reviewId int64 363k 588k | userId int64 33.9k 15.9M | itemId int64 1 1.42M | rating float64 1 10 | title stringlengths 1 10.9k ⌀ | content stringlengths 81 11.6k ⌀ |
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579,892 | 583,640 | 77,898 | 7 | Okay movie , but only one segment works very well | This movie has three storylines brought together by a framing device . The framing device works better than two of the three stories . Only the John Byner segment really works , and that's due to Harold Gould and Nanette Fabray . The Gary Burghoff segment had it's moments , but drowns in an implausible , syrupy ending and the third segment falls apart from the start and is totally uninteresting . Fred Astaire is enjoyable in the framing sequences and the movie is reasonably okay . Watch it for Astaire . Worth seeing once . |
579,025 | 583,640 | 149,860 | 7 | A most unusual " cheater " , indeed ! | Cheaters , cartoons that use stock footage and clips from previous cartoons to form the bulk of a " new " cartoon , usually with new footage as a framing device to incorporate the re-used clips , are not all that unusual . What makes this one of the strangest compilation cartoons is the fact that Paramount Famous Studios uses clips from Popeye Meets Sinbad the Sailor , which was made by Fleischer Studios ( ! ) in 1936 ! Fleischer Studios made three color Popeye two-reel " Specials " in the mid-to-late 1930s . Paramount Famous Studios made three " cheaters " using footage from those three Fleischer shorts . The truly sad thing is , using the older footage makes it crystal clear how much better the old Fleischers were in terms of animations , backgrounds and plotting compared to the 1950s Paramount Famous Studios product . To be fair , cost had a lot to do with the disparity-it was a lot more expensive in the 1950s to make cartoons . But mostly , the 1950s Popeyes were remakes of old Fleischer shorts done in color with a few changes . Here , the framing footage is nice , but 75 % of the cartoon is older material and they re-looped some of the dialogue and changed it , losing some of the charm . This is the saddest of the cheaters , because Sinbad was the best of the two-reel Specials . Big Bad Sinbad isn't that bad a cartoon , actually . It simply isn't that good , either . For completeists only , or people who just like Popeye , period . |
579,506 | 583,640 | 63,432 | 7 | A sometimes funny one-joke short redeemed by a great ending . | This is an okay short which starts out interestingly , gets a bit tedious towards the middle and finishes off with a bang . Without the marvelous ending , it would have sunk without a trace . As I intend to discuss some details , this is a spoiler warning : The Pink Panther finds a quarter and sets out to buy something to eat , but can't decide between a hot dog or a hamburger ( easy choice , if you know what they put in most hot dogs ) . As he's deciding , the quarter slips away and he starts after it and so goes the one basic joke of the short-everything which happens ripples out from the chasing of a quarter , like the wake of a pebble tossed in a pond . Parts of this are funny , like the part where a bum sees the quarter roll into one shoe and out the other and join the chase . But a lot of this gets tedious and predictable . The ending of this takes what is , at best , an average short and raises it to the level of good . I won't spoil the ending here , but it is incredibly funny . This short is available on the Pink Panther Classic cartoon Collection and it's well worth a look . The Collection itself is worth getting if you're a fan of the Pink Panther . Recommended . |
579,099 | 583,640 | 147,939 | 7 | Some very nice visual gags in what could have been a very good short . | That a short can have no less than four very good visual gags and be largely drab and average for all that is testament ( perhaps even epitaph ) to the problems with all too much of the Flip the Frog series : the Iwerks studios did phenomenal work technically and some of the visuals still hold up well some seventy years later , but they have the misfortune of being encased ( like an insect in amber ) within some of the most lackluster , lame stories and " plots " ever perpetrated on screen ! Flip is a lifeless shell , a prop in all too many of these . More personality is given to the average chair in these than to their star . Worth watching for great visuals , but Iwerks managed to make a boxing match boring even with beautiful animation and several great gags ( even one Tex Avery would have been proud of himself ) . I personally don't watch boxing , but boring it isn't . Recommended . |
579,215 | 583,640 | 32,854 | 7 | Decent , if terribly derivative-been there , done that . | There's nothing awful about this one , just nothing really remarkable , save for Pinto Colvig ( the voice of Goofy ) as Bluto . I've seen it all in other ( better ) Popeye shorts . Fleischer almost always did visually fantastic cartoons and this one isn't bad . But I see signs of burnout here . They seem to have lost a bit of steam with this one . Oh , well , they can't all be great . Jack Mercer is fine as usual . Recommended for completeists . |
579,844 | 583,640 | 63,474 | 7 | I feel for the motorcycle cop in this one | This short is reasonably good , with some decent gags , though it gets a bit predictable in spots . I want to discuss this in some detail , so here there be spoilers : The Pink Panther wants to build and ride a motorcycle ( there's a recipe for disaster right there ) , but has trouble getting it out of reverse , which helps attract the attention of a motorcycle cop who looks like he could be the " Little White Guy " ( the Pink Panther's usual foil ) or a close relative . From here on in , what happens to the poor cop makes it clear that this just wasn't his day ! The Pink Panther and machinery don't typically work and play well together . Okay-virtually nothing and the Pink Panther work and play well together . But the net loser here is the motorcycle cop ! He gets flattened and otherwise injured throughout this short , until he finally catches his Panther and puts him in a cell . The ending is a scream and makes the whole thing worth seeing . This short is on the five disc Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection and it and the Collection are well worth seeing . Recommended . |
578,844 | 583,640 | 35,064 | 7 | Notable for the number of characters more than anything else | This short is aptly titled : it is a birthday party for Mickey . Disney released much more interesting and engaging shorts than this , but it is quite a collection of the majority of significant characters in Disney shorts and is at least worth seeing on that score . The animation , as is typical , is excellent . Worth seeing at least once . |
579,211 | 583,640 | 32,887 | 7 | Marginal short with a great title ! | The Bears were a relatively brief ( thankfully ) series of shorts that featured an irritable ( and irritating ) Papa , a Mama that would have driven Carrie Nation to the Demon Rum for refuge and an obnoxious Baby . Not to be confused with the more enjoyable series that Warner Brothers did somewhat later , this MGM series had a few good moments , but the characters are such a waste of space that the viewer has no reason to care what happens to them and thus doesn't give a flip about anything on-screen . The most notable thing about this is the title , which is a play on words with an alternate meaning that got past the Production Code office , probably because they didn't get the joke . The title gets this one six points alone . The short rates a one by itself . For MGM completeists . |
579,196 | 583,640 | 21,660 | 7 | Good Bosko short , with Bosko in law enforcement and apprehension ( with a side of piano ) . | 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 . |
579,505 | 583,640 | 63,248 | 7 | A decent , if somewhat predictable , short with several nice gags | Pink Panther shorts are almost all a bit predictable , in that the character is rather one-dimensional and they usually establish a basic premise and then bounce gags off that premise for most of the short . How enjoyable any given cartoon is largely depends on the execution of the individual sight gags . While this isn't one of the best shorts in the series , it is funny in spots and starts off with an interesting idea . As I want to discuss the short in some detail , this is a spoiler warning : This short follows a rather unfortunate thief-essentially , this is the Panther's primary adversary , the little guy with a temper . Whereas for most people , horseshoes are supposed to be good luck , for him , a horseshoe brings incredibly bad luck , frequently involving the police ( early on , he steals a getaway car , only to have it turn out that he's stolen a squad car ) . I was reminded of the old Keystone Kops films whenever I saw the police . In fact , part of the basic premise reminded me of an old Warner Brothers short , The Blow Out , because the Pink Panther keeps trying to return the horseshoe every time it's throw away , even when it becomes clear that his efforts aren't appreciated in the least . The gags mostly fall into two categories : how the Panther gets the horseshoe back to its reluctant owner and what happens to him when the horseshoe comes back to him . The funniest gags have to do with how the Pink Panther returns the shoe , as there's only so many different ways to show the cops arriving on the scene before the gag stops being humorous . This has a fairly good delayed gag in it and it also has a funny reverse gag where the thief forces the Pink Panther to take the horseshoe at gunpoint , sees the Panther having good luck , then taking it back at gunpoint only to have bad things happen to him again . This short is available on the Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection and is worth seeing , even though it does drag in spots . Recommended . |
579,301 | 583,640 | 37,285 | 7 | A remake of Scalp Trouble , but not too bad in its own right | This cartoon could be considered a " cheater " because it uses quite a bit of footage from Scalp Trouble , presumably because of material shortages during wartime and because the animators were also doing war-related projects and it saved time . Though Scalp Trouble is better , Slightly Daffy is good enough to see for its own sake . Worth watching . Recommended . |
579,349 | 583,640 | 83,791 | 7 | Good movie , but as flawed as the Dark Crystal itself and should have been so much better . | This is I guess something which comes with the territory : the movie you want so much to like but that's flawed to the point that you wish it could be so much better . I compounded the problem by watching this again right after watching Labyrinth , which is everything I think Jim Henson wanted this to be , but that Dark Crystal couldn't manage . The story is predictable , the good guys aren't terribly interesting or engaging and the visuals ( the best part of the movie ) are occasionally off-kilter and a bit jarring . Probably better than I think it is , but not as good as it could have been . Worth seeing once , particularly if you like animated work . |
579,310 | 583,640 | 30,250 | 7 | First of a series , this is cute but bland . | This short is visually impressive in spots ( a hallmark of the studio ) , but the characters aren't that interesting and , for all that this was nominated for an Academy Award , it points up the problems with the Color Classics series in general : they tried to be something Fliescher Studios was not , namely Disney Studios . Overall , the Color Classics range from watchable to quite good ( the more Fliescher-like ones are the best ones ) , cute and cuddly was not the strength of the Fliescher Studio . It would be akin to Tex Avery suddenly going saccharine-it just doesn't come across terribly well . The mean prospector is the strength of the cartoon , particularly his predictable but enjoyable defeat . Worth watching , but only average . |
