitz the dog has this weird way of walking. He doesn't really have bones, he just sort of stretches across the screen.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Ko-Ko's Catch (1928) through its definitive frames.

The the whole thing feels very fast. Like they were making it up as they went along just to see what would happen.

It’s a bit like Twin Bed Rooms in the way it handles space, though obviously way more surreal.

The ending is pretty abrupt, which is common for these old shorts. Max finally finishes his work, or maybe he just gives up.

It makes you wonder how many secretaries Max actually hired just to have an excuse to draw weird gadgets. 🤡

There is a scene where Ko-Ko tries to catch a fish and it goes about 10 seconds too long. You can feel the the animator just enjoying the loop of the arm moving up and down.

I like that the movie doesn't try to be important. It's just about a guy, a girl, and a clown in a bottle.

If you watch it on a big screen, you can see the grain of the paper Max is drawing on. It makes the whole thing feel human and handmade.

It's definitely better than some of the other stuff from that year, like maybe The Last Straw, which felt a bit more tired.

Ko-Ko’s Catch has a bit of magic left in it. Even if the "magic" is just some clever editing and a lot of ink.

The way Fitz reacts to the mechanical dog is actually my favorite part. He looks so confused, like he’s meeting a ghost made of metal.

Anyway, it’s a good little slice of history. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything.

It’s just a nice, slightly weird way to spend a few minutes. 🎥

I think I missed some of the dialogue in the title cards because I was looking at the background. There is a lot of junk on Max's desk that looks fascinating.

Old pens, bottles of ink, scraps of paper. It looks like a real workspace, not a movie set.

That’s probably why it feels so grounded, despite the cartoon clown running around.