Techno-Cracked

Last updated
Techno-Cracked
Directed by Ub Iwerks
Produced by Pat Powers
Music by Carl Stalling
Animation by Shamus Culhane
Color process Black and White (black-and-white)
Production
company
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • April 12, 1933 (1933-04-12)
Running time
8 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Techno-Cracked is a 1933 Celebrity Productions, Inc. animated short, directed by Ub Iwerks and featuring Flip the Frog. [1]

Contents

Synopsis

In this satire of the Technocracy, Flip the Frog is nearly killed by a menacing robot he builds to work for him.

Flip would rather not mow the lawn. He reads an article from "Unpopular Mechanics" entitled "Technocracy: Why be a Slave - The Mechanical Man Works While You Sleep". Flip makes his robot out of household parts but gives it a Jack-o'-lantern for a head. The mechanical man cannot follow directions and begins mowing down everything in sight. Flip blows up the robot with a stick of dynamite and finishes the lawn by himself.

Notes and comments

When the robot mows the welcome mat it reveals the word Nerts, a possible reference to either the card game or to a popular expression of the time -- "nertz". Some have speculated that Techno-Cracked may have been photographed in two-strip Technicolor.

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References

  1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 81. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7 . Retrieved 6 June 2020.