Three's a Crowd (1932) User Reviews

Not a Great Cartoon, but...

[boblipton · 6/10 · 13 February 2008]

Very few of the cartoons directed by Rudolf Ising -- or his partner, Hugh Harman -- for Merrie Melodies were very good. They were still far too busy trying to create Disney look-alikes (like Bosko, for Mickey Mouse), maintain their contracts and deal with their intermediary, Leon Schlesinger, whom they would shortly try to cut out of the equation and who would reply by raiding their shop and forming the nucleus of Termite Terrace. Nonetheless, they had a few good ideas and this one, in which a man leaves his library and characters emerge from books, would become a staple of cartoons for the next dozen years, leading to pictures set in drug stores, road signs, neon lights and book stores.

This cartoon, therefore, is not very good, but is important enough to warrant your looking at it.

Three's a Crowd was perhaps one of the earliest cartoons to depict book characters coming to life

[tavm · 6/10 · 28 February 2015]

This was perhaps one of the earliest of the Merrie Melodie cartoons to feature characters from famous books coming to life which happens here when an old man stops reading one to go to bed. I didn't find much funny here though the music was pretty entertaining and seeing all that action done to it was also pretty good. This was directed by Rudolf Ising who was partnered with Hugh Harmon as co-producers. Their last names make that musical description sound, if you didn't know (Harmon-Ising, harmonizing, get it?). They were partnered with Leon Schlesinger at this time though disagreements over budgets got them leaving him at Warner Bros. and ending up at M-G-M. Anyway, Three's a Crowd is worth a look for any animation buffs out there.

Adapted from Books

[Cineanalyst · 4/10 · 19 August 2020]

I came across this in my search to see screen representations of Lewis Carroll's Alice books. It's a short Merrie Melody cartoon--basic filler before the feature, for an evening's entertainment of yesteryear. In it, after an old man finishes reading by the fireplace and walks away, presumably to bed, characters from his books emerge from the pages and begin dancing and running around. Appropriately enough, the instigator of this dream-land nonsense is Alice, who turns on the radio to the titular song. In the end, she's attacked by Mr. Hyde, but rescued by Tarzan, Robin Hood and others.

To today's sensibility, the caricatures in this of African Americans is problematic, which, of course, was common back then. Worse still, I think, is Uncle Tom lifted from the pages of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel. Once upon a time, this was a powerful anti-slavery text, but, here, Uncle Tom sings about the South in his soul. He's turned into a singing stereotype. True, all of the literary characters are debased to some extent in this short cartoon, but the Uncle Tom is offensive--more a representation of a minstrel show than the novel where he originated. Alice, on the other hand, makes some sense as a curious girl transported to a dreamworld where she encounters strange creatures. Likewise, Hyde makes sense as a monster chasing after her, as do the literary heroes who rescue her. One, characters from the books; two, caricatures in the cartoon; and, three, stereotypes reflecting racial discrimination--indeed, three's a crowd.

The first time out for what would become a well-used formula

[llltdesq · 7/10 · 30 November 2015]

This is a one shot cartoon produced by Harman-Ising for Warner Brothers. There will be spoilers ahead:

Although this is technically a one shot cartoon, it is also the first use of a premise which became a standard concept over time. This is the first Warner Brothers short to have characters in books come to life and have adventures. While it's not even remotely close to being the best of these, it's actually a reasonably good cartoon in its own right. Yes, the gags are predictable, but this is the cartoon which started them off to becoming clichés in the first place.

The short opens with an old man reading in his library. When the clock strikes, he puts his book down, gets up, blows out a candle and goes to bed. After he leaves, Alice comes out of the book he was reading (Alice In Wonderland) and turns on the radio, where she finds the title song playing (part of the purpose of the animation department was to plug songs in the Warner catalog).

Robinson Crusoe, Friday, the Three Musketeers, Rip van Winkle and others all come out and do various bits. Then Alice goes to Uncle Tom's Cabin and calls for Uncle Tom to come out. He does a musical number.

Eventually, another part of the formula for these enters the scene-there's always a bad guy to create conflict and bring about an excuse for action. Here, it's Mr. Hyde, who grabs Alice, only to have various characters come after him. Tarzan enters into things and so does Robin Hood. Hyde gets in over his head and is defeated.

Well worth watching just as a landmark for the studio.

This is one of Warner's earliest animated "kitchen sink" shorts . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 19 January 2017]

. . . in which characters out of story books (or magazines, or off grocery boxes) come to life and interact with each other for a few minutes. Usually the cartoonists act as Armorers, supplying the "Good Guys" with makeshift weapons, McGyver-style. THREE'S A CROWD takes place in an old man's living room, rather than the usual store setting for such fare. Warnologists (those researchers who mine Classic Looney Tunes for Warner Bros.' warnings to We Americans of the Far Future to our upcoming Calamities, Catastrophes, Cataclysms, and Apocalypti) no doubt will see the first character to crawl out of a book here--Alice in Wonderland--as symbolizing America's Statue of Liberty (or U.S. Free Spirit of Democracy in general), and see her eventual kidnapping by Mr. Hyde (infamously of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE) as a prognostication by Warner of Red Commie KGB Russian Strongman Vlad "Mad Dog" Putin's usurping of Power in America during the Rigged Election of 2016, resulting with the installation of Putin's Deplorable Puppet Rump into the People's House of the United States.