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579,627 | 583,640 | 95,824 | 8 | Very nice computer-generated animation | The story ( or stories , I should say ) are pretty much secondary here . This is very visually effective and quite impressive . A very nice piece of work . The piece isn't something I would recommend that you hunt up on its own , but is well worth watching , particularly if you can find Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation Vol 1 , which is an excellent compilation . This short is well worth watching . |
579,373 | 583,640 | 37,879 | 8 | Sylvester really needs to take birds out of his diet ! | This cartoon ( without Tweety , presumably because of that well-documented fight over billing ) was nominated for an Oscar . Sylvester just can't catch a break ! It's a wonder he's not skin and bones by now ! A cat can only go on french fries and ice cream for so long before he needs a bird or a mouse or he goes Looney Tunes ( sorry about that-nah , not really ! ) . This is one of the better Sylvesters-without-Tweety , although he and Porky do make a good team . Mighty persistent ( if unfortunate ) lovebird . This shows on Cartoon Network fairly often . Recommended . |
578,943 | 583,640 | 76,929 | 8 | Excellent use of rotoscoping that has its moments , but an acquired taste not for everyone | This movie is probably most notable for Mark Hamill providing vocals for a character , although another film was his best-known project that same year . Ralph Bakshi's use of rotoscoping is probably the best part of the production . The movie is hysterically funny in spots , but is deadly boring in others and is wildly uneven . On the whole , I found it enjoyable , but I've seen better . Not for kids ( at least chronological ones ) by any means , but somewhat tame for Bakshi . Recommended to those with an interest in movies , period-the good , the bad and the strange . This one is all three at some point in time . |
578,876 | 583,640 | 31,552 | 8 | A double parody-sending up both newsreels and travelogues in one short | Tex Avery did quite a few shorts lampooning the travelogue shorts that were prevalent in the 1930s and one or two satires on the newsreels pre-television visual accounts of news of the week / month . Here he does a short presented in the form of a newsreel that pokes fun at travelogues . Very nice figureskating sequence using rotoscoping - the shooting of live-action footage that is later animated-that is one of the better bits . Good short , but Avery did better in the same vein . Still worth seeking out ( I personally think that even Avery's less successful shorts are better or as good as some other directors best work ! ) . Recommended . |
579,716 | 583,640 | 37,994 | 8 | The first of a series called Musical Miniatures produced by Walter Lantz | This short was nominated for an Academy Award and marked the launching of a new series that replaced the previous Swing Symphonies series , which was called Musical Miniatures . It's an Andy Panda short and essentially , this is The Band Concert redone and it does not compare to the Disney short , though it is reasonably good in it's own right . Andy Panda is an incredibly bland character with limited scope . The story has to be engaging or the short falls flat . The Poet and Peasant is entertaining but nothing special . Worth watching . |
579,920 | 583,640 | 117,558 | 8 | Unusual even for John Weldon | John Weldon has a tendancy towards the odd and unusual when it comes to his work , but even for him , this is off-the-wall , to say the least ! I've seen this several times and still don't quite understand it , but it's entertaning and enjoyable nonetheless . Indescribable . Words do not do it justice , it must be seen . Recommended . |
579,139 | 583,640 | 51,457 | 8 | A very humorous cartoon visual in nature | This Cartoon consists of a great many sight-gags and is one of at least three cartoons that feature both Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot . While the concept of a bulldog becoming the protector of a kitten is too cute by half , this one has found a soft spot in my heart ( or is it my head ? ) because it principally covers what happens to another cat who tries to bully Pussyfoot and suffers , in consequence , Marc Anthony's wrath in return . I will always root for a bully to receive their comeuppance and the gags , while more or less standard , are reasonably good . Worth watching . |
579,855 | 583,640 | 53,425 | 8 | Oscar nominee from the year of my birth . | This short , most accurately titled , was released the year I was born . About a man who plays the violin with great enthusiasm , if with limited ability . Charming and engaging , with a good story and dialogue to go along with a limited animation style . Ernest Pintoff had a light touch with comedy and made some very delightful shorts in the late 1950s and early 1960s . I wish he'd done more of them . Well worth tracking down . Most recommended . |
579,825 | 583,640 | 395,479 | 8 | Cute , not without charm and typical of Pixar's attention to detail . | While this is not Pixar's best short , it is still more than worthwhile viewing . As I understand it , Pixar does shorts to test run things before trying them in a feature ( it's much cheaper to see what works-or does not-in a short ) and because they want to . Boundin ' is visually a treat . A run time under five minutes all but requires a sketchy story . War and Peace , it's not . It's a pleasant attempt at a parable aimed at the modern attention span . Sure , it's familiar . Very little is truly original . Watch the detail in the background or try and catch the in-jokes . Boundin ' was nominated for an Oscar . I think the nomination was deserved . It's on the release of the film The Incredibles , so check it out . Recommended . |
578,791 | 583,640 | 203,659 | 8 | The best things about this short are the music and the script | This short , produced by the NFBC , uses a style of stop-motion that , at least to my eye , is distracting and not entirely effective . But the music is spendid and the basic concept and script are engaging enough to overcome some very definite visual drawbacks . Makes some pithy and cogent remarks on humanity's character and values ( or lack thereof ) , but could have been better , for me at least , had the animation been less irksome . Well worth seeing . |