579,750 | 583,640 | 47,969 | 7 | OK , but Funny Face is a much better film | This movie is worth seeing for the music and for Astaire and Caron , but the plot is about as believable as a politician's promise and most of the rest of the cast looks disinterested in the whole project . OK , but not great . |
579,596 | 583,640 | 30,280 | 7 | The first Tex Avery travelogue spoof and Egghead too ! | This short is the first of several spoofs of the travelogue shorts popular at the time that showcased exotic locales for movie audiences . While a good cartoon , not on a par with later ones such as Detouring America or Crazy Cruise . Avery was still finding his range on the material . Still some good stuff here anyway . This one features Egghead in a running gag that has a funny finish . Enjoyable and entertaining , it's well worth hunting down . Recommended |
578,993 | 583,640 | 150,003 | 7 | Enjoyable , if not terribly creative or surprising . | UPA was beginning to hit the wall with Magoo shorts toward the end . The problem with the Magoo series was the inherent limitations of the basic premise . The jokes can be rather predictable and thus the quality of the material has to be extremely good or it doesn't work as well . When they were on , the shorts were great , like Trouble Indemnity or When Magoo Flew . This isn't a bad cartoon by any means . But the jokes are old and a bit marginal , which makes predictability a major liability . Worth watching , but not all that special . Recommended for Magoo fans . |
579,305 | 583,640 | 30,289 | 7 | Egghead as a romantic lead . I must have missed something . | This is an excellent cartoon , with the incongruous premise that Egghead is a romantic leading man . I can see it now-first , there was Valentino and John Gilbert , then Gable and now Egghead . Oh , well , he's a Tex Avery leading man ! This is a typical Avery short-sight gags come so fast and furious that they almost inundate the audience and you usually need three or four viewings to catch everything . Well worth watching . Most recommended . |
578,889 | 583,640 | 21,524 | 7 | The title says it all here . | The plot here in this early Flip the Frog-Flip opens a barber shop . The rest is sight gags , some very funny , but little else and the pacing is a bit slow . The cartoon is made , however , by an especially good sight gag right at the beginning and by the strangest barber shop quartet in cinematic history , that I've seen , at any rate . Good , but I've seen too much that as better to ever rate it higher than " good " . Worth watching . |
578,885 | 583,640 | 47,927 | 7 | An OK cartoon , for Tex Avery | This cartoon is just average for Tex Avery , which means that it's still as good as the best work of some cartoon directors . Virtually all sight gags , many of the gags are familiar from other shorts and most often worked only moderately well here . Still worh watching ( I've never seen a BAD Tex Avery ) even if it's not one of his best . |
579,402 | 583,640 | 50,236 | 7 | One of two unusual " cheater " cartoons to re-use Tex Avery shorts long after he'd left MGM | This is an unusual cartoon , in that it's an example of a " cheater " ( a cartoon which incorporates animation from earlier cartoons , in order to save time and money while still meeting the required running time and schedule for animated shorts ) taken to the extreme . Because I want to discuss the short a bit , this is a spoiler warning : This short is , in essence , a cartoon directed by Tex Avery in 1950 , one called The Ventriloquist Cat . What they did was take the original animation , re-use it against new backgrounds , changed the cat from black to orange and shoot it in a widescreen format . Given that a large chunk of the work was already done , they probably did this because the studio wanted to make use of the widescreen process on their animated shorts as well and this was an easy way to get experience at making such cartoons , while keeping on schedule and at or under budget . If you've seen Ventriloquist Cat , you've seen Cat's Meow , at least for all practical purposes . They did this same thing to another Avery short , taking a Droopy short entitled From Wags To Riches , making very few modifications and releasing it in widescreen as Millionaire Droopy . If you really like Tex Avery ( I do ) then this is worth seeing . |
578,930 | 583,640 | 151,678 | 7 | Interesting cartoon with some nice scenes , but other studios have done similar shorts and did them better | This short has some interesting plot ideas that more or less work here , but the ideas have been used by other cartoon studios in different combinations and used more effectively . I want to talk about the short a bit , so this is a spoiler warning : This short has a dog who is quite content with his life , until a stray kitten is taken in by the household ( it's not clear whether the human character is the owner or a servant ) . The dog sees the kitten usurping his bowl and his bed and reacts angrily , attacking the kitten and drawing a warning for his actions . He grumbles that he would be better off dead and then gets hit by a vase after lunging for the kitten . You then see his spirit depart his body ( in a rather creative way ) and get in an elevator headed up , to " Dog Heaven " . There are some very nice visual gags showing what dogs might find to be heaven . The dog gets arrested by a heavenly cop ( a bulldog with an Irish brogue ) for not having wings and he's taken before St . Bernard , who sends him " down " because he tormented the kitten . We now get to see " Dog Hades " , which is definitely not someplace you want to go ! The backgrounds are nice and there are some good gags . The dog then wakes up and realizes he's back home and he starts spoiling the kitten ! This is a nice short , but there isn't anything special about it-it's cute and nothing more . Good for kids , though . Worth watching . |
579,849 | 583,640 | 35,750 | 7 | Porky is upstaged by a bloodhound and a lynx | This short is one of the milder propaganda shorts done by Warner Brothers during World War II . I intend to discuss specifics , so consider this a spoiler warning : Porky is barely in this short-a fairly long introduction is composed of first a series of sight gags and then the awakening of a bloodhound . Porky is essentially an extra in this short . He and the bloodhound have to find a spy-a lynx with a German accent straight out of central casting . As Porky is telling the bloodhound about their assignment , the running gag is introduced-the bloodhound starts to sneeze , is stopped and then sneezes with tremendous force . They locate the lynx-called " Missing Lynx " and he proceeds to run circles around Porky , who shows the intelligence of a tree stump in this one . It's up to the bloodhound to win this one for the home team . Well , to be accurate , it's up to " Missing Lynx " to lose this one for the bad guys-his bomb was no doubt obtained from the German subsidiary of Acme ! The short irises out on the " V for Victory " symbol in the end and the way it comes about is one of the most interesting aspects to this short . Norman McCabe didn't direct all that many shorts at Warner Brothers , but this is one of the more entertaining ones to come out of his unit . Worth seeing . Quite dated , but worth seeing and I hope it sees release on a Looney Tunes Golden Collection at some point . Recommended . |
579,055 | 583,640 | 554 | 7 | Fascinating early animation | From the vantage point of 96 years later , this is , comparatively speaking , rather simplistic and quite limited in contrast to work done today . But , also comparatively speaking , so would a certain single engine airplane seen at Kitty Hawk 99 years ago in contrast to a Lear Jet . There's more wit and imagination in any 90 seconds of this short than can be found in 60-90 minutes of some of the animated features I've seen in the last few years . Viewed in context and realizing its age and the circumstances of its creation , you begin to realize just how remarkable and notable this piece of work truly is and that it truly is magic . A very early step , if not the first step , on the path that gave us Felix the Cat , Koko the Clown , Betty Boop , Mickey Mouse , Bugs Bunny , Woody Woodpecker , Tom and Jerry and countless others . Each generation builds on what comes before . But , of necessity , there must be that first layer and the strength of that foundation is key to the growth of the medium . Work like this must be remembered and appreciated . In a world where the past is increasingly no earlier than breakfast today for all too many people ( not that past generations have been all that much better ) , works like this need to be spotlighted and preserved for the future to benefit from . Well worth watching . Recommended , particularly to animators or fans of animation . |
579,925 | 583,640 | 32,000 | 7 | Personally , I was cheering for the fish . | This short was nominated for an Oscar . It's principal point of interest today is its narrator , one Ronald Wilson Reagan . There are some nice archery shots and the sword fish scores a moral victory of sorts , but it's only average or slightly above average . Turner Classic Movies runs this as filler and your best bet to catch it is in March during their " 31 Days of Oscar " festival . Worth wtching to a degree . I was rooting for the fish myself . |
579,081 | 583,640 | 47,284 | 7 | A short weakened by a running gag which is wildly uneven in effectiveness , with a great beginning and a cute cameo | This short , which I must confess has two characters I find very unappealing , starts out marvelously for about the first 90 seconds , but the action quickly turns almost entirely to a series of setups for a running gag which is repeated ( to varying degrees of effectiveness ) so often that it starts to get tedious . The fact that the dog is a one-dimensional character of limited personality and that Claude Cat is limited here by the running gag only makes things more problematic . To a degree , the cameo by another Warner Brothers character and the ending of the short , along with a wonderful beginning , salvages this short and raises its overall score . This is on Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol . 3 and is worth watching , though the Collection as a whole is most highly recommended without reservation . Not the best short I've seen , but far from the worst I've watched . Recommended |
579,147 | 583,640 | 62,716 | 7 | Man versus nature with nature winning | In this cartoon , Clouseau goes hunting and , given his innate ineptitude , does it badly . He keeps hitting the wrong target , primarily a bear trying to hibernate through winter . One's sympathies lie almost entirely with the bear , who , not unreasonably , just wants to be left alone . Things become increasingly painful ( as well as visually comic ) as a very well-spoken and articulate bear metes out punishment to Clouseau for disturbing his rest . The bear , having troubled no one , is most cetainly the aggrieved party her and it's difficult to feel much sympathy for Clouseau here . Bear in a landslide , no recount needed , winner and still champion . Recommended . |
579,401 | 583,640 | 51,098 | 7 | This is Love That Pup , version 1 . 1 | This cartoon is an extreme example of a " cheater " , which is a cartoon made by using clips from other , earlier , cartoons , so as to save time and cost in order to make schedule and budget requirements on the contract to provide shorts for the studio and its distribution arrangements with theaters . Because I want to discuss the short a bit , this is a spoiler warning : This cartoon is actually ( for all practical purposes ) the 1949 short Love That Pup , with the animation and some of the backgrounds re-used and shot in a widescreen format . The studio had decided to start doing its animated shorts in widescreen and the animation department like did this and two re-done Tex Avery cartoons as widescreen releases with different titles and some superficial changes , in order to save themselves time and money on their production schedule and budget , time and money they could apply to other shorts in production , which made it possible for them to meet the delivery requirements they had in their contract in terms of number of shorts and total budgetary limits . If you've seen Love That Pup , you've seen Tops With Pops . It's a decent cartoon , but chiefly of interest to cartoon collectors and / or Tom and Jerry fans . Worth watching . |
