Molly Moo-Cow and the Indians: A very strange cartoon

Is it worth your time?

If you have an interest in early animation history, sure, go ahead. If you just want something to watch with kids, maybe skip this one—it’s got a weirdly tense energy that might just leave everyone in the room staring at the screen in silence. It’s for the curious souls who dig up old, dusty reels from the 1930s just to see what the vibe was like back then.

The whole thing feels like a strange, disjointed dream. Molly is just wandering around being a cow, and then suddenly there is this hunter guy. He really, really wants those ducks. It makes me think of the tone in The Patsy where everything just happens because the script says so, not because it makes sense.

The animation style

The way the background moves is hypnotic. It’s not smooth, it’s twitchy. Every time the hunter misses his mark, he gets angrier, and the cartoon shifts from 'goofy animal antics' to 'this guy is actually pretty scary' in like three seconds flat. 🐮

There’s a moment where Molly just sort of… stands there. It lasts for a while. I kept waiting for a joke, or a transition, or a song to start, but no. Just a cow, blinking, in a forest.

• The ducks are surprisingly fast.
• The hunter’s outfit looks like it was drawn by someone who only heard about clothes secondhand.
• Why is the cow so smug?

It’s not as emotionally heavy as The Lash, obviously, but it carries this odd weight that you don't expect from a cartoon about a cow. It’s not trying to be deep, it’s just trying to fill six minutes of screen time. Sometimes that’s enough. Other times, you just want to know why the hunter gave up so easily at the end.

I don't know. It’s just a weird little artifact. If you watch it, don't overthink it. Just watch the cow. 🦆