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5.2/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.2/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Pagan Moon remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
You should absolutely watch Pagan Moon today if you have six minutes and want to see something deeply weird. It is perfect for anyone who loves rubber-hose animation and early jazz.
But if you get annoyed by 1930s cultural stereotypes or cartoons with zero plot, you will probably hate it.
The setup is incredibly simple. A native boy on a tropical island sings a love song called "Pagan Moon" to his girl.
Then things get wet. He falls into the water, and suddenly we are in a jazz club run by sea creatures.
The highlight is easily the octopus playing the piano. He has enough arms to hit every key at once, and he looks incredibly smug about it.
I love how old cartoons didn't care about logic. The boy is underwater but he is still singing and strumming his little string instrument perfectly.
The water doesn't even slow down his movements. It is just like land, but with bubbles and fish wearing tiny hats.
It reminds me of the loose, musical vibe of Melody Makers No. 1: Sammy Fain, though this cartoon is way more surreal.
There is this one shot where a fish with huge teeth starts dancing, and the camera just stares at it. It goes on for like ten seconds too long, and it gets wonderfully awkward.
The animation style has that bouncy, loose energy where everything—even the trees and the rocks—seems to be breathing to the beat of the music.
Rudolf Ising directed this, and you can tell he just wanted to have fun with the music and ignore physics completely.
The song itself is actually pretty catchy. I have been humming the melody for the last hour and it is starting to annoy my cat.
If you like old-school fantasy shorts like Aladdin's Lamp, this has a similar vibe of "anything can happen as long as it is drawn on paper."
It is not a masterpiece, but it is a neat little time capsule from an era when cartoons were just pure, unadulterated nonsense.
Watch it on YouTube when you need a quick break from reality. 🐙