579,209 | 583,640 | 51,086 | 7 | Okay Tom and Jerry with a few entertaining moments . | This one , though no rousing barn-burner , won't put you to sleep either . It has a few good moments here and there . Tom's cousin speaks and though the voicework is uncredited and I don't know with anything even remotely approaching certainty who does it here , it does sound like the same voice that did Droopy , Bill Thompson . Don't bet on that , though-I don't know for sure , it just sounds like him and it is plausible . Decent cartoon that proves Tom has family too . Worth watching at least once . Recommended . |
579,177 | 583,640 | 142,399 | 7 | This is an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit which spins its own version of Jack and the Beanstalk | When I saw the title of this short , I thought it might be a play on the Alice in Wonderland story . Strangely enough , it's actually a re-telling of the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale , a fairly interesting one at that . As I want to discuss the short , this is a spoiler warning : This short opens with Oswald singing a song about his grandmother sewing a rip in his pants while his grandmother is sewing a rip in his pants-while he's still wearing them ! Granny is being assisted by a rather helpful mouse , who also manages to stick the sleeping cat with the needle at least once . This has all the makings of an old melodrama-the dastardly landlord callously telling granny that if he's not paid the mortgage by six , she gets the boot , complete with maniacal laugh and mustaches . Oswald vows to save the homestead and decides to sell the cow to raise money . A witch materializes from a tree and offers a bag of beans for the cow . There's a really good bit here , where the cow basically becomes a " one cow band " when the sale is completed . The obvious happens-the beans get planted , a beanstalk results and Oswald winds up in a large castle , where he meets a girl who decides to help him . There are some really good visuals , culminating in the two hitching a ride on a spider who doubles as " elevator " - right above the mouth of the sleeping ( and snoring ) giant . They make it over to the chicken ( yes , a chicken ) that lays golden eggs , a rather noisy and complex process . Oswald gets one 14-caret golden egg before the giant wakes up and the chase is on . Why Oswald doesn't grab the chicken and take it is a puzzle , but the chicken disappears during the chase , though the girl remains and she goes down the beanstalk with Oswald , both followed closely by the giant . Meanwhile , back at the old homestead , granny is weeping as the dastardly landlord is cackling that only one minute remains , when Oswald announces his impending arrival . The landlord cuts down the the beanstalk , laughing a somewhat premature victory laugh-the giant hits him and they're both driven into the ground , while Oswald and the girl land safely . There's a victory dance by Oswald , the girl , the cat and the mouse around an improvised maypole and we leave the happy scene , where virtue has once again emerged triumphant-as long as you ignore the fact that Oswald trespassed and stole from the giant , of course . Minor details . This short is available on the DVD Attack of the ' 30s Characters and it is well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,132 | 583,640 | 33,715 | 7 | Not the best Bugs Bunny ever , but well worth watching | This short , nominated for an Oscar , is a good , not great , cartoon . It does introduce a bit of Longfellow and any Bugs Bunny is a good cartoon and worth watching . There just isn't anything terribly funny or special about this particular cartoon besides the poem sections read at the beginning and end . But it is worth watching . It runs periodically on Cartoon Network . |
579,883 | 583,640 | 41,434 | 7 | Bugs checks out the dog races . | An enjoyable short , though not one of the best Bugs Bunny shorts . It has more than a few moments and an entertaining ending . Because i want to discuss some details , this is a spoiler warning : Bugs winds up at a dog racetrack and decides to check out the dogs . He goes over to where they're being fed and pokes and prods them , going so far as to stop one of them from eating so he can check out his teeth . The dog makes it clear that he doesn't like rabbits . At one point , there's a panning shot of the dogs in the upcoming race , with a very pun-filled voice-over describing the dogs ( for example , " Motorman's Glove will have a hand in it ! " ) and then the race begins . That's when Bugs discovers that a ( mechanical ) rabbit is used to get the dogs to run and Bugs falls in love with this " hunk of feminine pulchritude ! " , but then he realizes that the dogs are GASP chasing his " dreamboat " . Declaring that " Chivalry is not dead ! " , Bugs begins setting out to prevent the dogs from harming his " lady " fair , with disastrous consequences for the track and the dogs . The voice-over is hilarious . Naturally , Bugs has to have a primary nemesis and it's the dog he got into a scuffle with earlier . They have several encounters , most of which go badly for the dog , until the dog surrenders toward the end . Bugs can now join his " dreamboat " , who has been ignoring his advances and running in circles . The ending is cute , so I won't spoil it here . This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection , Volume 4 and is well worth seeing . Recommended |
579,306 | 583,640 | 29,993 | 7 | Tex Avery's take on Cinderella , with Egghead as a most un-Princely Charming fellow ! | Anyone who has seen an Egghead cartoon will find the idea of his being Prince Charming quite humorous . If you've seen much by Tex Avery , you know that when he's done , this won't much resemble the fairy tale as you hear it when you were younger . This is not your grandmother's Cinderella ! The sight gags are great , as usual , Egghead is Egghead and the closing line is hilarious . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,065 | 583,640 | 39,429 | 7 | One of the Sing-a-Long series of shorts done by Famous Studios and a fairly generic short with a few high points | The Sing-a-Long series which Paramount's Famous Studios did in the 1940s and early 1950s was directly patterned after the old Fleischer Studios series with the same basic idea-animation paired with a sing along which had a pointer or a " bouncing ball " moving in time to the lyrics , so that the audience could sing the song in accompaniment to a voice or voices recorded on the film . I'm going to discuss the short at least a little bit , so this is a mild spoiler : In many ways , this is a rather generic short , in that it features the same types of gags that other shorts in the series , though there are some very funny gags ( which I'll do my best not to spoil ) and there is a mix of live-action footage in with the animation . There are the typical visual puns , there's the stock " California versus Florida " joke and other fairly predictable gags . One semi-cute , if telegraphed gag involves a woodpecker and the Petrified Forest . The bird's lines are an old Red Skelton punch line . There are two very good gags , though-the first involving a bit about the highest and lowest points in the United States ( at least at the time , those being Mount Whitney and Death Valley . There's a very funny bit on Death Valley which for me , was the highlight of the short , though it was closely followed by a gag centered around the footprints of Harpo Marx found in cement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater . Definitely the most unusual " appearance " of Harpo Marx in a cartoon ! The song done in this one is " California , Here I Come " and there's some moderately interesting background art / animation during the sing-along portion . Worth watching . |
579,569 | 583,640 | 147,998 | 7 | The bits are greater than the whole . | This is a very funny cartoon , but from a plotting standpoint , it's a mess . The individual gags just happen more or less by happenstance . Ub Iwerks was interested in technique more than content . He was an idea man only when it came to the mechanics of things . A master at what he did and one of the finest animators who ever dipped a pen into an inkwell , but not overly interested in mundane trifles like plots or stories . Tex Avery , master of the machine gun school of sight gags , included something resembling a plot most of the time , even if he simply poked fun at it later . This was Iwerk's Achilles heel and why , at least in part , his studio folded in a few years . His shorts were visually nice , even beautiful in some cases , funny and often just as forgettable as a stale piece of toast . This has some wonderful gags and you may remember the gag for years-but forget which cartoon it was in after two days . The individual parts are better than their sum . Worth watching because the animation is superb . Cotton candy , sumptuous but hardly filling . Recommended with above caveats . |
579,700 | 583,640 | 22,385 | 7 | They were still trying to make Bimbo the star and they still don't really seem to know what they wanted to do with Betty yet . | Very early entry in the series . Betty Boop is still formative in this one ( dog ears are still present ) and they still seem to be feeling their way here . Bimbo is here and a focus of the short is a plot the Fleischers employ to much greater effectiveness later in the Popeye series-a run-in with a magician . They seem to be on the verge of discovering that Betty is a better character ( and certainly better to support a cartoon series ) than Bimbo , who is a reasonable secondary character , but just not substantial enough to build a series around . The bits aren't funny because of Bimbo-he's just there and only occasionally interesting on his own hook . Things just bounce off Bimbo . There's no spark . That can work if a character if there's some characteristic to grab the audience . After all , Mickey Mouse was largely just a foil for gags or a straight man after a while , but Disney invested him with enough personality early on that he grabbed an audience . Bimbo never had that going for him . Good cartoon-nothing special , but worth a look . Recommended to Boop fans . |
579,935 | 583,640 | 45,270 | 7 | Cute , if not terribly memorable , Goofy short | This short features Goofy going up against Peg Leg Pete . It's cute enough , but thoroughly predictable and not all that memorable . It is well-animated , though . The concept really doesn't work as well as it should with the personality of Goofy for some reason . Worth watching at least once , but nothing terribly notable with this one . |
579,334 | 583,640 | 53,211 | 7 | Nice idea , but the sum is less than its parts . | This is an enjoyable enough short , but with the idea they start with , narration by June Foray and this being a Pepe Le Pew , somehow this one sort of stumbles and lurches along . It may just be me , but the jokes aren't that funny and the dialogue is lame for some reason . The base idea is very inventive , but the story seems forced . Not a bad cartoon by any means . Just not all that good either . Still worth watching at least once . Recommended for big Pepe Le Pew fans . |
