You're an Education (1938) User Reviews

Interesting variation on the "books/magazines come to life" plot line-this one uses travel brochures

[llltdesq · 7/10 · 24 November 2006]

There were a good number of shorts which used the conceit of having characters in books or magazines (sometimes on items in a grocery store) come to life and interact with each other. This is a rather novel variant, in that it uses travel brochures. As I want to discuss some details, there will be spoilers below:

The beginning is a series of quick sight gags, generally with some kind of appropriate musical connection which fit the gag, most of them at least mildly amusing, the standout being "When Yuba Plays the Rhumba On the Tuba".

The middle portion consists of a takeoff on the title, re-wording the song it was taken from as "Food's An Education In Itself", where we see two characters filling their plates from various brochures where puns make a connection to food possible ("Turkey", for example) while a trio sing to accompany the animation.

The last part is strictly a crime/chase sub-plot, involving the Thief of Baghdad stealing from the Kimberly Diamond Mines, only to be chased from brochure to brochure and finally caught, dragged along until he winds up seated behind the "Lone Stranger". As they ride off, the Thief points out that he isn't "alone" anymore.

This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and is well worth watching. Recommended.

There's lots to see in the world.

[lee_eisenberg · 6/10 · 2 March 2007]

Watching "You're an Education" in the 21st century, it's probably most recognizable that many of the images are pretty racist. As long as we understand that, it's OK to luxuriate in the cartoon itself. This was one of many shorts portraying inanimate objects (books, food, clothes) coming to life. In this case, travel brochures interact with each other, until the Thief of Baghdad steals some diamonds from Transvaal. There are plenty of jokes along the way: the Russian Steppes are a staircase, the Cape of Good Hope is a real cape, and Italy turns into a boot.

So, it's an OK time. But just realize that some of the images are pretty racist.

Amusing!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 16 March 2018]

Director: FRANK TASHLIN. Story: Dave Monahan. Animator: A.C. Gamer. Music director: Carl W. Stalling. Color by Technicolor. Producer: Leon Schlesinger.

Copyright 5 November 1938 by The Vitaphone Corp. A Warner Bros Merrie Melodies cartoon. U.S. release: 5 November 1938. 7 minutes.

COMMENT: Another entry in the animated covers series, this one is much more inventive and amusing than most.

After a breezily rapid montage of brochure destinations - each with an appropriate snip of song accompaniment - the "story" settles down to a couple of hungry Hungarian boys who feast on turkey, frankfurts and java, whilst a trio belt out "Food is an Education".

The concluding episode has a swami type steal a diamond, his flight derailed by Sherlock Holmes and a crashing tower of Pisa.

Reasonably witty, brightly colored and expansively animated with some truly dazzling effects.

Plenty of excitement no matter where you travel!

[slymusic · 14 January 2008]

"You're an Education" is a nice Warner Bros. musical cartoon that deals with the adventures of traveling. The various characters on the covers of the numerous travel brochures suddenly come to life, singing, dancing, and playing instruments (after spending many hours undoubtedly in boredom from being absolutely still).

Here are my personal favorite "coming-to-life" gags and snatches of song from "You're an Education." The first brochure we see shows a distant castle in Alsace Lorraine, hence we hear a snippet of "Have You Got Any Castles, Baby?" The first six words of the popular song "Avalon" accompany a group of (literally) flying fish advertising Avalon Bay. A leprechaun suddenly sings and dances to the jazzy "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen." "Volga Boatman" accompanies a group of Russians who suddenly burst into a silly kick dance. A heavyset tuxedo-clad Cuban plays a song on the sousaphone titled "When Yuba Plays the Rumba on His Tuba" (and it so happens that I play the tuba as well), followed by a trio of portly African-American women singing not only "When Yuba Plays the Rumba" but also "Lady in Red."

"You're an Education" is one of a series of cartoons in which characters on books, magazines, brochures, etc., come to life. Frank Tashlin, who directed this film, directed a couple other cartoons of this genre, but perhaps the most famous of all the "coming-to-life" cartoons is the superlative "Book Revue" (1946), directed by Bob Clampett.

