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5.9/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Out of the Ether remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like old-school animation that feels like a fever dream, you might enjoy Out of the Ether. If you prefer narratives that make, you know, actual sense, you should probably skip this.
It’s a bizarre, frantic little cartoon. It honestly feels like someone took a radio broadcast and dropped it into a blender.
The whole thing starts with a radio getting surgery. Don't ask. When the radio finally coughs up an Arthur Tracy song, Krazy is off on a flying carpet. It is the kind of logic only early animation could get away with. 📻
Suddenly, the clouds are filled with caricatures of 1930s radio stars. We get Kate Smith, Eddie Cantor, and a bunch of others. They are all singing or doing their thing in the sky. It feels less like a movie and more like a weird scrapbook come to life.
I found myself wondering if audiences back then actually recognized all these sketches. Some of the drawings are a bit rough, almost aggressive. Bert Gordon pops up and it’s just… a lot.
The animation style reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in Monkey Business, but with way more singing. It’s got that jittery, black-and-white charm where you aren't 100% sure what you are looking at, but you can’t look away.
It doesn't have the gravity of The Mutiny of the Bounty, obviously. It’s just a weird, quick trip into the clouds. Sometimes, that is enough.
It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s a strange window into what people found funny or entertaining almost a century ago. ☁️ The pacing is breakneck. You barely have time to register one radio star before another one is thrown at your face.
I suspect the animators were just having fun with it. It feels loose, messy, and totally unconcerned with being a "real" movie. Honestly? I kind of respect that.