579,985 | 583,640 | 65,746 | 7 | Decent cartoon , with a very good bit concerning a bear | This is one of 17 shorts done in the Ant and the Aardvark series . Since the basic premise of this series was rather limited , the general story lines were somewhat predictable . The enjoyment comes from the dialog ( voiced by John Byner ) and some fairly funny ( if usually painful-for the Aardvark ) sight gags . Who knew just getting a good meal would be so problematic ? There will be spoilers up ahead : The short starts off with a beautiful sunny day , but with a prediction calling for a sudden snowstorm . The Ant and Aardvark have different reactions to this announcement , with the Ant deciding to gather more supplies and the Aardvark scoffing at the whole idea . Naturally , the next day , there's a huge snowstorm and the Aardvark has to try and cope with the snow while trying to find breakfast . There follow a series of winter-related gags , with one semi-running gag as a standout . Twice the Aardvark returns to his home , only to find that a bear has gone to sleep in his bed ( probably in retaliation for Goldilocks's trespass ) and the resulting confrontations come off rather badly for the Aardvark . The ending to the short is very good . This short is currently available on a single DVD collection of all 17 of the Ant and Aardvark shorts and is well worth seeing . Recommended . |
578,838 | 583,640 | 30,034 | 7 | Two early appearances of well-known characters | This short features a very early version of Daffy Duck ( call it Daffy 1 . 0 ) and also Egghead , who would evolve into Elmer Fudd a bit later on . This features one of the zaniest duels of all time ! The turtle almost steals the show here ! Typical Tex Avery sight gags . A bit more talky than the aerage Avery short , but very good . Well worth seeing . Recommended . |
579,663 | 583,640 | 24,155 | 7 | One of the " covers come to life " type of cartoon . | There were quite a few cartoons built around the premise of covers coming to life on books / magazines at a bookstore / newsstand . They generally had caricatures of stars of the period and / or fictional characters , as is the case here . There's usually a villan , which allows for good guys and chase scenes and a song or three gets sung . This is an early example and though it has moments , it isn't as good as some of the others . Well worth seing anyway . Recommended to anyone who likes the old black and white cartoons |
579,579 | 583,640 | 31,803 | 7 | Mickey and Pluto go hunting | This short is memorable only for the fact that it somehow got nominated for an Oscar in 1939 . It is by no means a bad cartoon-the animation is nice , the backgrounds quite detailed and technically , it is up to Disney standards-it just isn't all that memorable or interesting . Just a good , competent , workman-like short that's as filling as oatmeal and as tasty as a rice-cake . An okay cartoon , but for all that , barely a blip on the radar . They show this on The Ink and Paint Club . |
579,176 | 583,640 | 161,863 | 7 | Entertaining short in the Farmer Al Falfa series | This short is largely a re-telling of the Noah's Ark story , with modifications , in the style of Terrytoons . Farmer Al Falfa is basically Noah here . I will discuss some details , so there are mild spoilers below : This starts out with Farmer Al Falfa sitting around and enjoying the day . Then the rain starts and the sprint to get in the ark begins . There are sight gags , often puns ( for instance , lightning strikes a cloud and it begins raining cats and dogs-something that happens more than once ) throughout the short . It's overwhelmingly sight gags , actually . One of the best happens relatively early and has to do with a horse struck by lightning . I won't spoil it here . There really isn't that much of a plot . Lots of different bits play off of lightning bolts , there's a fairly funny bit with a turtle who decides to try and increase his speed in a rather novel way and a very prim and proper female hippo being rowed in a canoe by a mouse ! The ending is cute , if predictable . This short is available on the DVD Attack of the ' 30s Characters and is well worth seeing . Recommended . |
579,989 | 583,640 | 24,167 | 7 | A collection of caricatures , sight gags and a bit of music | This short doesn't really have a plot to speak of , but is instead a series of sight gags , celebrity caricatures and a version of the song which provides the title . Consider this a spoiler warning : The cartoon is a bunch of gags loosely connected by radios . The viewer is bounced around the world from one radio to the next . Some of the bits would probably be offensive to some in this day and age , like scenes involving Chinese policemen and African natives and a slightly risqué ( for 1933 , anyway ) scene with a harem girl . There are also celebrity caricatures , including Ben Bernie , a takeoff on Bing Crosby ( here , he's Cros Bingby ) , Greta Garbo , Zazu Pitts and Mae West , plus quite a few who clearly were caricatures whom I didn't recognize . Oh-there's also a scene where Jimmy Cagney and an actress have a bit together . The performance of " I've Got to Sing a Torch Song " is done by , among others , Garbo , Pitts and West and the end title has Garbo saying , " That's all , folks ! " All in all , a nice little short , if nothing special . Well worth watching once . Recommended . |
579,267 | 583,640 | 50,875 | 7 | This has got to be Bugs's worst nightmare ! | This short has a few laughs , though it really drags in spots , which , when you consider that the short is about seven minutes long , is a dubious accomplishment . Because I want to discuss some of the details , this is a spoiler warning : Elmer Fudd receives a crate ( from his uncle ( Judd Fudd ) containing a female rabbit named Millicent , from Slobovia . Elmer's first words on catching a good look at Millicent in strong sunlight are , " Wooks aren't evewything , you know ! " , because Uncle Judd has promised in an accompanying note that he will pay Elmer $500 . 00 for looking after Millicent until he gets back to the US . For $500 . 00 , Elmer is willing to overlook the fact that Millicent looks like she could have played linebacker for the Chicago Bears ! Her manners and her attitude are a matched set , as she's rude , arrogant and obnoxious . She starts wrecking her room and Elmer discovers she wants a date . Since Millicent could pick Elmer up and bench-press him 57 times without breaking a sweat , Elmer wisely goes out looking for a male rabbit . Guess who he finds ? That's right , Bugs . Elmer baits a fishing pole with a carrot and catches Bugs like a trout . Ever the gentleman , Bugs first finishes his meal and the tidies up before agreeing to go home with Elmer , unaware of what fate ( and Elmer ) have waiting for him . Bugs meets Millicent and is a less than enthusiastic swain . When she insists on a kiss , Bugs grabs a poor fish and Millicent kisses it instead . On his return to the fishbowl , the fish pulls out an old-fashioned pistol , marches into his house , you see a large bubble which , after it surfaces , bursts and gives out a large " POP ! " . Bugs tries repeatedly to escape , but between Millicent and Elmer , his attempts at self-preservation fail . He's almost " bunny hugged " into a coma . Then Millicent declares that " Courtship is over ! Name the day and we will be marriaged ! " , which is about as welcome a statement to Bugs as a declaration that he's been exposed to diphtheria . Thinking quickly , he suggests that they elope and he begins lowering her out the window on a sheet which " slips " out of his grasp . As she is pounding on the door , Bugs goes in and wakes up Elmer and tells him Uncle Judd's at the door . He slips a rabbit suit on Elmer in the dark and Millicent sees Elmer dressed as a rabbit and immediately switches her affections to him and soon , Elmer is doing his best Jesse Owens impression , sprinting off over the snow , with Millicent in hot pursuit . This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection , Volume 4 and is well worth seeing at least once . The set is highly recommended . |
579,984 | 583,640 | 58,582 | 7 | Interesting , though average , short produced under the WB studios just before it was shut down the first time | This short was the last short produced by the Warner Brothers animation department . The studio shut down the animation department , only to farm out the production of cartoons to the Depatie-Freleng Studio , which also produced the Pink Panther shorts . I'm going to talk a bit about the short , so there will be mild spoilers below : Though there really isn't anything particularly exceptional about this short , I noticed some things I thought were at least somewhat interesting about it when I saw it today for the first time . For one thing , it had a lot of visual similarities to the shorts produced by Depatie-Freleng-the character design of Senorella , for example , is very similar to female characters in a couple of later Pink Panther shorts . The backgrounds are also very much like the later backgrounds , which I suppose is hardly surprising , given that a number of the people who worked on this short went on to work for Depatie-Freleng . As for the short itself , it's a largely by-the-numbers version of Cinderella , with the nominal twist of it being populated with Hispanic characters . Apart from the narrator's accent and pronunciation , the slant given this short is generally benign and marginal . The short's greatest deficit is that it really isn't terribly funny and there isn't enough variation in the plot to make up for the lack of decent jokes . It's rather predictable to anyone who knows the story of Cinderella . Still , it is worth seeing once and is currently in print on Disc 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection , Volume 5 . Recommended for Looney Tunes completest . |
579,360 | 583,640 | 58,597 | 7 | A trifle cute in spots , particularly the end , but has its moments nonetheless . | The Chuck Jones Tom and Jerry cartoons were quite uneven . He and his crew could never quite seem to make up their minds as to whether the pair were adversaries or pals . Here , they start out enemies and become best buddies . But there are some good visual bits and a stunning lack of planning and foresight on Tom's part-following his plans down to their logical conclusion doesn't seem to be his long suit . Enjoyable , even if the ending is a bit too precious for words . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,448 | 583,640 | 92,105 | 7 | Not their best teaming , but Lancaster and Douglas work well together | This is a rather light comedy , not an exceptional film , but entertaining enough . While Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster turn in engaging performances , the movie is stolen by Eli Wallach , whose character is nothing if not persistent ! There are some very funny bits here . If you're looking for something light , funny and enjoyable , this one works . Worth watching . |
579,758 | 583,640 | 31,811 | 7 | Decent short with a few good moments , but only average | This short is one of the earlier Porky Pig shorts and falls into the " Porky as a kid " category , which was a fairly frequent gimmick in the first few years . There may be spoilers in my remarks below : In a few Porky shorts featuring Porky as a child , the plot device of " Porky is given money by his dad , with strict orders to do something specific , but something goes haywire " was used . This was one of those shorts , which are fairly predictable . Our hero winds up buying ( by Standard Accident # 43 in the Cartoonist's Handbook ) a horse which would fail the physical at a glue factory . Given that our hero doesn't relish the idea of returning home for a trip to the woodshed , he decides to enter a race to win the prize money , so he can go home covered in glory rather than fertilizer . Our hero lucks out , in spite of troubles , travails and trombones , passes " Go " , collects his $11 and his horse is happy in the end as well and on his way to audition for John Philip Sousa . This short is on Looney Toons Golden Collection , Vol 3 . Though it's largely a routine and by-the-numbers cartoon , it is worth seeing and the Collection is excellent . Recommended . |
579,166 | 583,640 | 146,668 | 7 | Well made but terminally cute Oswald the Rabbit cartoon . | This is enjoyable , but overwhelmingly cute . Well animated and quite well done in all other respects , but my tastes run more towards Tex Avery and Bambi Meets Godzilla . It is , however , an Oswald short and Oswald is one of the classic old time characters , one sadly neglected today because the Lantz material is largely unavailable . Worth watching , particularly if you like Cute . Recommended with that caveat . |
