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4.1/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 4.1/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Shipwreck remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have seven minutes to kill and you like cartoons where physics don't exist, The Shipwreck is totally worth your time. You'll probably hate it if you need a story that actually makes sense or if old-timey animation styles creep you out.
It starts with Oswald on a raft with a parrot that has a peg leg. A peg leg on a bird!
I couldn't stop looking at that wooden leg every time the bird moved. It’s such a small, dumb detail that makes the whole opening better.
The way they use the parrot’s beak as a record player needle is just classic 1930s logic. It’s the kind of stuff you’d see in something like Beach Nuts, where the world is just a giant pile of props.
Then Oswald goes fishing and a giant fish basically kidnaps him. He gets pulled underwater, but he doesn't drown because, well, he's a cartoon rabbit.
The underwater scenes are where the animators clearly started having too much fun. There’s a bit with a sawfish that feels very Tex Avery, even though he was just starting out back then.
You can really feel the influence of guys like Avery and Pinto Colvig in how fast the gags come. Some of them don't even land, they just sort of happen and then the movie moves on.
There’s this one moment where a fish is playing a harp made of fishbones. It’s kind of dark if you think about it for more than a second.
I noticed the background art gets real lazy in the middle. Like they just stopped drawing details and hoped the movement would distract you.
It worked on me, mostly. The way Oswald’s ears move independently when he’s scared is top-tier character acting for 1933.
The ending is super abrupt. Like, they ran out of paper or the bell rang for lunch and they just stopped.
I kind of miss when movies could just end without needing a big emotional speech. It’s just a rabbit getting beat up by the ocean and then it’s over.
If you've seen Whys and Otherwise, you know how these shorts can get a bit repetitive. But Oswald has a certain charm that the other characters from this era usually lack.
He feels more like a real person who is just having a very, very bad day. Poor guy. 😅
Anyway, it's a fun little trip into the past. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything.
It’s definitely better than some of the more stiff stuff like The Peacock Fan. At least this one moves.
IMDb 7.7
1923
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