Honeymoon Hotel (1934) Poster

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8/10
Cute short with more than a few gags with a "nudge, nudge, wink wink" subtext to them
llltdesq5 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This is a cute, though somewhat limited, cartoon which is one of the earliest (if I recall correctly, the very first) Warner Brothers cartoons done in color. Because I want to discuss some of the details, this is a spoiler warning:

The short begins with three billboard painters painting the lyrics (with one straight, quick brush-stroke putting the lyrics down in readable form) to the song they're singing, which is all about Bugville. It's a nice little lead-in to the main plot line, which is about two bugs who fall in love, get married and go to the Honeymoon Hotel (watch for a funny gag involving their car as they enter the Hotel). They go to the front desk, where they sign in by using a rubber stamp indicating that they are "Mr. and Mrs Smith", the first of a number of arch jokes directed more toward the adults in the audience than the children.

Along the way, we see a house detective with a fondness for looking into keyholes, with very unfortunate results (from his point of view, at any rate), a household staff with a significant interest in the goings on in their room and an inquisitive (if bashful) moon. As the happy couple begins to celebrate, the heat in the room causes the thermometer to explode and sets the hotel ablaze.

Some nice sight gags involving the Bugville Fire Department and the rescue efforts at the hotel are next, with our couple trapped in their room by some quite lively flames-so they jump in their Murphy bed and it folds back into the wall. Later, after the hotel has been leveled and the fire is out, they emerge, the husband puts a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door and they go back into the wall again and we see the closing sight gag on the exposed underside of the bed, which I won't spoil here.

Cute short, well worth watching, if you can find it out there. Recommended.
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10/10
"Honeymoon Hotel" (1934) cartoon available free as an "add on" with "Footlight Parade" (1933) VHS and also DVD videos
DavidAllenUSA25 November 2012
"Honeymoon Hotel" (1934) cartoon available free as an "add on" with "Footlight Parade" (1933) VHS and also DVD videos.

This longer than average, very well done color 1934 cartoon is now (2012) available with both VHS and DVD editions of "Footlight Parade" (1933), a famous Warner Brothers musical which contains the "Honeymoon Hotel" song sung by Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler.

"Honeymoon Hotel" is a big production number in "Footlight Parade" (1933), one of three presented at the end of the movie. It is very witty, and very adult in ways later not permitted when the MPAA "Code" went into effect censoring major studio movies for most of the 1930's through the 1960's.

The "bugtown" cartoon version is a spoof with bugs singing the song, and is much longer (and in ways better) than the song sung by live people in "Footlight Parade" (1933). Used VHS copies of "Footlight Parade" (1933) can be purchased cheap from Amazon.Com and worth getting. Both "Footlight Parade" (1933) and the "Honeymoon Hotel" (1934) cartoon are true classics.

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Written by Tex Allen, SAG Actor.

Email Tex Allen at TexAllen@Rocketmail.Com

Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for movie actor credits and biography information.
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8/10
Lovebug honeymoon
TheLittleSongbird13 August 2018
Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera, Studio Ghibli and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. With significantly broader knowledge of different directors, animation styles and studios, actually appreciate and love it even more now.

'Honeymoon Hotel' may not one of my favourite cartoons or an amazing one, there are funnier, more inventive and livelier cartoons about. Not that 'Honeymoon Hotel' is devoid of any of those things, just that other cartoons do it better. It is a lot of fun still and is very charming with a lot to like. Deserving to be more widely known, having come from a period with stiff and more well known competition from major pioneers in animation.

It is very flimsy in story sure and is fairly familiar, it is not hard to figure out how the cartoon was going to end.

Did feel that the cartoon was slightly too long as well.

On the other hand, the animation is great. Full of beautiful vibrant colour, meticulously detailed backgrounds, smooth movement and crisply drawn character designs, one is convincingly immersed in the bugtown world. The music is lush and full of energy, with an infectious song. The choreography in how it synchronises with the music and animated dazzles and amazes in its surprisingly grand spectacle.

Much of 'Honeymoon Hotel' is amusing, with some wit, and despite the bug characters it never tries too hard to be cute. The charm factor is high and while the bug characters are not the most distinctive they are appealing all the same.

All in all, charming and enjoyable. 8/10 Bethany Cox
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8/10
"Goodbye to Depression--business here is fine . . . "
oscaralbert8 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
. . . gleefully sing the animated bedbugs, roaches, and centipedes during Warner Bros.' HONEYMOON HOTEL cartoon brief. This simply reflected a Real Life fact brought into sharp focus by America's Great Depression, on-going when HOTEL hit the streets in 1934: tiny human predators thrive when their hosts are the most miserable. As the two featured love bugs here emerge from the church after their wedding, their well-wishers throw LICE at them! While they are getting settled in a very buggy HONEYMOON HOTEL, their centipede bellhop sings, "I'm here to carry your luggage; I see all the kissing and the Huggage." When you're at a hotel, your room rate only determines the SIZE of the bugs watching you: the lower your rate, the bigger the bugs! We've all heard that roaches survived Japan's nuking, eating the remains of the many victims so that all they left behind were the burnt rind outlines of their corpses. During Hitler's Holocaust, DENIAL documented this year that it took 1500% MORE Zyklon B poison to De-louse a person (that is, kill off the lice attached to them) than to murder someone WITHOUT harming their lice. Since Hitler was named Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" shortly after HONEYMOON HOTEL was released, let's just hope that Adolph's "Man of the Year" successor--Donald J. Rump--does not see THIS cartoon!
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8/10
An underrated classic that deserves more attention
waynel-5976514 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Now I would like to say that if it wasn't for Footlight Parade I would not have known this short existed. I knew about Merry Melodies but I never ever came across the short or knew it existed until I bought Footlight Parade on Blu-Ray and this was included as well as others as a bonus feature.

And I'm VERY happy to have seen this short. While the short isn't big on story, the fun music and charming characters and world more then make up for it.

Now the short is about a couple of bugs who get married and check into a Honeymoon Hotel. Long story it gets caught on fire, but the fire department comes and puts it out and then the two bugs, well if the baby at the end is any indication you know what they're doing(wink wink).

The short does a great job of immersing you into its world. With the beginning song of the short showing bug town and how they go about themselves. It doesn't really have anything to do with the story but it's a nice sequence that leads to the main plot. With the world that this short takes place it, I really wish that they did more with this world as it's very charming.

The character designs while in some respects is standard for the era, all look fantastic. I love old cartoons mainly because the art style is so darn cute! And this short is no exception, all the characters for the most part are just so adorable without going overboard.

And the title and tune of the song comes from a musical number from Footlight Parade which has the same name. It's my favorite number in the whole film and while it's not sung word for word as the lyrics have changed, it's interesting to see the song and number with a new unique spin on it.

Whenever I'm stressed and want to unwind I put on this short and I feel mighty fine. While it might not be regarded as one of the greats of the golden age of animation, Honeymoon Hotel is a charming and enjoyable short that deserves more attention.
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