In Australia (probably elsewhere, too) this short cartoon was screened just before "The Lion King". For a brief moment I sensed a new golden age, with hand-animated features basking in critical praise and paying their way at the box office, and classic short cartoons once again seeing the light of day (that is to say, the darkness of cinemas). The dream didn't last long, did it? "Lambert" turned out to be the last hand-animated short I ever saw in a cinema; today, Disney doesn't even bother to re-release its old FEATURES any more, and its animation department, which has maintained continuous production for something like seventy-five years and still has the best animators in the world, is fighting for its life in the face of general indifference. We are living in evil times.
I was particularly glad to see this cartoon in the dark, just before "The Lion King": it always brought tears to my eyes, which I managed to keep secret. I gather it was based on a children's book, or was at one point going to be a children's book, or some such, but unless the prose was as perfectly crafted as Hans Christian Andersen's, this is surely the better form. It's a departure for Jack Hannah, who doesn't try to be funny; he just tells a sweet, warm-hearted story as clearly as possible. How can you not love it?
I was particularly glad to see this cartoon in the dark, just before "The Lion King": it always brought tears to my eyes, which I managed to keep secret. I gather it was based on a children's book, or was at one point going to be a children's book, or some such, but unless the prose was as perfectly crafted as Hans Christian Andersen's, this is surely the better form. It's a departure for Jack Hannah, who doesn't try to be funny; he just tells a sweet, warm-hearted story as clearly as possible. How can you not love it?