579,391 | 583,640 | 37,980 | 8 | A nice " little " film about real characters and their growth as people | This film isn't a classic movie for the ages . It's probably not gong to be considered in any discussions of the " best " of all time . What it is , is a nice , charming delightful film about two people who have their nice routine lives changed by a little event-WWII ! Over time , they change , they grow as people often do . The main question is , will their marriage grow and change , or will it flop around and expire like a fish out of water . The fact is , you come to truly care about them over the course of the film , in no small part because Robert Donat and Deborah Kerr deliver good peformances in what is a character-driven film . Well worth watching . |
579,924 | 583,640 | 55,298 | 8 | An Oscar nominee , it has a few moments | This cartoon actually has more energy before its ' main premise begins . The idea of playing " The Mexican Hat Dance " on a flute to mezmerize mice is marginally funny , but the chemistry really isn't there with Sylvester and Speedy like it is with Sylvester and Tweety and the chase scenes aren't really that novel . It has enough moments in it that are enjoyable enough to make it worth watching ( even good enough to recommend , if you like Speedy ) , but the cartoon isn't that special in it's own right . It's not too easy to find , but it has been on VHS in the past . Recommended , particularly if you like Speedy . |
579,759 | 583,640 | 29,595 | 8 | Excellent use of caricatures in a " magazines come to life " short | A gimmick that Warner Brothers animators used quite often was the idea that characters / images come to life after business hours off of magazine covers , books or even grocery store labels and boxes . Quite often , they used caricatures of celebrities who would have been well-known to audiences in those days and they did so here , though not every character in this one is a caricature . I can't swear to it , but I suspect that all of the magazine titles featured in this one actually existed . I recognized most of them as having been magazines available on newsstands and elsewhere . The rest of my comments may contain spoilers , so you have been warned : The plot is pretty basic and predictable . What makes this cartoon interesting is the juxtaposition of titles to make up gags , like a crook coming out of " The Gang " and passing " Popular Mechanics " to grab a torch and having " Wall Street " close by , with a safe on the cover to crack . Charlie Chan captures him , he's tried by the " Judge " and sentenced to " Life " , but manages to sneak over to " Liberty " in order to make his escape . Things like that come together frequently . A lot of the standard caricatures are here ( including Ned Sparks-it must have been a requirement to have Ned Sparks appear somewhere in one of these , as he's in most of the ones I've seen ) and you'll be treated to the likes of Leopold Stowkowski , Greta Garbo , Clark Gable , Hugh Herbert and others . William Powell is here as Nick Charles from " The Thin Man " , along with his dog Asta . Everyone from the Boy Scouts to Santa Claus joins in on the chase when the villain escapes . How he is caught is hilarious and I won't spoil that gag . There's a cute ending involving Hugh Herbert as well . This short is on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection , Vol . 3 and is well worth getting . The Collections themselves are extremely well done and worth every penny . Recommended . |
579,100 | 583,640 | 148,655 | 8 | Early Flip the Frog-excellent cartoon ! | This is one of the first half-dozen or so shorts from Iwerks and is exceptional . Flip is actually interesting and has a personality-what happened later on ? There's a discernable plot-not Shakespeare , but decent enough . The music ( not all Ragtime , but why quibble ? It's good ) is a primary component , the characters are well-executed and it's just an all-around success . If Iwerks had produced more shorts like this , the character ( and the studio ) would have been more successful . Great cartoon , good to see it in print , available on DVD . Well worth watching . Most recommended . |
579,847 | 583,640 | 34,051 | 8 | Porky the trainer and the jockey in this one | This short is similar to Porky and Teabiscuit in some respects and wildly different in others . As I will be discussing details here , consider this a spoiler warning : In this short , as in Porky and Teabiscuit , the action takes place at a racetrack and both feature very unlikely horses in a race . Porky is the jockey in both shorts . Otherwise , except for a few other relatively minor points , they are quite different . For one thing , Porky is a child in Teabiscuit and an adult here . For another , Porky is definitely second fiddle here to the horse . My favorite bit in here is when Porky is singing different lyrics set to the tune to " We're In the Money " . The lyrics are actually quite good . The race itself is very well animated , with some very nice detail work . At one point , the speed lines for Porky's horse coalesce themselves into the outline of a locomotive ! Much of the short is taken up with sight gags arising from the horse trying to convince Porky that he really can be a good steeplechaser ! Things generally go comically awry with the horse's attempts to impress Porky . All in all , some really nice gags make this an enjoyable short . Porky and Teabiscuit has been released on a Looney Tunes Golden Collection ( Volume 3 , if I remember correctly ) and hopefully this one will make one in the future . Worth finding . Recommended . |
