User reviews

A pretty simple story with some nice animation. A little fish leaves his family to show them that he is a "big fry." But, of course, he doesn't realize that the guys he is gravitated toward are thugs. Of course, it was 1939 and the outcome is pretty predictable.

This is a very good cartoon. However, it's no longer in general circulation due to changing times--as well as folks who want to protect our kids. I find it strange that this film was shelved because it depicts smoking and advocates slapping the crap out of your kids when worse mind-rot is available on most TV channels. As for the smoking, the film is AGAINST that. And, while the mother fish in the cartoon talks about 'putting him across me knee', no acts of violence were perpetrated in the cartoon. It's just a very cute morality tale about a young fish who wants to grow up too quickly--and do all the things the tough older fish want to do. And, while I usually hate singing in cartoons, the tune "Small Fry" is very catchy and fun. My advice is watch the cartoon (it's available for free download at archive.org) and forget about the do-gooders who hate this and other old cartoons that might actually be fun!

By the way, although the film says it's in Technicolor, it sure looks like the old Two-Color Technicolor due to the effects of aging and a need for restoration. The film is VERY orangy--which sometimes happens with older Technicolor film with age.

I still want to be a big fry and go to the big fry club, playing pool, getting into fights like Russell Crowe, and smoke with the big fry! Don't you want to be a big fry?

This Fleischer cartoon is infamous for it's unusual fish freak out scene. A small fry fish, still in 'school', wants to smoke and be one of the big boys. He sneaks away after Momma catfish puts him in his room to study and winds up at the 'pool' hall, where all sorts of different kinds of larger fish smoke and shoot pool. They decide to induct him into the fish union and slip him a mickey before pushing him into a dark cave where he hallucinates as he bumps into all sorts of fish eating images. He runs home to momma and is happy at school thereafter. A simple enough storyline but the animation is cherce. A+++ M:

Small Fry is a gem, not just as a Fleischer cartoon but as one in general and is superior to the still entertaining Educated Fish from two years earlier.

The animation is great, it isn't technically innovative like some other Fleischer cartoons(nor did it need to be) but it has lots of lush, vibrant colours and smoothly drawn backgrounds. The undersea world has plenty of charm and there is some truly imaginative animation work in the "freak-out" scene with all those different characters and shapes coming out suddenly from the atmospherically dark background. The music is full of bouncy energy and sumptuous orchestration that is very 30s-cartoon-like but in a good way. The song is one of the catchiest of any Fleischer cartoon, you'll have no problem remembering the melody and there are some truly funny lyrics as well.

Small Fry has a great story, it is more eventful and less sentimental than most Fleischer cartoons, simple still of course but it at least feels like a story. It's buoyantly paced, rarely falls into maudlin schmaltz(only the ending comes close but it's tame compared to other Fleischer cartoons) and it has a great anti-smoking message that is handled surprisingly maturely. The "freak-out" scene is deliciously dark but no so much that it's out of kilter. I also found myself really caring for Junior Catfish(or Small Fry) and the world he lived in, and the voice acting and singing are all well done.

In conclusion, not quite one of my personal favourites but it is another gem from Fleischer and possibly among the better ones from him and the studio. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This cartoon was among my favorite and most memorable cartoons when I was growing up. Small Fry is the story of a kid fish, who has no interest in going to school and instead hangs out at pool halls and smokes. When Small Fry gets a chance to be a Big Fish, he jumps at the chance, only to get scared and run back home to his mother.

Cartoon has a great theme song. Small Fry character makes his second and final appearance in a Max Fleischer cartoon. He had first appeared in the cartoon "Educated Fish." "Small Fry" was released on April 21, 1939. Cartoon is in the public domain and is available on VHS and DVD by numerous companies.

In 2005 scenes from this cartoon were used in the horror film "The Ring 2."

When a film is 7 minutes long, it really doesn't have much time to pull you in to the story. A few minutes of background info takes up half the film. Because of this limitation, many early cartoons have either very simple or very non-sensical plots, while others have no plot at all. But Small Fry is that rare gem that is able to pull you in to the story with only the smallest amount of background. A teacher's pet is sent to the Catfish house with a note asking why Junior Catfish wasn't in school. It reads, "Did he play hookey or did he get hooked?" Suddenly you actually do care about the whereabouts of this fictional fish you've never met or heard of before. Throughout the rest of the short, Small Fry just hits all the right notes--the music, animation, and story line are all top notch.

This odd cartoon from 1939 is really a cult film. The bizarre story makes it enjoyable. It has a great score by Hoagy Carmichael.

Small Fry (1939)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Now classic animated short has a little fish deciding he wants to be a "tough guy" so he skips school so that he can hang out in a pool parlor. Later that night he decides to go back so that he can be tough but he's taught a valuable lesson. This short from David Fleischer was actually pulled from circulation because parents thought its themes were "bad" for children, which I found to be quite funny since this movie actually has a message for kids who like to skip school or smoke. Yes, there's a scene here where the fish tries a cigarette but is this really a reason to pull the film? The movie manages to be quite funny at times and there's no question that the message gets across very well. The animation and Technicolor are extremely good as well.

I first watched this movie as a kid, and I thought it was great. I watched it again today and I still loved it. This is a very old cartoon, which by today's standards of what good animation is, lets just say it doesn't score high marks. But I think what really matter is the story, not the quality of the animation. This cartoon is old and it shows, but its a lot better than the stuff kids watch today i.e. pokemon,which has basically the same plot recycled each episode about a thousand times. This cartoon is original and I think it still stands the test of time. No, its not very long, and its kinda hard to find now days, but if you do get a chance to see, I suggest sitting down and watching it. This movie over all is short but sweet.