579,837 | 583,640 | 115,736 | 7 | Watch this for Gershon and Pantoliano | Gina Gershon can act , Showgirls notwithstanding . This movie proves that . While Jennifer Tilly , bless her , earnestly tries to prove ( unsuccessfully ) to prove that Meg didn't get all the acting ability . Joe Pantoliano does a marvelous job playing a character so repellent that you don't care that he's being set up to take the fall of the century . Watch for their performances . That alone is worth the price of addmission . Worth seeing . |
579,845 | 583,640 | 62,817 | 7 | This short has a similar theme in common with an Eastern European short entitled Ersatz | This short reminds me strongly of a short which won an Oscar a number of years before-it was an Eastern European short , Ersatz is its title in English , Surogat is its original title . While Ersatz is a more effective short , this has its own charms as well . I will be discussing details , so consider this a spoiler warning : The Pink Panther goes to the beach with a satchel full of inflatable items of various types , including a muscle suit and barbell . He proceeds to upstage a muscle boy , who then becomes his opponent . It's always interesting when the Pink Panther has an adversary other than the " Little White Guy " , as he was called at the studio , because the Panther usually does things which are a bit less predictable to them . The gags generally fall into a category here-it's the " Muscle boy gets upstaged , gets angry and does something that precipitates his own downfall " . There are no sympathetic qualities here for the muscle boy . Even the ultimate comeuppance is his own fault . The ending is quite enjoyable and this is a very entertaining short . If you like this one , by all means , look for a copy of Ersatz . Recommended . |
579,570 | 583,640 | 22,057 | 7 | If you dread going to the dentist , Flip's " skills " will only reinforce your current attitude ! | This is a fairly nice cartoon visually , with some very funny sight gags , but Flip's talents do not extend themselves to the science of dentistry . While he doesn't come close to the dentist in Little Shop of Horrors ( either version ) , Flip is about as effective here as he is in most of his other endeavors . Not terribly exciting , but watchable and you'll get a laugh or two along the way . Not the best Flip the Frog and not the worst . Worth watching and good to have in print . Recommended . |
579,787 | 583,640 | 150,501 | 7 | I found this one a bit too cute without anything special about it to offset the cuteness . | The animation here is good , but not special , the story and script I found too cute by half and I was a bit disappointed by this one . Part of this can be attributed to the fact that I saw Ballet-Oop first , which is far superior and shows how this kind of thing should be done . I saw this a second time and just watched it without watching anything else on the tape that time . It's still too cute for my tastes , but it's a decent short . Worth watching . Recommended with above caveat . |
579,513 | 583,640 | 52,885 | 7 | Very cute Speedy Gonzales short , pitting him against Sylvester once again | Speedy's adversary in this short is Sylvester , which makes a great deal of sense , given that he's a cat and Speedy's a mouse . The basic plot is even quite reasonable , which isn't always the case with Speedy cartoons . I want to discuss some details from this short in my comments , so this is a spoiler warning : The short opens with the mice of a Mexican village lamenting a cheese famine and has some fairly nice ( and in one instance , rather morbid ) bits regarding their inability to get cheese . The a mouse begins to smell cheese and thinks he's dreaming . They slowly realize that a ship has come into port with a cargo of cheese . They rush to the boat enthusiastically , only to run from it in terror only a fews moments later . It seems that Sylvester is guarding the cheese . Someone suggests calling on Speedy for help , because Speedy likes his sister . Another mouse makes it clear that Speedy's not the only one who likes his sister ! Speedy comes into the picture and begins to take cheese from the ship while Sylvester tries diligently ( and in vain ) to stop him . Among the gags are Sylvester winding up trapped in a storage room filled with Limburger cheese , Sylvester trapping Speedy with a net only to wind up having Speedy drag him around the ship , Sylvester trying to lure Speedy closer with cheese , only to hit himself with a mallet ( Sylvester's reaction to this is a marvelous bit of character animation ) , Speedy running through a pipe into Sylvester's mouth and running through ( and out ) Sylvester's tail ( a gag they used in more than one Speedy versus Sylvester short ) and a gag with an early setup and delayed punch-line involving a guillotine . Sylvester finally throws in the towel , puts on some mouse ears and joins in on the impromptu fiesta the mice have thrown together . This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection , Volume 4 and is well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,538 | 583,640 | 148,673 | 7 | A cartoon which answers a question that has puzzled mankind for eons : which one is Heckle and which one is Jeckle ? | A largely run-of-the-mill short that has one very notable point of significance-it essentially makes it possible to know which magpie is Heckle and which one is Jeckle . In order to explain this , spoilers are necessary , so be warned : This is a fairly typical " friends become romantic rivals " cartoon with some enjoyable visual gags . But the most important aspect of this short is that there are a couple of scenes that provide fairly decisive indicators of which bird is which . Though the two birds have distinctive voices and personalities , in most of the shorts , their names are not used in such a way that they identify the specific character . Physically , they look the same . Here , however , they are shown wearing different hats and one wears a monocle . On two different occasions , they are shown running into separate living quarters , each marked by name . The one who comes out of the quarters marked " Heckle " is the one who speaks with a New York , Bronx / Brooklyn accent and is wearing a white hat with upturned brim , while the one who exits from " Jeckle " is wearing a straw hat and a monocle and speaks with a British accent . Heckle and Jeckle are probably the most effective characters developed by Terrytoons , certainly of those developed before Paul Terry sold his shorts and the studio . Mighty Mouse is really the only one who can rival them in terms of success . The Terrytoon shorts were , for the most part , pleasant filler . They weren't innovative-they were done to fulfill a contract to provide a certain number of theatrically released cartoons . Heckle and Jeckle were probably the most consistently entertaining series they did . This short is well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,934 | 583,640 | 37,958 | 7 | Well-animated , but Tex Avery did this sort of short first and better . | This short is well-executed technically ( what else would Disney do in this time period ? ) , but this short is only average . Tex Avery had already made this kind of short regularly and did them so much better . One character is supposed to have some task or is protecting something against antagonists and the remainder of the short consists of sight gags relating to the conflicting interests involved . The intentions here are good and it is an amusing short , but Avery was a comic genius at this sort of thing . Worth watching . |
578,890 | 583,640 | 20,880 | 7 | The first cartoon released from the Ub Iwerks studio , as well as the introduction of Flip the Frog | This is the first cartoon produced by the studio Ub Iwerks started after he departed Disney . This short also features Flip the Frog , who would " star " in roughly half of the theatrical releases done under the Iwerks imprint in its lifetime as an independent studio ( there was at least one short produced that was never released to theaters ) , there being 38 Flips and about 75 or 76 total shorts altogether . This first short ( oddly , in color , when most of the Flips were black and white ) points up the strengths and weaknesses of the series as a whole-technically it is excellent , but the character is drab and void of personality and there is no plot to speak of here . It's a good cartoon and enjoyable to watch , but not truly memorable or special . Ub Iwerks was interested in visuals for the most part and I don't think he had Disney's touch with character or story . When the visuals were paramount and depth of character or plot was irrelevant or even possibly undesirable , you have a masterpiece , such as The Skeleton Dance . When they would be of some benefit , but are somewhat lacking , you get the average Flip the Frog . Given the personnel Iwerks employed-a veritable Who's Who of future talents-and the quality of some of the individual bits and pieces , it's a bit sad when you realize that , with a bit more flair , the output of the studio could have gone from average to good and instead could have been good to outstanding . Still worth seeing and I'm glad that the bulk of it is in print . The animation alone makes it worth seeing . Carl W . Stallings ' music doesn't hurt . Worth the effort to see at least once . Recommended for fans of animation and ( with a few exceptions ) good fun for children . |
578,856 | 583,640 | 150,603 | 7 | A turtle wants to fly and gets his wish-sort of . | This is a cute little uncomplicated cartoon about a turtle who wants to fly more than anything . Because I want to talk about a few details , this is a spoiler warning : Herman the Turtle dreams of flying , reads books on the subject and is teased about it by birds , including a bald eagle . He even tries taking flying lessons and building himself some wings . He ultimately winds up underwater , where he finds a treasure chest . He bribes the eagle to take him up in the air so that he can fly . There are some really good visual gags in the sequence where the eagle takes him up , with the turtle always saying " Higher ! " whenever the eagle asks him if the altitude is good enough . Finally , the eagle says , " End of the line " and drops Herman off . Herman grabs two of the eagle's tail feathers and starts flapping his arms furiously . Unfortunately for him , it doesn't work very well for him at all and he drops rapidly to meet the ground . The narrator announces Herman's demise in somber tones as the scene shifts upward to " Turtle Heaven " and we see Herman flying with angel's wings and happy as a clam . This is available on one of the Columbia House DVDs and is well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,472 | 583,640 | 31,610 | 7 | Why are the most interesting characters in Der Captain and the Kids cartoons generally animals ? | This is an average cartoon in a decidedly mixed series based on a comic strip . The primary focus and source of most of the laughs and all the best gags is a horse less than pleased to have his most prized fashion accessory " creatively acquired " by Hans and Fritz . The rest of the cartoon basically lays there in a stupor , waiting for the horse to do something to make things funny . Some concepts just simply don't translate well to active media . Worth seeing at least once , but average at best . Lukewarm recommendation . |