579,404 | 583,640 | 25,267 | 8 | Cute short with more than a few gags with a " nudge , nudge , wink wink " subtext to them | This is a cute , though somewhat limited , cartoon which is one of the earliest ( if I recall correctly , the very first ) Warner Brothers cartoons done in color . Because I want to discuss some of the details , this is a spoiler warning : The short begins with three billboard painters painting the lyrics ( with one straight , quick brush-stroke putting the lyrics down in readable form ) to the song they're singing , which is all about Bugville . It's a nice little lead-in to the main plot line , which is about two bugs who fall in love , get married and go to the Honeymoon Hotel ( watch for a funny gag involving their car as they enter the Hotel ) . They go to the front desk , where they sign in by using a rubber stamp indicating that they are " Mr . and Mrs Smith " , the first of a number of arch jokes directed more toward the adults in the audience than the children . Along the way , we see a house detective with a fondness for looking into keyholes , with very unfortunate results ( from his point of view , at any rate ) , a household staff with a significant interest in the goings on in their room and an inquisitive ( if bashful ) moon . As the happy couple begins to celebrate , the heat in the room causes the thermometer to explode and sets the hotel ablaze . Some nice sight gags involving the Bugville Fire Department and the rescue efforts at the hotel are next , with our couple trapped in their room by some quite lively flames-so they jump in their Murphy bed and it folds back into the wall . Later , after the hotel has been leveled and the fire is out , they emerge , the husband puts a " Do Not Disturb " sign on the door and they go back into the wall again and we see the closing sight gag on the exposed underside of the bed , which I won't spoil here . Cute short , well worth watching , if you can find it out there . Recommended . |
579,696 | 583,640 | 34,098 | 8 | Visually nice , this looks like a kinder , gentler variation of Tulips Shall Grow | This George Pal Puppetoon is somewhat similar to Tulips Shall Grow , albeit a good deal more whimsical in tone than the later short was . Some of the figures used in Rhythm look like figures Pal used a couple of years later in Tulips without much modification . The next paragraph contains mild spoilers . This short is visually quite nice and has a playful feel much of the time . Boy meets girl , boy fouls up , boy loses girl , boy gets punishment detail , a war starts and boy saves the day , boy gets girl . The ending on this is a bit unusual . This short was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short and is well worth seeing . Recommended . |
578,834 | 583,640 | 42,836 | 8 | Nothing really new about this one , but it's a Tex Avery ! | The basic themes and elements are nothing new-it's basically The Shoemaker and the Elves revisited . But Tex Avery had a tendancy to take the conventional and stretch and twist it into something quite odd indeed ! This is not your grandfather's fairy tale ! Chuck Jones once quoted Rafael Sabbatini to describe Tex Avery and I'll close with that here : He was born with the gift of laughter and a belief that the world was mad . That , my friends , I submit , is a description of genius and fits Tex Avery quite well . Well worth watching . Most recommended . |
579,190 | 583,640 | 62,122 | 8 | This is just one short bit after another-just a series of quick blackouts | This is a very difficult short to describe , because there isn't a plot here and there isn't a story-line as such . It's just a bunch of short comedic sequences ( the term generally used to describe them is " blackouts " , which is where they got the title for the short ) which in most cases share only one unifying factor , namely the Pink Panther . There is a running gag with a handful of the shorts centered on the Pink Panther and a lawnmower . It's a very funny cartoon which benefits from the fact that the main character rarely speaks . The gags are often obvious , but they still work , for the most part , because the timing on the short is very good . This short is available on the Pink Panther Cartoon Collection recently released in a five disc DVD box set and is well worth seeing . The set itself has a very nice design to it and the shorts themselves generally look very nice . Recommended . |
579,111 | 583,640 | 29,620 | 8 | Atypically sweet and cutesy Tex Avery | This short is a somewhat cute and cuddly early Tex Avery short . Not typical of his later work , although there are flashes of his standard sight gags here and there . Good cartoon , if not a " normal " ( in other words , antic and screwy ) Avery effort . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,650 | 583,640 | 253,467 | 8 | History through the eyes of the Hubleys | This short was done in 1976 , the year of the Bicentennial and is a trip through history , with something of a focus on America and its history . Done in the animation style the Hubleys used for much of their later work , it's quite good and all too overlooked . It deserves much more attention than it seems to get . Worth looking for and it was part of The Cosmic Eye . Recommended . |
579,066 | 583,640 | 148,638 | 8 | Charming ( and more than a touch odd ) little short produced by Columbia | This rather unusual little cartoon featured two rather strange men and , from what I gather , there were hopes that the short would be successful enough to turn into a regular series , but I don't think that happened . Because I will be discussing some details , this is your spoiler warning : The two lead characters are Professor Small and Mr . Tall , a Mutt and Jeff team , with Small being the tall one and Tall being the small one ( there's a notable confusion based on this quirky situation about midway through the short ) . Professor Small is a scholarly skeptic and Mr . Tall is an affable , more easygoing sort . They work on a train . Tall finds a horseshoe , which he proclaims to be good luck . Small contemptuously tosses it to one side , thereby breaking a mirror and starting a run of bad luck . First , they wreck the train and wind up underwater ( watch out for a cute bit with a fish and a banana ) . Then they find themselves on a handcar , when they roll into a ghost town ( complete with a ghost who sounds a lot like Ed Wynn ) . After their run-in with him , they wind up in the desert . Throughout their " adventures " , Tall keeps trying to glue the mirror back together , with Small ridiculing his efforts . In the desert , after a well turns out to be a mirage , Small finally puts the mirror back together and their luck changes-a cloud forms overhead and deluges them with water ( and money ) and they're picked up by a limo with two girls in the back . As they ride off , Tall mentions the mirror and Small grabs it and tosses out of the car , shattering it ( again ) . Everything , of course , vanishes . The closing shot has both men working to put the mirror back together , with Small still holding forth on how silly superstition is-as he glues pieces together ! Enjoyable short , well worth seeing . Recommended . |
