The Bosko cartoons may not be animation masterpieces, but they are fascinating as examples of Looney Tunes in their early days before the creation of more compelling characters and funnier and more creative cartoons.'Big Man from the North' generally is one of Bosko's better cartoons. Up to this particular point in the series most of the cartoons were decent if hit and miss, with the only cartoon falling below that being the strange though not awful 'The Booze Hangs High'. 'Big Man from the North' doesn't reach above decent level on the whole but has a good deal to recommend.While showing more signs of a story than the previous cartoons, which were basically plot-less mostly but while still on the thin side signs of a story are here, it's very predictable with not much new. There are occasional slow parts and there are a couple of repetitive gags by Bosko standards.The animation is not bad at all. Not exactly refined but fluid and crisp enough with some nice detail, it is especially good in the meticulous backgrounds and some remarkably flexible yet natural movements for Bosko. The music is 'Big Man from the North's' highlight component, its infectious energy, rousing merriment, lush orchestration and how well it fits with the animation is just a joy.While never hilarious the gags are amusing, especially with the dogs and in the saloon. Parts are cute without being too schmaltzy, it's never static and synchronisation is remarkably good.All in all, decent cartoon and one of Bosko's better ones generally. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Bosko is a Mountie and has been sent to get his man. The baddie, it turns out, is clearly modeled after Disney's Pete (from "Steamboat Willie" and other early cartoons). Along the way, there is some singing and dancing--though what this has to do with the Mounties is beyond me!I have never been a fan of the Bosko cartoons. They were heavy with the schmaltz--lots of overly cutesy singing and dancing and mugging for the audience. Edgy, they were NOT! Now I cannot blame Warner Brothers alone for this--many of the rival studios such as Van Beuren, MGM and Terry Toons were incredibly insipid throughout the 1930s. Cartoons we know and love today (such as MGM's Tom and Jerry and the Looney Tunes crowd) were all cartoons of the 40s--after the happy, singing, cutesy fad had, thankfully, faded. So, in light of this, my score of 5 for "Big Man from the North" is actually very positive--and I was shocked that I didn't hate this short!

Bosko shorts are very uneven in quality. This one is particularly good, all the more so because it was fairly early on in the series. There are a few gags I want to touch on, so there are spoilers ahead: Something I noticed in watching this and quite a few other Boskos in a brief period of time is that gags are often repeated to one degree or another from one cartoon to another. There are exact copies (Bosko splitting into several little Boskos after a fall, for example) and then there are types of gags with some variation in details, but a thematic link. An example of that in this short happens early on-Bosko enters a cabin during a blizzard, with a wind behind him gusting so intensely that he grabs hold of another character's trousers in order to keep from being blown away. the other character's trousers come off with the force of the wind, so Bosko grabs the rear flap on his long-johns, which promptly opens. The lowering of the rear flap on a pair of long-johns for comic purposes occurs in a number of Boskos which I've seen. It was just something I noticed.Bosko is sent out by his superior officer to capture the villain. Bosko travels by dog sled and crashes into a saloon, goes in with guns drawn and sees Honey singing inside. He decides to play the piano for her and the music takes over the short until the bad guy comes in and Bosko has to try and arrest him. Bosko eventually gets the drop on him by spitting out the light and using the darkness to come up with a machine-gun and then cutting him down to size. The villain is vanquished and the conquering hero is celebrated by the crowd until fadeout.This short is well worth watching and is most recommended.

A lot of people will be quick to discard this cartoon in favor of another cartoon set in the north, made by Disney a year later called "The Klondike Kid." And even more people will be quick to discard all Bosko cartoons in favor of Mickey Mouse. While Mickey Mouse has more personality in an index finger than Bosko, this has to be one of the best cartoons made by Warner Brothers before 1935. Synchronization is uniformly superb, and this one actually has a little plot, though nothing major. If you want an old 1930s cartoon, and you have a little patience, watch this one. This film runs about seven minutes, it was Drawn by future animation director Isadore 'Friz' Freleng, and Robert Edmunds, and the musical score is provided by Frank Marsales. The print available on the DVD compilation 'Uncensored Bosko Volume One' is a little scratchy, and a re-issue, but is ten times better than any Chaplin Keystone comedy in the public domain, take my word for it.