Ko-Ko is chased by a cartoony spider while Max deals with a mouse in his office.Ko-Ko is chased by a cartoony spider while Max deals with a mouse in his office.Ko-Ko is chased by a cartoony spider while Max deals with a mouse in his office.
- Director
- Star
Photos
Max Fleischer
- Cartoonist
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaOne of many Max Fleischer/Out of the Inkwell silent cartoons to be repackaged with soundtracks and distributed for television in the 1950s by Stuart Productions, Inc.
- Alternate versionsThe 1950 Stuart Productions television release features an added soundtrack and is retitled "Koko's Big Catch".
- ConnectionsFollowed by The Battle (1923)
Featured review
What a web sight!
At a time when every other animation studio seemed to be imitating Disney, the Fleischer brothers (producer Max, animator Dave) were consistently turning out clever animation that was technologically innovative and often brilliantly funny. The Fleischer toons typically began and ended with live-action footage, and often used considerable live-action during the story proper ... as in the well-known 'Ko-Ko's Earth Control' and in the more obscure 'Trapped'.
One of the ways the Fleischers showed the originality of their cartoon technique was in their method of introducing their character Ko-Ko the Clown. Although Ko-Ko appeared in dozens of silent-era cartoons for the Fleischer studio, it was a point of pride for Dave Fleischer always to introduce Ko-Ko by means of a different visual device in each cartoon. In 'Trapped', we see the cartoonist's hands as still photograph cut-outs, manipulated in front of the camera to look like live-action movie footage. The hands sketch a small black dot and ink it in. Then the dot proceeds to bounce across the cartoonist's easel, until the hands finally catch it and unfold it into Ko-Ko the Clown.
Now the toon gets going, with Ko-Ko encountering a giant spider ... who has a human face that's decidedly male, even though the spider spins a gigantic web. (In the real world, only female spiders spin webs.)
What makes 'Trapped' distinctive is that the action cross-cuts between Ko-Ko's battle with the spider and our live-action cartoonist (Dave Fleischer himself) in his travails with a live-action mouse in the Fleischer studio. Eventually, the cartoonist sets a mousetrap. Of course, Ko-Ko escapes from his cartoon and gets caught in the live-action mousetrap. Then Ko-Ko develops some web-spinning techniques of his own, and he proceeds to spin a gigantic (cartoon) spiderweb all round the head of the dozing live-action cartoonist.
'Trapped' is not as funny as 'Ko-Ko's Earth Control' (few cartoons are!), but it's visually innovative, and you and your kids will enjoy it. The black-and-white footage of a real mouse is not likely to disturb anybody. I'll rate this delightful toon 8 out of 10.
One of the ways the Fleischers showed the originality of their cartoon technique was in their method of introducing their character Ko-Ko the Clown. Although Ko-Ko appeared in dozens of silent-era cartoons for the Fleischer studio, it was a point of pride for Dave Fleischer always to introduce Ko-Ko by means of a different visual device in each cartoon. In 'Trapped', we see the cartoonist's hands as still photograph cut-outs, manipulated in front of the camera to look like live-action movie footage. The hands sketch a small black dot and ink it in. Then the dot proceeds to bounce across the cartoonist's easel, until the hands finally catch it and unfold it into Ko-Ko the Clown.
Now the toon gets going, with Ko-Ko encountering a giant spider ... who has a human face that's decidedly male, even though the spider spins a gigantic web. (In the real world, only female spiders spin webs.)
What makes 'Trapped' distinctive is that the action cross-cuts between Ko-Ko's battle with the spider and our live-action cartoonist (Dave Fleischer himself) in his travails with a live-action mouse in the Fleischer studio. Eventually, the cartoonist sets a mousetrap. Of course, Ko-Ko escapes from his cartoon and gets caught in the live-action mousetrap. Then Ko-Ko develops some web-spinning techniques of his own, and he proceeds to spin a gigantic (cartoon) spiderweb all round the head of the dozing live-action cartoonist.
'Trapped' is not as funny as 'Ko-Ko's Earth Control' (few cartoons are!), but it's visually innovative, and you and your kids will enjoy it. The black-and-white footage of a real mouse is not likely to disturb anybody. I'll rate this delightful toon 8 out of 10.
helpful•12
- F Gwynplaine MacIntyre
- Jun 2, 2005
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Koko's Big Catch
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime12 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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