Das musikalische Auto (The Musical Car)

Director: Henk Kabos
Release Date: 1943
Rating: ★★
Review:

‘Das musikalische Auto’ is a Toonder studio film commissioned by Nazi Germany.

It’s a strange little tale of a man who ‘improves’ an old car into a musical instrument. He tours around the countryside, until his car crashes against a tree.

The soundtrack of this film has been lost, so we don’t know how the musical car sounds, but the film feels uninspired: the story lacks any logic, and the animation is primitive and raw. It contains some elements both 1930s Fleischer and Disney, without reaching either peaks.

In his autobiography Marten Toonder states that the idea of this cartoon had its origins in the German UFA studio, who wanted a story on a tumble toy. Toonder soon gave the tumble toy arms and legs, but he and his studio only halfheartedly worked on this ill-conceived idea, and it shows. Nevertheless, some of the designs are quite charming: the backgrounds have an unmistakable Toonder-touch, and the animals in the cartoon do look good.

‘Das musikalische Auto’ is available on the DVD inside the Dutch book ‘De Toonder Animatiefilms’