Just watched this M-G-M/Rudy Ising cartoon on the Strike Up the Band DVD. It involves a couple of crows-one male, one female-wooing each other with the male one trying to sing her a song but he keeps being interrupted by various others performing something. Actually, the whole thing is an act on a stage though there's no audience applause heard but several scenery changes occur with the two characters speaking in what would be referred to as "jive" meaning they're supposed to be African-American with the kind of dialect associated with them or their stereotypical selves, anyway. That aside, I thought the whole thing was pretty entertaining so on that note, Romeo in Rhythm gets a recommendation.
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jlewis77-126 December 2009Made a year or two before Avery's arrival at MGM, this Rudolf Ising production boasts some of the same frenetic energy one usually associates with the wartime cartoons to come. Despite not receiving on-screen credit, many key animators working here would get even wilder with Red Hot Riding Hood and Droopy. Also, in terms of animation "polish", this closely matches both PINOCCHIO and FANTASIA in opulence... both MGM and Disney were running neck 'n' neck at this time, prompting the Oscar voters to get confused. (Ising's earlier release, MILKY WAY, would steal Disney's award this year.)
The plot (if you could call it that) involves a pair of crows presenting a vaudeville "hot jazz" rendition of Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet", but constantly being interrupted by fellow avian thespians "putting on a show". One gag involves a spoof of last year's feature hit (Fox, not MGM) STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE. Like other 'toon "crows", they speak in the Harlem "jive talk" that must have seamed foreign to the mostly "white" animators in Culver City. This makes this subtly stereotyped, but not any more "offensive" than... say... the crows that teach DUMBO and Timothy Mouse about flying in the Disney classic. Seeing Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney put on a "black face" minstrel show certainly raises more eyebrows. (The DVD release of this cartoon comes with a box set of their slightly dated musicals).