579,422 | 583,640 | 37,912 | 8 | Surprisingly good sort for a rather bland series | At the risk of sounding heretical , I've always found the character of Mighty Mouse rather bland and , wel , boring . This short is actually rather creative and one of the better entries in the series . It was nominated for an Academy Award and has fairly good music and the production values may just be a hair better than typical Paul Terry standards . Check it out if you can find it anywhere . Worth watching . |
579,708 | 583,640 | 150,530 | 8 | Very cute cartoon by Ernest Pintoff | This short was done by Ernest Pintoff for Terrytoons studios and is an example of how good the medium can be even on the cheap , which is the only way Paul Terry did anything-as cheaply as possible . Pintoff did excellent work with animation early in his career and Flebus is one of his best . The main character is a terminally nice guy who likes everyone and it's hilarious ! Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,537 | 583,640 | 148,633 | 8 | Proof that anything can happen in a cartoon | This is an entertaining short which openly acknowledges that it's a cartoon . There will be spoilers : In the very beginning , Jeckle points out to Heckle that , as they are cartoon characters , they can basically do anything they care to , with just a bit of thought . He then proves it , by changing into a dog and then changing back into himself . He then becomes a " one magpie band " , rapidly moving from one instrument to another . This being a Heckle and Jeckle short , they need an adversary and thus find one-the bulldog who is often their opponent . Here , he's a cop , which he frequently plays . The bulk of the short is basically sight gags , consisting principally of Heckle and Jeckle harassing and irritating the bulldog , with seeming impunity-until he has " some brains knocked into my head " , as he puts it , by a hammer materializing in thin air . He then turns the tables on the two magpies , because ( after all ) he is also a cartoon character and anything can happen in a cartoon . Enjoyable short , well worth the effort to find . Recommended . |
578,841 | 583,640 | 20,784 | 8 | The music is excellent and the animation isn't bad either | This short is an early Warner Brothers that features a character named Bosko , who is in ill favor in certain politically correct quarters . My take on it all is that the few shorts I've seen in the series vary greatly in quality , some being very good and others not terribly interesting . This is one of the better ones I've seen . Warner Brothers almost always had excellent music throughout their run , up to the 1950s and this short has excellent music , if a limited plot . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,406 | 583,640 | 25,184 | 8 | Disney does a Cliff's Notes version of a story from Greek mythology . | It should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Disney to any degree that this short took some ( in this case , understandable and legitimate ) liberties with the original source material . Based on the story of how Persephone came to become the wife of Hades , god of the Underworld , this is a truncated version , leaving out any reference to Demeter , Persephone's mother ( and sister to Hades ) and leaving out the detail of why Persephone must return to the Underworld and stay for a specific duration . It's a fascinating story , but the changes made were reasonable ones and the short itself is quite good . Because I want to discuss the short in a bit of detail , this is a spoiler warning : As the short opens , it is made abundantly clear that the " Goddess of Spring " is well nigh universally loved and adored by all creatures , great and small . The opening sequence shows a lush , verdant paradise over which she reigns with tenderness and warmth , which is returned many times over . Then the ruler of the Underworld appears and basically kidnaps her , taking her below to make her his wife . He seems absolutely certain that the idea of marrying him and of becoming his queen is so clearly a desirable thing that her disinterest and continued sadness first confuse and then disturb him . She continues to plead with him to allow her to return to her world above , because she fears that , if she never goes back , both she and every creature are doomed to die . He reluctantly agrees-on the condition that she spend part of each year in the Underworld , as his queen . There are three predominant visual contrasts-the eternal spring before her kidnapping and at the end , when she returns to the surface , the visual depiction of the Underworld and the depiction of the winter cast over the world by her departure to the Underworld . While all three are quite good , the contrast between spring and winter makes those sequences a bit more impressive . The colors used in the Underworld were a bit too bright at times and I think a bit more use of shadow and darkness would have made for a sharper juxtaposition of the two radically different realms . This short is available on the DVD set , More Silly Symphonies , part of the Disney Treasures series and both this short and the DVD set are highly recommended . |
579,999 | 583,640 | 27,381 | 8 | Early Porky Pig , mainly battle-related sight gags | An early Porky war cartoon , with Porky as a doughboy in World War I . This one also has Beans , an early character who was in a few shorts , but didn't pan out as well as they probably wanted him to at Termite Terrace . Decent cartoon , moves fairly fast with very good animation . Worth looking for . Recommended . |