(Too) Many interesting references

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 3 September 2015]

"You're an Education" is a Warner Bros. 7-minute cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin, before he started working with Jerry Lewis, and starring the voice talent of Mel Blanc, possibly the most prolific actor in film history. This one here basically delivers information in terms of geography, clothing, culture, lifestyle etc. about all kinds of regions everywhere in the world. And in the end, we even get a little crime story starring Scotland Yard and Sherlock Holmes. I thought it was worth the watch, however, it was so much and so quick that it felt pretty much impossibly to soak in, let alone understand, all the references included in here. My favorite part about it was possibly the music, especially "Bei mir bist du shein", a song I've always loved. A good watch and one of Warner Bros' finest from that period. Very smart, even if it lacks a little focus and is just a collection of impressions basically. Recommended.

Geography was always my worst subject at school so perhaps I'm just bitter!

[phantom_tollbooth · 4/10 · 9 January 2009]

Frank Tashlin's 'You're an Education' is another of the many inanimate-objects-come-to-life cartoons, the final of three directed by Tashlin in 1938. In this case, the publications suddenly becoming animated are brochures in a travel agents, leading to a long stretch of country-specific musical cues. In the tradition of the format, a villain emerges towards the end, in this case the Thief of Baghdad. 'You're an Education' is by far the worst of Tashlin's 1938 trilogy, lacking decent gags or any opportunity to really build up much energy. It's not as attractive as the so-so 'Speaking of the Weather' and it falls a long, long way short of the great 'Have You Got Any Castles' (which 'You're an Education' actually references in the opening minute). This sub-genre of cartoons often depended on the potential of the inanimate objects that formed its central concept and, frankly, travel brochures is a dull starting point. I have a soft spot for these type of cartoons since they can be spectacular when done well (the aforementioned 'Have You Got Any Castles' and the pinnacle of the genre, Bob Clampett's masterful 'Book Revue') but 'You're an Education' is probably my least favourite of the lot.

Those familiar with the Basics of Warnology . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 22 June 2016]

. . . are bound to wonder whether this 1938 animated short is a warning shot outlining World War Two for America, or simply an eerie coincidence. The first "tourist destination" featured in this cartoon also happens to be one of German madman Adolf Hitler's initial WWII battlefronts, the Alsace Lorraine region of France. The next location highlighted here is Hawaii, upon which the Pearl Harbor Sneak Attack carried out by Hitler's ally Japan drew the U.S. into the War. As travel agency wall posters with 121 place names scroll by, attentive viewers will note that most if not all of these global locations have strong WWII connections, such as Hitler's native Austria, Japan's earliest target (China), and Adolf's Number One Killing Box, Warsaw, Poland. A 90-something-year-old U.S. WWII Vet sang America's National Anthem at the MLB game we attended this week, and it sounded like he could go any day now. If you're lucky enough to know one of our few surviving 1940s Winning Team Warriors, you have the chance to find out from the proverbial "horse's mouth" how it struck them to watch YOU'RE AN EDUCATION as Middle Schoolers, and then to be fighting the blueprints laid out on its film canvas a few years later.

Not on the same level as Have You Got any Castles and Book Revue, still makes for good entertainment though

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 18 October 2013]

Have You Got Any Castles and Book Revue are classics and proof that the object-come-to-life formula can work. It still does work in You're An Education, just not as well. Travel brochures are not the most exciting of objects to base a cartoon on admittedly, but You're An Education does a credible job still. The cartoon could have been paced more crisply, and the middle section is not quite as inspired or as funny as the beginning and end, it drags a little here and the gags are much stronger at the start and end. The animation is beautifully drawn though and the colours are done very charmingly. The music is put to really clever use, maintaining the character of every gag, place and character it's accompanying and making it sound good. The gags are on the most part very well done, they come thick and fast at the beginning and they work, but the cleverest part is the final one, also where the visuals are the most impressive. There isn't much of a story to speak of, in fact You're An Education is pretty much plot less, but it doesn't come across as too much of an excuse to string the gags together and it could have been easier to do that. The characters and locations are colourful, and we have exuberant vocals from Billy Bletcher and especially Mel Blanc. Overall, good entertainment but not the best example of the formula that it bases itself around. 8/10 Bethany Cox