JOSEPH AND THE WONDERFUL TREE

Nola Langner's earth-toned, animated pictures function as decorative friezes and tableaux that give Joseph's allegorical story a static appearance despite all the activity, but nevertheless make it look more interesting than it reads. The wonderful tree is guarded by the rich El Hombre who keeps all the men of Santa Maria fighting a perpetual war over its ownership, though ""nobody could remember why."" Then Joseph, the only carefree person in town, discovers that the secret of laughter is in the tree. Soon he has all of the townspeople laughting so hard that they no longer heed El Hombre, who remains as angry as ever. Somehow any point beyond the obvious one that war is bad and laughter good gets lost in the foliage.