579,105 | 583,640 | 22,949 | 8 | This is one of the more successful Flip the Frog shorts . | Usually , the Flip cartoons have the aerodynamics of a rock-they don't fly well because Flip is a cipher . Here , it isn't necessary for our young stalwart to have much charm or personality , because he's a football player ( American style football , that is ) and the plot is basic-he's playing a football game . Technically exceptional , as the Iwerks shorts generally were , this one is actually entertaining . Sure , a lot of the gags are familiar . But this cartoon predates most of the other shorts with similar themes from other studios . Enjoyable , if not as good as Football Toucher Downer ( Fleischer ) , How To Play Football ( Disney ) or the Warner Brothers entries . Good short nonetheless . Well worth watching and good to see in print on DVD . Recommended . |
578,996 | 583,640 | 44,844 | 8 | This proves that sometimes it's better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission | This is a very good short directed by the forgotten director , Dick Lundy . Most people remember Hanna and Barbera and Tex Avery . But very few remember Lundy , who chiefly directed Barney Bear cartoons in the early 1950s . Lundy wasn't the greatest director MGM had , but he did some very good work . In this cartoon , the focus is on an extremely annoying little duck . Visions of an orange glaze come to mind whenever I see this cartoon . I don't generally go for hunting as a rule , but I'd make an exception here . I'd shoot first and worry about breaking rules and paying fines later ! Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,451 | 583,640 | 58,223 | 8 | Good , but derivative , later cartoon | This short shows Daffy in all of his obnoxious glory . While entertaining enough , the gags are old-hat and much of what happens is predictable and almost telegraphed . By no means a bad cartoon , but not terribly exciting either . Worth watching , it shows fairly often on Cartoon Network . Recommended . |
578,940 | 583,640 | 34,247 | 8 | Fleischer Studios did a decent job on a series of Superman shorts | This is the first of a series of Superman shorts done by the Fleischer Studios and the only one of the series nominated for an Oscar . The animation style is different and recognizable as Fleischer work and the cartoons hold up reasonably well , but there's nothing terrifically remarkable or special about this particular cartoon . Worth watching . |
579,616 | 583,640 | 48,649 | 8 | Speedy's Oscar-and how it won I'll never know ! | This cartoon won the Oscar in the same year that " Legend of Rockabye Point " and " Good Will To Men " were eligible , which atonises me no end ! While it's a good cartoon , either of those two run rings around this enjoyable , but unexceptional piece of work . I have no idea why it happened , but it is one of the more surprising flubs in the Animated Short category's history . sigh Oh , well . A pleasing and enjoyable cartoon anyway and well worth watching . |
579,722 | 583,640 | 109,873 | 8 | Mostly animated strips from Larson's " The Far Side " . | The cartoon is a series of strips that have been animated or in one or two cases , individual strips have been expanded from the original single panel and extended somewhat to draw out the gag . Anyone who read " The Far Side " pretty much knows what to expect . All of Larson's basic standards-cows . bears , et cetera-are here in all their glory . If you like Larson , you'll like this . |
579,583 | 583,640 | 89,015 | 8 | A tender , thought-provoking romance in an okay movie | This movie could have been a lot better , but it could also have been worse . With a fine performance by Helen Shaver , a good one by Patricia Charbonneau and gorgeous locations but with a weak script and a way over the top performance by Audra Lindley that detract from the movie overall . It's a tender and affectionate look at falling in love when you'd never expect to . Worth watching for the two leads . |
579,594 | 583,640 | 46,778 | 8 | Tex Avery's wolf character complete with echo effect | This is a very good Tex Avery short that features his down-home wolf with Southern accent with an echo all his own as he tries mightily to handle an EXTREMELY ravenous sheep named Billy . As funny as the sight gags are , the dialogue ( rather , monologue , by the wolf ) is hilarious . Well worth tracking down . An unheralded and underrated short . Most Recommended . |
579,330 | 583,640 | 48,733 | 8 | Fun for everyone except Nibbles . | This is one of a series of shorts where Tom and Nibbles are " the king's Mouseketeers " with Tom as their main foil ( sorry ) . While this is not the best of them , I personally love this one , because I have a soft spot in my heart for Nibbles ( the little mouse who gets all the hazardous duty here and none of the benefits ) in this one . The ending is quite appropriate here . I don't blame Nibbles one bit , either . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,103 | 583,640 | 148,543 | 8 | Flip watches over a baby-oh , the humanity ! | This is actually a fairly good short . Warning : I more or less have to discuss some parts of this in order to comment in a comprehendable manner , so consider this your spoiler warning . Flip is having a really bad day . Said bad day leads our hero to take on the job of watching a baby for a whole quarter ! Flip's misfortunes continue and the cartoon revolves around his attempts to retrieve his fee . He really needs that quarter badly , to judge by what he puts himself through to get it back . I don't think I'd go through what he does for a quarter ! Great sight gags abound and Flip actually has something of a personality in this one . He evokes sympathy at points here . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,279 | 583,640 | 36,119 | 8 | Sometimes , getting what you want isn't such a good thing ! | This has a lot of noteworthy points . First , it's a cartoon featuring Mammy Two-Shoes . Second , as a short made during World War II , there is a visual political joke in the early going . Third , and most significantly , the two stars speak , something generally avoided , for good reason , the characters are funnier and less complicated silent . There is a nice touch of enlightened self-interest , when Jerry helps Tom get back inside , because he finds life less exciting without the mayhem . The temporary truce / partnership ends when gluttony rears its porcine head . But that's okay-there has to be a rivalry , doesn't there ? That's the whole point to this one in the first place ! Very good short and worth watching . Recommended . |
