This 'Jest of Honor' deserves your attention

Jest of Honor (1934)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors (delivering two lines consisting of nonsense words)
Director: Vernon Stallings

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

The Little King inadvertently triggers an insurrection in a coastal town after getting busy with a mermaid.

"Jest of Honor" is seven-and-a-half-minutes of fast-moving nonsense. In fact, it will go by so fast that you'll be surprised that it's over. This is because this film, like many of "The Little King" series features animation that is among the best you'll find in any Van Beuren offering, and because there is not a moment where something that is visually interesting isn't happening on-screen--and there isn't a set-up that doesn't resolve itself into a well-timed visual gag.

Two of the most interesting points about this installment in this series is that although it consists of bits of action that are almost entirely nonsensical (from the Little King's introduction, though his interaction with fish and a mermaid, through a bizarre tickertape parade, and into the revolt during the climax) they all fit together to form a story that is more complete and coherent than what you'll find in most Van Beuren animation--with a beginning, a middle, an end, and even a denouement. The fact that the nonsense bits feed into each other and add up to a complete story is perhaps also one of the reasons the "Jest of Honor" flies by the way it does; there's nothing to take you out of the moment as you watch it. Secondly, the character designs continue to distinguish between the Little King and his servants and staff and the subjects of the kingdom. The subjects have few sharp angles, unlike the king and those at his court.

One other interesting bit of trivia in the character design department... the mermaids that the Van Beuren heroes Tom & Jerry came across a year earlier in "Rocketeers" were both more sensible in their outfits and even a little sexier than the one in "Jest of Honor". It doesn't really impact the overall cartoon, but it is the one point where a Tom & Jerry outing not animated by Jim Tyre beat "The Little King" series quality-wise.

But why don't you check out "Jest of Honor" and maybe let everyone know if you agree or disagree with my take on it? Just click below, sit back, and watch.