Sky Scraping (1932) Review: Bimbo builds a skyscraper to the moon while sleeping

You should definitely watch Sky Scraping if you have six minutes and you're tired of how everything nowadays has to have a "meaning." It’s perfect for people who miss the era when cartoons were just visual jazz. If you hate logic or old-fashioned black-and-white drawings, you'll probably find it annoying. 🏗️

Bimbo is the main character here, and honestly, he is my spirit animal. He’s supposed to be working on this massive high-rise, but all he wants to do is sleep. I think we've all been there during a long shift. 😴

The movie starts with a lot of movement that doesn't really make sense. Steel beams are flying around like they weigh nothing. It reminds me of the chaotic energy in Stupid, But Brave, where everything is just a bit too fast.

Dave Fleischer and Ted Sears clearly didn't believe in gravity. The way the building just grows into the sky feels like watching a plant on fast-forward. It’s kinda hypnotic if you don't think about it too hard.

The Physics of a Nap

There is this one specific moment where Bimbo is sleeping on a girder. It’s swinging wildly over a massive drop, and he doesn't even wake up. It’s actually stressful to watch, even though it’s just a drawing of a dog-man.

The rivets in this movie are like characters themselves. They pop into place with this rhythmic sound that gets stuck in your head. It’s way more entertaining than the heavy drama you find in something like Manslaughter. 🧱

I noticed that the background characters all look slightly melting. That’s just the Fleischer style, I guess. Everything is rubbery and weirdly alive, even the tools.

Bimbo's lazyiness is actually impressive. He finds ways to use the construction equipment to brush his teeth and get dressed. It’s like a Rube Goldberg machine but for being a total slacker.

Space is Closer Than You Think

The building eventually goes through the clouds. Then it just keeps going. Nobody in the cartoon seems surprised that they are now in outer space.

The building structure goes straight through the moon. The moon actually has a face and looks pretty ticked off about it. 🌙

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Sky Scraping (1930) through its definitive frames.

I love how the moon just takes it. In modern movies, there would be a whole scene about the gravitational pull or the oxygen. Here, Bimbo just keeps snoozing while the building stabs a celestial body.

It’s a bit like School Days in Japan in the sense that it’s trying to show you a specific world, but everything is filtered through this 1930s lens. Everything is bouncy. Even the stars probably bounce if you touch them.

The music is this constant, driving jazz beat. It never stops. It makes the laziness of Bimbo feel even funnier because the soundtrack is working so hard while he does nothing. 🎷

I did notice a small animation error near the end. Bimbo’s hat disappears for a frame or two. Or maybe I just blinked at the wrong time. It doesn't really matter because the whole thing is a fever dream anyway.

This cartoon doesn't try to be deep. It’s not trying to be The Fighting American or some big political statement. It’s just about a guy, a skyscraper, and a very unfortunate moon.

The scene where he uses a cloud as a blanket is probably the peak of the whole film. It looks so soft. I kind of wish clouds actually worked like that. ☁️

It’s weirdly comforting to watch someone be so productive and so lazy at the same time. He built a whole skyscraper to the moon just so he could find a quiet place to sleep. That’s dedication to being tired.

The ending is abrupt, like someone just ran out of ink. It doesn't wrap up. It just stops. I like that. More movies should just stop when they’re done instead of having five different endings.

If you’re feeling stressed, find this. Watch the dog-man sleep on the moon. It’s a vib. A very 1932 vib.

• Bimbo’s nose twitching is very distracting.
• The moon looks like it’s made of cheese, which is a classic trope.
• The rivets sound like little bells.
• I wish I could sleep through a moon-stabbing.

Overall, it's just a fun little slice of history. It’s messy and the lines are a bit shaky, but it has more soul than most CGI stuff I've seen lately. Just don't expect it to make any sense at all.