579,880 | 583,640 | 29,444 | 8 | Two fights for the price of one ! | If you like to watch Popeye for the fights , you'll love this one ! You get to watch not only Bluto and Popeye mix it up , but two dogs get into the act as well . Bluto's dog has his charming personality and social graces as well . Actually , the dog angle is what makes this cartoon work ( that and Jack Mercer , who made all the Popeyes he voiced better-he was great ! ) and the ending is quite good . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,655 | 583,640 | 60,346 | 8 | This is basically a public-service effort done by the NFBC or the Department of Health and Welfare | This short was nominated for an Academy Award , which is quite a feat , considering that it was produced for the Department of Health and Welfare in Canada by the National Film Board of Canada . The NFBC has done a fair number of similar projects , which can be expected , as it is a government-funded entity . It's actually quite well-done and worth tracking down . The subject ? The health risks of smoking . Recommended . |
579,675 | 583,640 | 79,354 | 8 | Entertaining short about an unusual household | This short , a nominee for the Academy Award , was adapted from a story by Harry Allard , a children's author . Meant primarily for children , like all good animation , it can be viewed with enjoyment by adults as well . The title tells the basic story and this cute and charming short is well worth seeking out . Recommended . |
579,867 | 583,640 | 48,716 | 8 | Daffy at his insufferable best ! | This cartoon parodies the old Ralph Edwards show , " This Is Your Life . " and does quite well at that . Daffy outdoes himself this time . Granny engages in wish-fulfilment for a great many people in her methods of dealing with someone sitting next to you who does not understand the basic fact that you did not pay good money for your seat to listen to them talk ! Daffy gets what he deserves ( as usual ) and it couldn't happen to a nicer duck ! Worth your time . Reccomended . |
578,925 | 583,640 | 51,677 | 8 | Excellent visuals and magnificent camera work , but the narration almost put me to sleep | Disney deservedly won an Oscar for this mostly well-executed documentary . Visually breathtaking , the narration has a kind of monotone , almost flat-lined quality that would practically served as a cure for insomnia in most instances . This is an Achilles heel for a great number of Disney documentaries-narration . All too often , it either drones or is too cute by at least half . Still quite good here for the visuals . Recommended . Edit : I've been meaning to get back to this comment for some time now , for more than a couple of years now , because I watched it again back in 2003 or so , when watching the tape I recorded it on from a broadcast off the Disney Channel and realized ( to my embarrassment ) that I'd been mistaken in recalling it as having narration-it has only a musical score with no voice-over . I want to correct the mistake , but I choose to leave the original comment in place , as I made the mistake and it's been here for five years . Wiping it out would be self-serving . An explanation and addition is called for . I will say that I've seen this in widescreen on the Special Edition release of Sleeping Beauty and it's even more impressive in the proper ratio than it is in pan-and-scan . It isn't perfect , but it is one of Disney's better live-action short films and deserved to win its Oscar . It and Sleeping Beauty are well worth getting . Recommended . |
579,008 | 583,640 | 44,865 | 8 | Good cartoon based on the series of children's boks that have become popular again recently | This short from the UPA studio was nominated for an Oscar . Based on the Madeline series of childrens books that recently received a boost and have led to a feature-length live action movie as well as an animated series , UPA did this short back in the 1950s and it captures the books ' flavor very well . This short can be found on one of the Columbia Classics series of tapes released some years ago and is well worth watching . |
578,958 | 583,640 | 29,497 | 8 | Atypically serious Pete Smith short subject | This Pete Smith Specialty , nominated for an Academy Award , was not the standard Pete Smith effort . Serious in tone and subject matter , this tells the story of the discovery of the diagnostic and curative powers of radium . The more subdued , less humorous , narration is a departure for Smith and is not entirely successful , but it's still a fascinating work nonetheless . Worth seeking out . Turner Classic Movies runs this between movies periodically . The best chance to catch this is probably in March , as part of the " 31 Days of Oscar " festival . Recommended . |
579,673 | 583,640 | 201,671 | 8 | Cute , if whimsical , look at dinosaurs and evolution | This short is geared towards children , but is enjoyable for adults . From the National Film Board of Canada , this is not a great short , it is enjoyable and well worth a look . If you get an opportunity to see it , do so . Recommended . |
579,187 | 583,640 | 46,838 | 8 | My second-favorite Pepe , after Touche and Go . | This one , like all the best Pepe Le Pew cartoons , depends principally on verbal humor rather than sight gags for most of the laughs ( though the last gag is a sight gag that ends this one perfectly ) and some of the jokes are obvious , while a few are subtle word play , such as the " ze bonds of slavery " line , when Pepe " frees " Penelope , to her horror . Pepe , like a great many folks throughout time , deludes himself . His delusion , charmingly enough , is that he is " ze great lover " . That he continues his efforts in spite of his massive lack of success is either a tribute to perseverance or an indication of greater psychological trauma and detachment . I prefer the former theory . After all , to paraphrase Freud , " Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon . " Good to excellent jokes make this a must see . Recommended . |
