Line #27 WesternAnimation/SwingYouSinners


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/swingyousinners_734.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"Stand up, you sinner, we got you at last!"]]
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4	->''"Officially, LSD was first produced in 1938. We say "officially" because this cartoon says it's from 1930, and there's no way it was created without massive doses of acid being pumped into everyone involved."''
5	-->-- '''Website/{{Cracked}}''', [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19979_5-old-childrens-cartoons-way-darker-than-most-horror-movies.html "5 Old Children's Cartoons Way Darker Than Most Horror Movies"]]
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7	"Swing, You Sinners!" is a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1930]] WesternAnimation/{{Talkartoons}} short, produced by Creator/FleischerStudios and featuring their character Bimbo the dog[[note]]The name Bimbo was chosen because in the 1920s [[HaveAGayOldTime the word was mostly associated with men who liked to fight]].[[/note]].
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9	The short begins with Bimbo making a nighttime raid on a hen-house, attempting to steal one of the chickens. After a humorous scuffle with one of the hens, a police officer shows up and begins chasing him. Bimbo evades capture (albeit losing the hen and its chicks along the way) but winds up trapped inside a graveyard, where a legion of wily ghosts unite to not only terrorize him for his life of crime and debauchery, but eventually spirit him away.
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11	An outstanding example of the surrealism which characterises both Fleischer Studio's art style and that of other producers at the time, ''Swing, You Sinners!'' has been referenced numerous times in media since its original release.
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13	Contrast to Creator/{{Disney}}'s ''WesternAnimation/TheSkeletonDance'', a short with a similar macabre theme (but not nearly as wild). Also of note is Creator/VanBeurenStudios own [[FollowTheLeader knockoff]] of the film, "Panicky Pup".
14	----
15	!!Swing, You Tropers!:
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17	* AcidTripDimension: Bimbo ends up in this in the ending, with lots of dancing ghosts, a {{Scatting}} frog, and a giant skull that eats him.
18	* AnimateInanimateObject: The spirits in the cartoon take the forms of several objects, including tombstones, a haystack, two separate examples made of the graves' soil, a scythe, and a pair of shoes.
19	* AnimationBump: The Creator/GrimNatwick scenes, most notably the climatic chase sequence.
20	* BedsheetGhost: Many of the ghosts have this appearance.
21	* TheBodyPartsThatMustNotBeNamed: A ghost that transforms into a scythe replaces the name of some unknown organ with scatting, which is easy to take as a FreudianThreat.
22	-->''We'll amputate your vo-do-de-o and tie your bones in a knot.''
23	* BigBallOfViolence: Every time Bimbo dives in to try and catch the chicken it results in a ball of chaotic dust, and the two emerge wearing each other's clothes or with parts of each other traded until the final tussel when they return to normal upon falling out of the cloud of dust.
24	* CreepyJazzMusic: The short features a big jazz number including some unhinged scatting, where a bunch of ghosts torment Bimbo the dog after he tries to steal a chicken.
25	* DangerouslyCloseShave: One of the ghosts turns into and emerges from a barber pole, promising Bimbo a "permanent shave" and lampshading it.
26	* TheDeadCanDance: And swing like crazy too.
27	* DerangedAnimation: Let's just say ''everything'' in the short is wildly animated, even before the graveyard sequence. The climatic chase sequence with the barn and freakish monsters chasing Bimbo (animated by Creator/GrimNatwick) especially stands out.
28	** And when we say everything, we mean it. A couple of short sequences dispense with a background altogether, instead animating everything, ''the background included'', as one big cel.
29	* DoubleMeaningTitle: "Swing" can mean either "dance", befitting the [[CreepyJazzMusic upbeat, jazzy song number from which the short takes its name]], or it can mean "to be executed (as if by hanging)", and sure enough there's no shortage of hanging references in regards to poor Bimbo.