579,752 | 583,640 | 20,983 | 7 | Early Bosko , very musically-oriented and with a very bizarre segment ! | This is a fairly typical early Bosko and is reasonably amusing . There are one or two points I want to discuss in some detail , some " Here there be spoilers " : This short is musically-oriented and lots of things become musical instruments in the hands of Bosko , his work crew ( a bunch of small , strangely familiar mice ) and Bosko's girlfriend . It is to the temporary misfortune of one particular mouse that Bosko is his foreman . The mouse falls off a wall and lands on a saw , which starts making music . Bosk starts bending and warping the saw to get musical notes from it , which tosses the mouse up into the air . At one point , the mouse comes down on the saw-teeth and his head lands on one side and his body on the other . You then see the head and the body moving around on the saw as Bosko bends and warps it to make music as the body and head frantically try to get back together . Later on in the short , Bosko sees Honey in an office and goes across to her window by using musical notes as steppingstones in mid-air . He proceeds to put sheet music in her typewriter and play it like a piano . The capper on the music from unusual sources is Bosko's use of a goat as bagpipes . This has quite a few of the visual gags that would be used frequently in the Bosko shorts , such as Bosko breaking up into lots of little Boskos after hitting the ground and the playing of music when running across steps or bricks where the path is differentiated enough to resemble a keyboard or a xylophone . Good , if rather standard , Bosko short . Worht watching , if you get the opportunity . Recommended . |
579,085 | 583,640 | 62,124 | 7 | My sympathies are largely with the dog | This short ( like most of the Pink Panther shorts ) is primarily composed of sight gags , given a singular lack of dialog . The humor in this short most often arises from the interaction between the little man who is the frequent foil for the Pink Panther and his dog , rather than much that the star of the series does . The dog is placed in situations which end disastrously for the little man and it looks as though his dog caused bad things to happen , when in fact the dog has been expertly set up to look that way . Several repetitive sight gags later , typically violent and rather painful in appearance , and the dog has been made Canis Non Grata . The closing gag is cute , though repetitive . Not the best short I've seen and not the worst-about average for the Pink Panther series . This short is available on the Pink Panther Cartoon Collection , along with all the other shorts in the series . Recommended . |
578,801 | 583,640 | 141,912 | 7 | Rather fascinating animated sing-along which more or less fits the animated story to the song | This short actually has a story in the animated portion which more or less leads into the song itself . Because I want to discuss the short , there will be spoilers below : The short opens with an animated sequence featuring a dog-like creature in uniform stopping by to see a girl . There are some nice musically-oriented bits ( a piece of gate used like a harp , for one ) and the soldier winds up in the girl's room . Meanwhile , the commander uses his horse to call his unit , the soldier doesn't go and is arrested and put to labor , breaking stones with a hammer , deriving some musical bits there , notes placed in time with blows on the rock from the hammer . He also reduces a rock in size and makes it into the " bouncing ball " to cue the lyrics of the title song , which can be related to the basic story . There's some incidental animation of marching soldiers during the sing-along and the short is quite effective overall . Recommended . |
579,755 | 583,640 | 46,739 | 7 | Average short with some hilarious moments | In order to discuss this short , I have to give some details , so there will be spoilers below : This time out , Bugs goes toe-to-toe with a " baby " with a five o'clock shadow and tattoos . Ant-Hill Harry , alias " Baby-faced Finster " , has lost the proceeds of his latest heist down a rabbit-hole . Enter our hero , who believes that this is a real baby at first . The judges ' scorecards give the early rounds to " Finster " , with a knock out saved by the bell in Round Five ( " Finster " swings a mean bat ) . Bugs discovers the truth and wins the later rounds and the fight . " Finster " was fighting out of his weight-class . There are some very good moments in this-the transition from " Finster " wildly swinging a bat to wide-eyed innocence and calling Bugs " Daddy " is beautifully done . Bugs's revenge against " Finster " ( " I do believe I forgot my fudge " ) and his note to the police when he leaves them a " baby " trussed up in a basket is priceless . It almost makes the ending superfluous . This short is on Looney Tunes Golden Collection , Vol . 2 . the Collection and this short are both recommended . |
579,536 | 583,640 | 146,300 | 7 | This is technically the first Heckle and Jeckle short-sort of . | This is the short that basically launched the Heckle and Jeckle series-more or less . There will be spoilers : This is basically a formative Heckle and Jeckle short , even though the two magpies are a couple and one is female . The basic style of the shorts is first seen here , the dog in this one is one of the regular foils for Heckle and Jeckle in a good many later shorts and this short laid the groundwork for the idea of a team of two magpies . Call it " Test version 1 . 0 " . The farmer is Al Falfa-the character design is precisely the same for all intents and purposes . He basically wants some peace and quiet so he can get some sleep ( he could , of course , simply close the window-but it would make for a very short cartoon if he did ) . There are some nice visuals in here and the gags are pretty much the kinds of bits you'll find throughout the Heckle and Jeckle series . It was probably a good idea to change the characters from a male-female couple , as that probably would have been too limited a dynamic to sustain for all that long . There's a good caricature of Hugh Herbert early on and some other nice touches . Well worth seeing and recommended . |
579,878 | 583,640 | 22,922 | 7 | Flip the Frog gets a face-lift . | Warning : Here Thyre Be Spoilers ( Said Ye Olde Cartographer ) . Flip is trying to impress a young lady , who does not want our young stalwart , not because he has the charm and personality of a day-old bagel , but because he has the face of a frog . She wants a cute , if equally vapid , guy she knows . Flip decides on better looks through surgery and visits a crazed plastic surgeon in an equally crazed office and gets turned into a pretty boy like the one who won the lady fair . Meanwhile , the villain of the piece grabs said lady fair , the choice du jour turns out to be a craven , crawling , cowardly poltroon and it's up to Flip to get on his white charger and rescue her . He succeeds , at the cost of his new face , but the damsel has a change of mind ( and heart ) and all endeth happily . So ends a fairy tale . Reasonably good Flip the Frog , but take it from your old Uncle Dudley : it seldom works this way in real life . Worth watching . In print and available . Recommended , particularly for Flip fans . |
579,042 | 583,640 | 117,642 | 7 | An enjoyable little cartoon | I've seen this cartoon a few times . It's cute and worth watching . Nothing too terribly special here , but any cartoon where the hunchbacked assistant is named Trevor deserves some comment ! This is a National Film Board of Canada animation , which virtually guarantees it's worth watching . |
579,399 | 583,640 | 150,728 | 7 | With friends like these , who needs enemies ? | This is one of the shorts in David Hand's Animaland series , which centered around a squirrel named Ginger Nutt and his animal friends ( including his girlfriend , another squirrel named Hazel . There will be spoilers below : Ginger Nutt is doing what most males do from time to time-swearing to the love of his life that he'd protect her from anything with his very life . Several of the other animals , being his " friends " hear this and do what " friends " do in such a situation-hatch a plan to scare the daylights out of Ginger and make him look bad in front of Hazel . They take a piece of wood in the shape of a skull and scare Ginger so badly with it that he runs back to his tree . At his home , he begins to fret about his behavior , imaging Hazel's changing moods towards him because he ran , with his imaginings very effectively displayed in an excellent set of sight gags . He resolves to find the monster and run it out of the forest , thus winning back the affections of Hazel , which he's certain he's lost . He goes back out looking for the " monster " and believes he's found it again , but discovers through mere chance just what is up and who's behind everything . Two of the three culprits , upon being found out , immediately run , leaving the ringleader , a crow , to face the music alone . The ending shows Ginger once again attempting to impress Hazel , until his plans come crashing down . But Hazel is a good sport and it all ends well . The surviving Animaland shorts were released on a DVD and are well worth seeing . Recommended . |
579,647 | 583,640 | 86,855 | 7 | Not bad , just not a great deal here . | This is a short from Pixar , their first , I believe . It looks it , too . The animation is good , but there's not much here to speak of and it looks more like test footage than a full , coherent cartoon-a dry run , if you will . They did much better work with later efforts . Not bad , but nothing special here either . Worth seeing . |
579,410 | 583,640 | 62,010 | 7 | Rarely do I feel sympathy for Daffy , but I do in this one ! | Daffy is rarely what I would call a sympathetic character , but here , to a large degree , he is a most sympathetic character indeed . Just looking for peace and quiet and bothering no one , he is bombarded at all turns by possibly the most insipid tune ever heard in cartoons and certainly ever heard in a Warner Brothers short ! Ten minutes of that might have made Mother Teresa commit murder ! Good cartoon with okay animation and an awful score . You have been warned ! Recommended , with the caveat above . |
579,571 | 583,640 | 148,499 | 7 | Not terribly memorable save for a good Chaplin impersonation and an almost Keystone Kop feeling in spots . | This is an early , almost plotless ( even for a Flip the Frog short ) that goes over almost the same ground as Felix in Hollywood , but not nearly as well . Visually grea with a magnificent imitation of Charlie Chaplin and a few good sight gags ( mostly chases ) , but largely pedestrian plotting make it average at best otherwise . Still nicely animated and worth having in print . Worth watching . Recommended . |
579,208 | 583,640 | 58,086 | 7 | Good later Warner Brothers short | Though there are fans who dislike the Warner Brothers output from 1964 or thereabouts to 1969 , I don't think it was all that bad . It certainly doesn't match the best of the heyday , but a lot of it was entertaining . This one was enjoyable , if not a true classic , but then , there were less than extraordinary shorts in the 1930s , ' 40s and ' 50s also . Bugs Bunny's retirement followed this ( at least theatrically-like many stars of the silver screen , Bugs did television to keep himself in carrots ) until 1990 . You just can't keep a good hare down . Worth watching . Recommended . |
579,770 | 583,640 | 29,384 | 7 | Cute and amusing at times , but nothing special . | This is a short that looks at the perils of being overly curious . Several penguins , even after stern warning , get themselves into a predicament , with colorful ( if somewhat predictable ) results . While this has some nice sight gags and is visually nice to look at , it really an average , rather run-of-the-mill cartoon . Nice to watch , but ultimately quite forgettable . Worth watching for all that . Recommended , in a lukewarm sort of way . |
579,179 | 583,640 | 150,880 | 7 | Given Willie's glancing acquaintance with the truth , this is his tallest tale . | This cartoon exists only in fragmentary form and is on one of the Cartoons That Time Forgot DVDs . The fragments are reasonably good , though I'm not , truth be told , a fan of the Willie Whopper series . Having seen this , I would very much like to see Hell's Bells , a short Ub Iwerks directed some years earlier when he was first at Disney . Visually impressive , as always . Glad to see it in print . Worth watching . Recommended . |
