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6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Village Smitty remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have seven minutes and want to see how weird cartoons were in 1931, yes, watch this. It is great for animation nerds but your average modern viewer will probably find it incredibly boring or just plain creepy. 🐴
The setup is so simple it barely exists. A fancy lady cat is riding in her carriage, her horse loses a shoe, and she stops at a local blacksmith.
That is the whole plot, guys. No big twists, no deep message.
What makes it fun is how everything in the background bounces. The bellows, the fire, even the anvil seems to have a heartbeat.
Ub Iwerks was always obsessed with these rhythmic gags. It is like the whole world is made of rubber. 🎶
There is this one incredibly strange bit where the blacksmith tries to soothe the horse. The horse looks way too human in the face, especially when it smiles.
It actually reminded me of the odd physical comedy in The Shoes That Danced, though obviously that is a completely different kind of movie.
The music is loud and scratchy. It sounds like it was recorded in a tin can, but that is part of the charm.
I noticed that the cat character disappears for like three minutes. The cartoon just completely forgets her while the blacksmith is goofing off with the horse.
It is not a masterpiece, let's be real.
But it has that raw, early-sound-era energy where animators were just making up the rules as they went.
Some of the jokes are just... bad. Like, the horse getting dizzy is just drawn with literal spinning eyes.
Still, if you like old school rubber-hose style, it is a neat little time capsule. Just do not expect Pixar. 🛠️