The Queen of Hearts (1934) review: Bouncy, weird, and slightly creepy

If you have eight minutes and a soft spot for things that look like they were drawn on a dirty napkin in 1934, then yes, The Queen of Hearts is absolutely worth a quick look.

People who love the bouncy, slightly creepy vibes of early rubber-hose animation will eat this up. But if you get annoyed by repetitive jazz loops or characters who do nothing but wiggle their hips to the beat, you should probably skip it. 🃏

This is an Ub Iwerks cartoon, which means everything in the background has a weirdly alive, slightly threatening face.

The plot is just the old nursery rhyme about the Queen baking some tarts and the Jack stealing them, but things get strange fast.

I love how the cards are completely flat but still somehow bend like rubber hoses. When the King walks, his legs look like wet spaghetti noodles.

There is this one incredibly specific moment where a card guard is trying to look tough, but his spear keeps drooping. It is a tiny gag that lasts maybe three seconds, but it made me laugh out loud.

And the oven! Why does the oven have a face and look like it is actively suffering while baking those tarts?

It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in The Dippy Dentist, where the physical gags just keep piling on without any breathing room. Or even the musical chaos of A Great Big Bunch of You.

The animation isn't perfect, and you can see some dirt on the lens in a few frames, but that is part of the charm.

It feels like a group of guys in a smoky room just drawing whatever popped into their heads after lunch.

The music is so loud too. It completely drowns out some of the sound effects, but honestly, it just adds to the dream-like confusion of the whole thing.

The Jack of Hearts is a total creep, by the way. He does this weird, slinky slide across the floor that feels way too sneaky even for a thief.

Things I jotted down while watching:

• The dough actually screams when the Queen pats it. Creepy!
• Why does the King have three different sizes of crown depending on the shot? It keeps changing!
• The chase scene goes on way too long and they pass the same stone pillar like twelve times.
• The ending is super abrupt, like they just ran out of paper.

It is not a masterpiece, but it has that vintage grittiness that modern stuff just cannot copy.

If you want a quick hit of pure, unfiltered 1930s weirdness, give it a spin.