All's Fair at the Fair (1938) User Reviews

The 'World's Fair' Was A Very Big Deal Back Then

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 22 October 2007]

A "World's Fair" was a big deal for many years back in the old days. I haven't heard much about them in years but, trust me, they were big, big events in the United States Many times they featured what they thought the world would look like in the future including some wild inventive machines.

Oh, man, some of the material here still looks great, even 70 years later. These art deco designs, futuristic-looking cities and inventions are still very cool to watch. This cartoon is unknown gem and I'm fortunate to have this as part of a cheap DVD package that was a tremendous bargain ($5 at Wal-Mart for "150 Cartoon Classics").

This must have really impressed theater audiences back in 1938 and having it color didn't hurt, either. Having veteran Dave Fleisher director and voice-artist Jack Mercer also gives you an idea of the caliber of this animated short.

We go along with "Elmer and Mirandy," a married country-ish couple, as they tour the Fair. I particularly enjoyed the sardine trains; the sweater-making machine; the mud pack, and some of the expressions of the day ("Oh, you kid," etc.)

Overall, not super funny but cute and a nostalgic look at the past.

Cute But Simple

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 2 February 2019]

This is about a World's Fair where a couple of charming hayseeds marvel at all the inventions that appear. There is a barber shop and a beauty parlor. A dance hall with robots as instructors. And a bevy of other amazing things. One interesting little bit of information is that there are so few other characters on screen. I would guess in 1938 to put too much in scene would have been expensive, especially in color.

This film, documenting the Chicago World's Fair, beat . . .

[pixrox1 · 6/10 · 17 August 2022]

. . . THE WIZARD OF OZ's depiction of Emerald City's Chicago-style mechanized barber shop and beauty parlor by a year. The middle part of ALL'S FAIR AT THE FAIR shows the type of Hope for the Future that Frank Baum was writing about with his Oz series. The geriatric fair goers here clearly are the working stiff "salt of the Earth" types America was depending upon to implement hero president FDR's New Deal, curtailing four score and seven years of Elephantine misrule. Roosevelt would not allow our U. S. Homeland to be "Crucified upon a Cross of Gold." Establishing a wise Silver Standard, he diverted our new generations off the Yellow Brick Road to Perdition. Though leeches masquerading as legislators prevented FDR from right-sizing the High Court, he still managed to stave off the utter ruin of having Red Commie KGB spies selling military secrets from a Florida hideout to the Kremlin for another eighty years. Bully for him.

One of the coolest shorts ever!

[QPMorris · 10/10 · 7 September 2005]

This cartoon is one I've seen countless times since I was a kid. It's got some great animation and incredible backgrounds. The art deco designs clearly went on to inspire later creations, and it's funny to see a sideways look at these utopian inventions. Fans of Fleischer won't be disappointed. I don't think anyone would be, really.

The bare bones story concerns Elmer and Mirandy, a married couple who go to witness the wonders of the World's Fair in all of its futuristic utopian glory. For you kids that have no clue what I just said, it means that it looks really, really cool.

If you can get a hold of a restored copy of this cartoon, do it. I happen to be stuck with a lousy VHS copy made sometime in the mid-80's. Any fan of classic animation will dig this- anyone in particular will enjoy it.

Completely charming from start to finish!

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 23 January 2014]

"All's Fair at the Fair" is a wonderful example of the sort of cartoons Fleischer Brothers Studio was capable of back in the day. While today they're mostly known for the incredibly formulaic and predictable Popeye cartoons, they also made a wide variety of other cartoons--and a few of which are real gems...like this film.

The film is about a couple of oldsters who go to the new World's Fair (exactly WHERE it never says). It's a completely insane fair--with robots doing all sorts of amazing things, beauty treatments that will take decades off your looks and cars that come out of vending machines. It's all very silly and quite charming. Most importantly, it holds up very well today and shows the sort of high hopes folks had back then when it came to the fairs. Well worth seeing and available for free download at archive.org.

Mediocre animation effort with a couple nice gimmicks

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 5 October 2013]

This Fleischer Technicolor short film from right before World War II is another film this time centering on world's fairs. Fatty Arbuckle and Mable Normand were there, Elvis will be there too and here the two voice actors who usually made us hear Popeye and Olive play a different set of characters, a married couple consisting of a woman where Olive would fit in thrice and a man who could easily tell Popeye some manners. The two take a trip to the world fair to see the newest achievements in technology when it comes to building houses, automation or robots, with whom they both put wild dance on the floor. The animation is okay as a whole, but has done better at that time already too.

Occasionally it reminded me of Fleischer's later work on the Superman short films, not the characters obviously, but the whole setting and tone of the film. It's one of Fleischer's lesser known works, but even it's inferior to most of the Disney stuff from before shortly before World War II, it's still not a totally bad result at all. It has its moments and I'd recommend it, only to animation enthusiasts only though.

Fun and charm at the fair

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 13 November 2019]

When Fleischer Studios were on form, they were great and personally have enjoyed to loved much of their work. Such as the Popeye cartoons of the late-30s, which was perhaps the series' best and most consistent period, and pre-code Betty Boop. When they were off form and in significant decline in the 1940s, like the "Stone Age" and "Animated Antics" series (1940 was a pretty rough year for them), the worst of it was barely watchable. Though there were a handful of not so good late-30s work too, like the Hunky and Spunky cartoons.

'All's Fair at the Fair' is an example of Fleischer being on form (very much top form), 1938 was another consistently good to great year for the studio in one of their best and most consistent years and this is a good example of that. If asked as to whether 'All's Fair at the Fair' is worth watching, the answer would be absolutely yes. Actually consider it pretty much a must see. One of the best "Color Classics" cartoons and one of the best non-Popeye, in another prolific year for that series hence the mention, efforts.

It is relatively light on laughs, though personally think that was intended so that is not so big an issue, and even lighter on originality in story, which is also slight.

Conversely, the great things are many and far outweigh any misgivings. The animation and music were consistent strengths for Fleischer and they still are here. Not one of the studio's most visually innovative, but the richly vibrant colours and smooth drawing are really lovely on the eyes. Standing out in this regard is the background art, which is quite superb and the attention to detail is remarkable, worth seeing 'All's Fair at the Fair' for alone. Equally loved the character of the music and the sumptuousness of the way it was orchestrated, never being at odds with the action. The story may be slight and lacking in originality, but it more than makes up for it with its energy and charm which are throughout the cartoon, without ever being chaotic or sugary.

There are amusing parts and the inventions, in a homage to modern inventions, are so cool and inventively used, nice use of robots such as beauty treatments and latin dancing. Found it very interesting as well that the consequences were not negative and they were never mean-spirited, not seen a lot in cartoons featuring modern inventions (even in the classic Donald Duck cartoon 'Modern Inventions'). The characters never irritate and are not bland. Fleischer regulars Margie Hines and Jack Mercer, have always preferred on a side note the latter, do a great job with the voice acting.

Overall, great. 9/10