579,888 | 583,640 | 22,588 | 8 | A Screen Song with wonderful animation and an absolutely dead live-action sing-along . | The Fleischer Studios did a series of cartoons called " Screen Songs " , which featured a combination of animation and a section where the lyrics of a song ( usually a song featured as the title of the short ) rolled up on the screen and paced by a " bouncing ball " . Though the song lyric sections were initially animated , for a while they mixed live footage of singers or groups in with the animation . This is one of those shorts . Because I want to discuss some of the details of this , this is a spoiler warning : This short starts and ends very well , with animated sequences and a great deal of jazzy scat singing being done by various animals , all to the musical strains of the song , " You're Driving Me Crazy " . There's a dancing lion which looks a bit like Betty Boop , monkeys and a whole host of other animals , including at least one Cab Calloway sound-alike . It's all great fun-until the live-action sequence starts . While there were some of these shorts where the live-action worked ( like the ones with Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway ) this is not very good at all . They went from a very fast and energetic pace in the animation to a slow ballade rendition of the song by a talented , if bland , female singer whom I didn't recognize . Thankfully , the sing-along portion is under two minutes . Then we get back to the high energy of the animation . I don't want to spoil any of the individual gags , so I'll just say that this is a fairly typical early Fleischer so far as the visuals are concerned , which means some really odd and funny things happen throughout . This short is well worth tracking down for the animated sequences . Recommended . |
579,116 | 583,640 | 49,295 | 8 | Some of the funniest lines of dialogue in any Pepe Le Pew | This short is of interest mainly for the dialogue . There aren't many sight gags and the biggest laughs come from Pepe's lines . I have to quote one or two : Did you know that when you are in love , it is almost impossible to get insurance ? But then , security isn't everything . Very funny short . Not the best of the series , which is Touche and Go , at least so far as I'm concerned , but very good and runs fairly often on Cartoon Network . Recommended . |
579,324 | 583,640 | 29,400 | 8 | Full of sight gags as well as renditions of " La Cucaracha " | This early Porky as done by Tex Avery is early Avery form-sight gags that play with the conventions of the animated short . Porky as bullfighter . Listen for the singing of " La Cucaracha " , as Mel Blanc does the vocals on it at one point . It's a wonderful song anyway , particularly if you understand Spanish . Well worth seeking out . Recommended . |
579,743 | 583,640 | 49,314 | 8 | A musical remake of The Philadelphia Story with Bing Crosby , Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong ! | This is a musical remake of the film , The Philadelphia Story . It's worth watching for the music alone ! The basic plot and even significant amounts of dialogue from the earlier film are incorporated here , but the music is the highlight here ! Particularly the duet between Sinatra and Crosby on " What a Swell Party This Is " and the song " Now You Has Jazz " by Crosby and the subsequent duet he has with Armstrong . Great fun was had by all ! Well worth watching , especially if you love jazz ! |
579,270 | 583,640 | 42,497 | 8 | Very visual and quite funny Avery short . | This is an intensely visual and quite hilarious cartoon directed by Tex Avery starring a silent Spike waging war on a marauding gopher laying waste to a vegetable garden . Spike , of course , doesn't stand a chance in this fight . Typical Tex Avery sight gag rapid-fire delivery that works marvelously well . Well worth seeking out . Most recommended . |
579,597 | 583,640 | 40,415 | 8 | Funny , but an odd cartoon , even for a Tex Avery | This short is quite funny , but it's an odd one , even for Avery . Part of a series of shorts featuring two characters called George and Junior , most of this centers around the activity of a very small pygmy , somewhat reminiscent of Inki from the Warner Brothers shorts . Unlikely to be in general release due to caricatures , it is worth hunting down nonetheless . Recommended . |
579,531 | 583,640 | 148,929 | 8 | My sympathies are largely with the bear here | I intend to discuss details from this particular short , so let this be your spoiler warning : This is a relatively early Heckle and Jeckle short with a fairly straightforward premise-Heckle and Jeckle wind up blowing out a tire on the car they are in and go up to a bear's cave to try and find a place to stay for the night . There is a large sign requesting quiet because someone is trying to sleep . Naturally , this sign is ignored and they start knocking loudly , waking the bear . Even after the door is opened , they continue knocking on the bear himself . He refuses to let them in and slams the door on them . They spy through a window and see a full refrigerator , so they pretend to be Mounties in pursuit of " Killer " to gain entry . The bear figures it out and the chase is on . The remainder of the short is one sight gag after another . The short ultimately ends up badly for Heckle and Jeckle , as quite frequently happens when their adversary is a sympathetic one . Most entertaining cartoon with some humorous bits . Well worth tracking down . Recommended . |