30	* FelonyMisdemeanor: The ghosts are on Bimbo's case for his history of chasing girls, stealing chickens and gambling. This is, apparently, enough to warrant a mercilessly and gleefully delivered death sentence. [[note]] It's only a misdemeanor from a modern viewpoint, back when this cartoon was made during TheGreatDepression, stealing farm animals was considered a major felony due to the famine and food shortages at the time.[[/note]]
31	* ForTheEvulz: The last verse of the song has the ghosts stating this as the motivation for their sadism.
32	* GainaxEnding: After a long chase, Bimbo gets whisked off into a bizarre ghostly world where a scatting frog breaks it down, then, he gets eaten by a giant skull. TheEnd.
33	* InformedFlaw: The opening scene establishes that Bimbo's a thief. The ghosts let us know that Bimbo is a gambler and a shameless womanizer, as well, but we never see any evidence of those.
34	* InstitutionalApparel: Bimbo imagines himself wearing this and pounding on a rock in prison when he first sees the police officer.
35	* LargeHam: Most of the ghosts are this 'cause their exaggerated facial expressions.
36	* LaserGuidedKarma: To modern viewers, Bimbo trying to steal a chicken is a petty crime at worst and certainly doesn't warrant being whisked off into oblivion, but this film ''was'' made during TheGreatDepression, when food was scarce, and people - particularly those in rural areas - often went for days, sometimes even ''weeks'' without food, so Bimbo's crime was a far graver sin than what modern viewers would believe. However, stealing is a sin in contravention of the Holy Ten Commandments, so, regardless of how one might have felt about "petty" theft, it's still a sin in the eyes of God-fearing folk, such as people mostly were in 1930. Also don't forget the other terrible things Bimbo is said to have done, which in any era, are mighty abhorrent.
37	* LivingShadow: The ghost who chastises Bimbo for chasing girls is formed from his own shadow.
38	* MickeyMousing: The part where Bimbo evades the cop is directly timed to the music.
39	* MurderBallad: Once Bimbo enters the barn, the ghosts start singing about all the horrible deaths they'd like to make Bimbo suffer.
40	* NoEnding: The short ends abruptly after Bimbo is eaten by the skull, without resolving such narrative as there is.
41	* OurMonstersAreWeird: They ''sure'' are. Alongside more recognizable things like {{Bedsheet Ghost}}s, animated trees and giant bats, Bimbo is terrorized by living piles of hay, singing gravestones, giant leering heads, a caricature of Monroe Silver, and ghosts who are considerably more abstract.
42	* PrepareToDie: The first half of the song in the graveyard is basically the ghosts telling Bimbo to get ready to be lynched.
43	* ProfileViewGag: At one point, we see a dancing creature that looks like a circle with eyes, legs, and hair. Then it turns to the side, and we see that not only is its body long rather than sphere-shaped, but that the hair is on its tail rather than on its head, and there are two identical creatures behind it.
44	* SapientHouse: Once Bimbo leaves the barn, it becomes an ambulatory spirit and starts chasing after him.
45	* {{Scatting}}: There are two rather energetic scat solos once the ghosts begin their torment, with the first provided by a rooster in the barn and the second coming from a frog in the void moments before the ending.
46	* SwallowTheKey: This is done to keep the cemetery gates locked. Most menacingly, it's the ''[[ItMakesSenseInContext gate]]'' that does so.
47	* VillainProtagonist: Bimbo, although he barely qualifies as a villain.
48	* TheVillainSucksSong: The opening chorus when Bimbo first gets in the graveyard.
49	* VisualPun: Right after entering the graveyard, a block of ice briefly appears on Bimbo's feet - because he's [[DontExplainTheJoke getting cold feet]].
50	* TheWallsAreClosingIn: Done with a stone wall that appears on the horizon and phases through the scenery to enclose Bimbo in a tight circle.
51	* WhenTreesAttack: Some of the spirits are animated trees, one of whom gets a good caress of Bimbo's butt.

Context WesternAnimation / SwingYouSinners