Noah’s Lark (1929)

Noah’s Lark Review

Noah’s Lark is a 1929 animated short film from the Talkartoons series.

Noah seems to have major problems with his animals when they all get restless and leave the ship to go to Coney Island and Luna Park to get away from him. This was the first Fleischer movie that kick-started the Talkartoons, which was the series that would eventually introduce Betty Boop before her own series. This first movie was just okay. It was 1929, so the technology was lacking here. The movie emphasizes sound over animation, which bothered me personally.

The dialogue is quite infrequent while the sound is loud and overwhelming. The animation is rather subpar with the character designs being its biggest strength as every animal looks goofy in that signature Fleischer style. The physics-bending gags worked as they were fun and inventive, especially those set in the Luna Park, but other gags ranged from serviceable to uninspired while the plot was quite slim.

Noah’s Lark has some solid gags and fine character designs, but this first Talkartoons cartoon is otherwise uninspired and forgettable.

My Rating – 3.3