578,934 | 583,640 | 150,887 | 7 | A fair cartoon which has its moments , with the ending being the best part . | This is an average short-nothing remarkable here , but nothing terrible either . It's a competent and cute little cartoon . I'm going to discuss a few details , so a minor spoiler alert is in order : Herman the mouse is in this short , voiced by Arnold Stang . I'm not absolutely positive , but the voice of the rooster sounds like it was provided by Jack Mercer , who received writing credit and often did voice work ( credited and uncredited-Mercer was the primary voice for Popeye for years and , in my opinion , the best voice Popeye ever had ) for both Fliescher and Famous Studios . The rooster of the title is , indeed , " henpecked " , with a hen for a wife who is probably over-qualified to be merely called a " shrew " . She bullies and abuses the rooster thoroughly , until Herman , realizing that the hen is terrified of him , strikes a deal with the rooster to avoid drowning . With Herman's help , the rooster gains the upper hand-temporarily . Mrs . Rooster pens a note to Mrs . Mouse and it turns out that Herman is in the same boat as the rooster is-their wives must have taken " Advanced Rolling-pin 404 " together . The little wife starts to reassert her dominance until the rooster takes his salvation into his own wings and dons a mouse suit . The ending is the funniest part of the short , so I won't spoil it here . As I said , this is nothing special , but it is an enjoyable little short . It's floating around on a video tape / DVD or two , though I have seen copies with audio / video synchronization problems . Worth watching . |
579,761 | 583,640 | 20,666 | 7 | Formative Bimbo that has a few moments | Not officially released as a Betty Boop short , but that's Betty and the early Bimbo . Bimbo stayed a canine throughout , while Betty became human . Bimbo comes across as a less than likable sort here , but then neither was Barnacle Bill the sailor ( pay attention to the lyrics of the sea chantey ) . Bimbo was a more or less marginal character , for my tastes , although he was head and shoulders above most of the supporting characters in later years . Koko the Clown was the most effective bit player they used in the Betty Boop series . Bimbo spends most of his time making eyes and sighing at Betty in most of his appearances . The later design on the character was a marked improvement over the original character they show here . This is on the Betty Boop collection that's well worth having . This short is nothing special , but worth a look once . |
578,936 | 583,640 | 150,876 | 7 | Nice little cartoon , though a bit too predictable in spots | This is a cute little cartoon , not exceptional , but entertaining enough and quite well suited for kids . I'll be discussing it in a little detail , so this is a slight spoiler warning : Hector is a dog . Hector apparently makes a lot of messes in the house and is threatened with expulsion from the house , into a very snowy and cold outdoors , if he does anything else to damage the house or the Christmas tree . It's also suggested that if he avoids getting into trouble , Santa Claus might bring him a gift . As he considers this , there is a knock on the door and he sees a basket outside . Hector thinks this is his gift and brings it inside . In a way , it is-the pups inside look like chips off the old block . The bulk of the short is spent with Hector trying to undo the damage caused by the pups and prevent himself from getting into trouble . There's nothing all that original here-Hanna and Barbera were doing this type of short years before and did it better . But the short is reasonably funny and there's a nice bit where Hector is wrestling with his conscience when he thinks the pups are outside . The ending is really rather predictable , but it's quite heartwarming and this is a good cartoon for children . It's been on a fair number of VHS releases and has been on at least one public domain DVD . It might take some effort , but it can be found . Worth watching . |
579,114 | 583,640 | 42,512 | 7 | Only pairing , as far as I know , of Daffy and Rocky the gangster | This short is the only one I can recall that has Daffy matching " wits " with Rocky . Bugs worked best with Rocky . Daffy just isn't as sympathetic a character as Bugs and doesn't really mesh well here . Decent enough , but not terribly special . Worth watching . |
579,882 | 583,640 | 29,429 | 7 | Good , though not great , Frank Tashlin Porky cartoon | This cartoon is another " my old ( fill in the blank ) can beat your new ( fill in the blank ) " plot , in the vein of John Henry versus the mechanical drill . Because I want to discuss some of the details of this short , this is a spoiler warning : This is an interesting little short , though there's very little that's all that special , save for Frank Tashlin using some tricks usually reserved for live-action film rather than cartoons . This is about a race , between Porky and a bully , with Porky using an old , broken-down old engine on its last wheels against a modern locomotive . As Porky is the hero in this picture , it's fairly apparent who will win in the end , but the gags make an obvious trip a fun and scenic journey . Along the way , there are quite a few sight gags , including one which kept the short from being seen in its entirety for quite a while . A bull has a strong supporting role in a couple of scenes and has a hand ( or rather , a couple of horns ) in the final outcome of the race . This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection , Volume 4 and is well worth seeing . Recommended . |
579,539 | 583,640 | 77,269 | 7 | Great cast , would have been better with an equally good script | This movie is entertaining enough and the plot ( once you get past the main premise ) is actually interesting , but in spite of an excellent cast , the script could have been much better than it was . All too often , it becomes cliched melodrama . I do have to admit that the ending is actually inspired and bordering on brilliant . Despite the cast and the occasional nice touch , this is only average , but is worth watching . |
579,440 | 583,640 | 31,253 | 7 | Dated and melodramatic , it makes its ' point nonetheless | This short , nominated for an Oscar , has a dated feeling to it and the melodramatic tne common to the CRime Does Not Pay series of shorts , but for all that does have a point and makes it : the operation of heavy machinery while drunk is most unwise and can prove to be very costly . This runs on Turner Classic Movies as filler between films and almost certainly airs in March as part of the 31 Days of Oscar they do annualy . Worth watching . |
578,901 | 583,640 | 42,575 | 7 | Average short from Disney featuring Donald versus a lion and his cub over some fish | This short takes a basic premise used often by Disney and others-someone has something another character wants and the rest of the short consists of comical attempts to take away and / or keep said possession . In the hands of Tex Avery , this simple plot can produce The Legend of Rockabye Point , which is a masterpiece . Then there's this cartoon , far more representative of the norm-an average cartoon , humorous in spots , entertaining but not terribly special in and of itself . Which proves the point that it's not the idea that matters , but how it is used . Worth watching at least once . |
579,034 | 583,640 | 73,402 | 7 | A most unusual piece of work | This is one of the oddest and most unusual shorts that I've ever seen and I'm still not entirely certain what the point was ( or even if there was one to start with ) in this particular case . Produced by the National Film Board of Canada , this was nominated for an Academy Award and uses a type of stop-motion animation that reminds me of the work of Norman McLaren . Recommended for anyone who likes unusual animation . |
578,971 | 583,640 | 22,713 | 7 | Starts well and ends well , though it drags in the middle | This is a reasonably decent short , not the best of the series , but funny in spots . There will be minor spoilers : This short begins with Bosko cooking an egg over an open fire , while singing . He regularly flips the egg into the air , drawing it to the attention of a squirrel , which then eats Bosko's meal . Bosko pulls a shotgun from off-screen and starts after the squirrel ( leaving the campfire burning ) . While chasing the squirrel , he and Bruno see an ad for a dog race , with a prize of $5 , 000 and Bosko tells Bruno he's going to enter and win . Bruno seems doubtful and is markedly unenthusiastic at his prospects . From this point on , until Bruno spots the squirrel again , the short drags a bit . Watching Bruno " train " is kind of dull , as is most of the race . Only when Bruno sees the squirrel again does the cartoon show much life or energy . Bruno excitedly chases the squirrel , only to have the squirrel drop a beehive on him . The rest of the short shows Bruno running from angry insects . The ending is fairly nice and overall , the short is a reasonably enjoyable one . I hope it eventually makes it onto a future Looney Tunes Golden Collection . Well worth watching , at least once , anyway . |
578,976 | 583,640 | 22,709 | 7 | Occasionally interesting and it has some nice visual effects | This short isn't the best Bosko short , but it isn't the worst one either . It's a trip to the zoo by Bosko and Honey . There will be some spoilers : Bosko and Honey go to the zoo and it doesn't take long before Bosko starts interacting with the animals in an irritating and unwise fashion . His hat gets eaten by an ostrich , which prompts Bosko to take action to make the bird give it back to him . It obliges by laying an egg . Bosko plays a tune and this gives the animators the opportunity to set the animation in time to the music . Bosko makes an extremely questionable move when he physically disciplines a little ape , as a larger gorilla comes into the scene and is clearly less than pleased with Bosko . Thus begins the chase . There are some rather nice visual gags incorporated into the chase sequence , where it seems that half the zoo winds up chasing after Bosko . Three critters smash into a wall and come out looking like modern art . There is also a rather interesting visual sequence involving an aquarium , with Bosko and Honey watching the antics of various fish . All in all , the visuals make this a rather entertaining short , though Bosko is a rather limited character . The things happening around him are far more entertaining than he himself is most of the time . Hopefully , this will be released on a Looney Tunes Golden Collection at some point in the future . Well worth watching . |
578,970 | 583,640 | 22,708 | 7 | Truly . anything can happen in a cartoon ! | This is a fairly good example ( good and bad ) of the Bosko series . I intend to discuss some details , so let this be a spoiler warning : This short opens with Bosko selling hot dogs ( again-this bit was used in an earlier short , as were many other bits throughout the series ) and there are some cute gags with the very active hot dogs . Bruno gets a tack in his paw and Bosko pulls it out , only to toss it back on to the sand carelessly . There's a nice bit ( again a repeat from other shorts ) with an octopus making itself a carousel for some seahorses . Honey brings Wilber to the beach and Wilber proceeds to repeatedly venture near the shore , only to run away at the approaching wave . Gags like that were often repeated , maybe because they thought repetition made them funny or maybe so they could just re-use the same drawings and save some work for themselves . Bosko sees Honey silhouetted under a beach umbrella and they go off to play the ukulele and sing " Ain't We Got Fun ? " together , while playing a game of " Fetch " with Bruno ( one of the funniest bits in the short-watch the sticks Bruno brings back ) . Meanwhile , back at the beach , the predictable happens and Wilber gets caught by the tide and pulled out to sea . There are some really nice visual bits with Bosko trying to swim out to rescue Wilber and Wilber has one very good line of dialog , but there's a lot of recycled footage here . Bruno saves the day by grabbing an electric fan ( with a power cord ) , taking it out to the beach , climbing on a log and using the fan as an outboard motor ( there must have been an outlet in the log ) . Nice short in spots , with Wilber much more tolerable than he often is in other shorts . I hope this ultimately makes it onto a Looney Tunes Golden Collection . Worth watching at least once . |
