Larry Silverman
These 9 episodes are all "Screen Songs," made by Famous Studios in the mid 20th century. All are crisply and colorfully drawn, and are delightful, if one takes them in the context of the era, because they have many elements that are now considered "politically incorrect."
A camp of Russian gypsies, dancing and playing music. After an opening dance, a quartet of beer-drinkers gargles the Volga Boatman song, then another group hauling on a rope sings it (we finally see that the other end of the rope is anchored by a very small dog). A trench-coated bomber sneaks into the palace, where we see Rice-Puddin', the mad monk, cheating at a jigsaw puzzle. He spies the activity in the gypsy camp and orders a henchman to fetch the gypsy girl. The villagers revolt as a result, sending The Mad Monk scrambling on his horse; they stuff a bomb into his pants just as he turns his horse into a helicopter, and it explodes.
