One of the best of the early Silly Symphonies, The Clock Store is a tour de force of animation technique, beginning with the opening shot of a lamplighter walking down the street and illuminating the screen, and continuing through the rest of the short, featuring vignettes of anthropomorphic figures in the clock store. It’s not unlike The China Shop (3 years later, also directed by Wilfred Jackson) in that the gags escalate until the the short descends into violent comical chaos, but the animation breakthroughs in this short, particularly the minuet scene, are still breathtaking today.

Don’t forget to visit The Silly Symphony Collection page for details on the massive vinyl box set.

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