579,723 | 583,640 | 20,488 | 7 | Notable principally for Norma Shearer | The movie has a somewhat overheated , strained quality to it , much like a soap opera and is primarily of interest for Norma Shearer's performance , which received a nomination for Best Actress for the 1929-30 Academy Awards , which she lost to herself , winning instead for her performance in The Divorcee , a better role in a much better film . Ms . Shearer was THE actress at the time and did quite well for many years . A good movie that could have been better and largely a curio now . |
578,975 | 583,640 | 22,657 | 7 | Decent early Bosko short with Bosko as an over-matched boxer | This short has some good moments and some rather interesting animation in spots , though there's a fair amount of repetition here . I want to cover some of the action , so here is a spoiler warning : The short starts with a rather nice visual bit ( possibly the best one in the short ) tied to Bosko working a speed bag . Ultimately , the speed bag emerges victorious . Bosko likely would have been better off sending his shadow out to fight " Gas-House Harry " , a hulking brute seen punching an anvil . For a short nominally about a boxing match , very little which takes place in the ring is itself noteworthy . Most of the short covers events outside the ring . There's a very nice sequence revolving around streetcars full of fans headed to the fight . It looks like they just re-used the same drawing twice to repeat a gag . The same seems to be the case for a sequence in the ring where the champ gets groggy and also a repetitive shot featuring a loud hippo fan of Bosko's , which is not only repeated several times in this short , but was used in at least one other Bosko short , if I recall correctly . There are two really funny bits inside the ring-Bosko being revived by his trainer after the first round and Bosko and the champ exchanging blows , only to simultaneously knock the referee out of the ring ! Bosko doesn't fare too well in the end , even with a long count by the referee . The ending is cute , though . I hope this will eventually be released as part of a future Looney Tunes Golden Collection . Recommended . |
579,152 | 583,640 | 29,204 | 7 | Decent but quite fanciful adaptation of the Hale novella | This short , nominated for an Oscar , is reasonably good , but quite loose and more than a bit fanciful in its treatment of the source material . Ironically , the changes make the short weaker and LESS memorable than the original novella by Edward Everett Hale . By all means , catch the short if possible , but the orignal is far more interesting and satisfying . Turner Classic Movies runs this as filler between films on ocasion and has done so in March the last several years in its 31 Days of Oscar feature . Well worth watching . |
579,060 | 583,640 | 142,106 | 7 | Reasonably good short , ostensibly starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit , though he's not in it very much | This is a black and white short done by the Lantz Studios , part of a series featuring a character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit . I will be discussing some detail , so this is a spoiler warning : The short opens with a group of ducks-Papa , Mama and five baby ducks-four white and one black-strolling onto the beach . This is followed shortly by a scene showing Oswald and his dog setting up on the beach . Oswald puts his dog in charge of watching their lunch , in a large picnic basket , warning of dire consequences if anything should happen to " the lunch " . The five little ducks spot " the lunch " and decide that they want it for themselves . The little black duck is the one with the most resourcefulness and is the brains of the outfit , with most of the effort and ideas coming from him . Several efforts are made to get the basket and its contents , until they finally succeed in taking the basket out to sea . The dog swims out after them , but the little black duck ( who's doing all the work here ) tricks him into believing that a shark's after him and he races back to shore . Meanwhile , an octopus spots the ducks and manages to catch them and the Papa duck tries unsuccessfully to save them . It's up to the dog to swim to the rescue . After a struggle with the octopus , what has to be the best animated sequence takes place where the dog emerges victorious . I won't describe the gag , which is excellent and probably the funniest bit in the short . As the dog brings the ducks and basket safely to the shore , where the two older ducks and Oswald ( who suddenly re-appears after being gone much of the cartoon ) cheer the rescue . The closing gag is cute , if predictable . This short is on the DVD Attack of the ' 30s Characters and is well worth checking out . Recommended . |
579,547 | 583,640 | 75,232 | 7 | Good , but not great , musical version of Cinderella | This is a good movie with a good score , a cast full of recognizabe faces , nice costumes and beautiful sets . While certainly not a wonderful film , it is more than worth seeing . The principal problem here is that the movie drags a bit in spots . A bit of judicious editing to shorten it about ten minutes would probably improve the pacing remarkably . The leads actually complement one another quite . A cut above your average costumed musical with more than a few good moments . Worth watching . |
578,782 | 583,640 | 60,053 | 7 | Basically a remake of Broomstick Bunny . | This cartoon is really nothing more than a reworking of Broomstick Bunny with Daffy replacing Bugs and Speedy Gonzales worked into things as well . There's a great visual gag lifted from Duck Amuck as well that fits perfectly and is the best thing about this one , which isn't terribly original , save for how they use Speedy , which is quite hilarious . Worth watching for Speedy fans and the best Chuck Jones cartoon Bob McKimson ever made . Recommended for Speedy fans . |
579,672 | 583,640 | 26,709 | 7 | I doubt this is something The Mouse will release uncut anytime soon | This sort , which is okay , not great , is apart of Disney's past they probably try to ignore . The sight of your franchise being chased by cannibals would not make the suits comfortable , if they can't even acknowledge Song of the South or won't release Runaway Brain . I still can't figure that one out . Or not releasing Redux Riding Hood . It played on ABC a few years back ! Oh , well . Mickey's Man Friday is worth seeing if you like Disney or are a completist . |
578,964 | 583,640 | 141,559 | 7 | A fairly decent cartoon that holds up well . | This is actually a pretty fair short , for all that it's all but inescapable to compare and contrast with Disney's The Wise Little Hen , given that they have the same fable as a starting point . The Iwerks version is actually as good or better in some respects , but Iwerks was really better off avoiding direct comparison to his once and future employer . They weren't the only studio to make this mistake , as Fleischer Studios also tried to out-Disney Disney , with less than successful results . Still , this is a charming little cartoon with a rather cute little song . Most definitely worth seeing . Recommended . |
579,046 | 583,640 | 75,294 | 7 | Enjoyable farce | The reviewer of this film in Leonard Maltin's Guide called this a bomb . While it is not the greatest movie of all time , there are definitely enough moments that make the movie worth watching . It's probably Beau Bridges ' best work , Avery Schrieber is wonderful , Geoffrey Holder is stupendous and to top it off , James Earl Jones is in the movie ! That alone makes it not a bomb in my book . It's a fun , mindless movie that I found delightful . |
579,414 | 583,640 | 53,922 | 7 | Cute , but nothing very novel here . | This is a cute cartoon , but the gags aren't especially new or inventive here , as many of them are taken from other Warner Brothers shorts , some as bits and pieces and other lifted whole . Still entertaining enough in its own right and worth watching . Recommended . |
579,836 | 583,640 | 133,794 | 7 | More conventional than Richard Condie cartoons generally are and less interesting too | Richard Condie is a master of the odd and unusual in animation . This cartoon is more conventional . I'd have enjoyed it more had I seen it before I saw a few of his other , more bizarre efforts . Slow in spots and essentially one-joke . Tex Avery did one-jokes first and better . Still worth watching . |
579,665 | 583,640 | 23,364 | 7 | This is one of only a few cartoons made with a character called Goopy Gear | In the early days for animation at Warner Brothers , like most studios , you had attempts to develop continuing characters . Some , like Bosko and Buddy , had fairly long runs . Others were tried out in a handful of shorts and for one reason or another didn't last long . Foxy is an example of this and this short contains another , a character named Goopy Gear . Goopy is the court jester and the hero here . There isn't anything special about this short or the character , which I suspect is why he didn't stay around that long . Worth watching , but not terribly important or fascinating . |
579,400 | 583,640 | 145,794 | 7 | Parrot tries to sneak into show , gets in using a weasel's ticket , causes a disaster | Rather cute and somewhat charming short featuring a continuing cast of animal characters , part of David Hand's Animaland series . Ginger Nutt is a squirrel with a girlfriend named Hazel . There will be spoilers below : Ginger Nutt and the other animals are putting on a show for which they've sold tickets . A parrot tries to go in without a ticket and is promptly tossed out as a " gate-crasher " . He then tricks a weasel into giving him his ticket and uses it to go into the show in his place . The parrot is rather obnoxious and proceeds to cause trouble throughout the show . Meanwhile , the weasel keeps trying to get in the show to get at the parrot , only to wind up getting tossed out for trying to get in without a ticket . The short alternates between the parrot disrupting the show and the weasel getting thwarted in his attempts to get in . There are some nice visuals , but that's pretty much it as far as the plot goes . The weasel ultimately does get more or less even with the parrot . The Animaland series has the surviving shorts available on DVD and the cartoons have a very nice curio quality to them . Recommended . |
579,390 | 583,640 | 66,580 | 7 | Watch it for the music but everything else is wildly uneven | The musical performances-especially Jimi Hendrix-make this a keeper . But the other material is of decidedly variable value . Wavy Gravy works for a while , then becomes tedious as hell and most of the concert-goers aren't terribly interesting . I do hope the one young lady who lost her sister in the crowd was successful in finding her , though . The thought that runs through my mind watching this during crowd scenes and interviews is , " How many of these people are grandparents , CEOs of corporations , drive BMWs and the like ? " After all , it has been 31 years since Woodstock . They have become the generation they were warned not to trust . Oh , well . Better luck next time . |
579,286 | 583,640 | 34,594 | 7 | Very cute one-shot with some engaging moments . | This is a one-shot cartoon , which MGM did with some frequency , featuring a cat with a voice somewhat reminiscent of John Byner's " duck " voice . While I don't imagine a cat sounding quite like this , it's still quite engaging at times , with a tender moment or two mixed in with the general mayhem . Good animation helps . Well worth seeing and recommended . |
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