579,300 | 583,640 | 33,909 | 8 | Popeye the Sailor enlists ! | This is the first Popeye to show him in navy whites as Popeye enlists in the navy and discovers that there are four ways to do things : the right way , the wrong way , my way and the Navy way , with the Navy way being the way the Navy wants things done , naturally . Popeye has trouble with this at first , but gradually comes to loathe it in time ! Great fun and well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,218 | 583,640 | 33,908 | 8 | Early form of the Tom and Jerry characters . | The characters went through several different design changes from the early 1940s through to the 1960s , most often as a result of different directors . The most dramatic changes were made between the original design in the first cartoons and the characters ' form that most would instantly think of as Tom and Jerry . This short is one of the earliest ones and things were still in flux . This also has an appearance by Mammy Two Shoes and has Tom and Jerry going at it furiously , each trying to come out ahead , though Jerry is probably also trying to get some peace and some breathing room as well . Good fun and amusement all around . Well worth looking for . Recommended . |
579,832 | 583,640 | 109,759 | 8 | Very intricate , somewhat confusing plot that's well worth the time and effort | A very good movie that brings a number of people together around an atypical focal point-a strip club . The story takes some rather odd and occasionally bizarre twists and frankly , at times I was completely confused . But everything comes together and makes sense and the film is well worth watching . |
579,294 | 583,640 | 31,343 | 8 | Early Tex Avery finger exercise | I admit I'm biased in Tex Avery's favor and never saw an Avery cartoon I didn't like . In this one , Avery was still finding his style . There are a few more coughs and sputters here than is typical of Avery , but even with that said , his average work is as good as or better than some directors ' best work . Even Rembrandt had his off days . So did Shakespeare , I like this cartoon myself , but others may not . Worth watching . Recommended for Avery fans , certainly . |
578,869 | 583,640 | 46,930 | 8 | Droopy as sheepherder | This is a hilarious take on the range wars between cattle ranchers and sheepherders , although I suspect Droopy's sheep have been cross-bred with piranha ! The scene where the wolf finds out about the sheep is priceless . " Fetch me my Winchester , Sam-I'm a-ridin ' fer Red Rock ! " Tex Avery near the top of his game . Good to see that it's in-print . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
578,852 | 583,640 | 44,797 | 8 | One of these days , I'm gonna have to get me a mouse-trap ! | This is a cartoon about an incredibly lazy cat who puts far more effort into avoiding work than he'd likely put into doing the work in the first place ! I'm going to discuss specifics , so consider this a spoiler warning : The short opens with a shot of a large , disinterested cat gorging itself on sardines while mice generally do as they please , one even taking a sardine and contemptuously snapping his fingers at the cat , whose name is Dodsworth . Dodsworth has tried the patience of his owner to the point that she tells him that if he doesn't get rid of the mice , she'll get rid of him and find a cat that will . Dreading the idea of stooping to physical labor , Dodsworth hits on the idea of advertising for a pupil to whom he can teach the fine art of catching mice . The first ( and only ) interested party is a little kitten . Dodsworth , in his best imitation of a used-car salesman , launches into a spiel about experience , ties a fishing line around him and casts his " sucker-er , pupil " into the kitchen like a bass fisherman casting into a lake . The kitten chases a mouse around furniture and finally catches him using a piece of cheese as bait . When Doddsy sees he only caught one mouse , he scolds him and launches him back into the kitchen . The kitten hits on the idea of filling a large hunk of cheese with metal bearings and leaving it in the open , where the mice eat it and scurry away . The kitten tugs on the line again and is retrieved by Dodsworth , who starts scolding-until the kitten pulls out a magnet and hauls in the mother-lode of mice , filling the cage . Hearing his mistress calling , he hastily gives the kitten his " diploma " ( from " good old Acme ) and hustles him out the door . Dodsworth takes credit for the capture of the mice and the kitten overhears him . The kitten then goes back in the house to revive and release the mice , who raise havoc , tie up Dodsworth and terrify the lady of the house , when in comes the little kitten to save the day , routing the mice . Only the kitten has learned too much from Dodsworth and by the short's end he's behaving much like Dodsworth did . This short is available on Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 and it and the Collection are well worth having . Recommended . |
579,670 | 583,640 | 20,705 | 8 | Good use of music in what is a largely routine short | This is a typical Bosko short : put him in a situation , some means of playing music , introduce a predicament or three for him to largely ignore blithely , usually singing as he does so and fill with sight gags . Here , Bosko has a partner in song , a pig rather than Honey . The use of music is the best thing here in an otherwise average cartoon . Worth watching . Recommended for fans of Harman and Ising and the old black and white cartoons . |
579,979 | 583,640 | 302,584 | 8 | Cute enough , with some charming points , but it's been done better elsewhere | This short is about the trials and tribulations of a star-crossed couple , one of whom is ( you guessed it ) a frozen logger . This is a good little cartoon , but it isn't a terribly novel idea and variations on theme have been done earlier and / or better by other studios before and since . Entertaining enough and mostly it works well , but Rembrandt Films did much better work . This is on the compilation , Rembrandt's Greatest Hits , which is still available . The compilation is marvelous and this is most enjoyable , if not earthshaking . Worth watching even if it could have been better . Recommended . |
579,143 | 583,640 | 58,036 | 8 | Bugs Meets Taz , Take Four | This is the fourth and last Bugs versus Taz done in the 1960s and is almost as good as the first one was . Although most of the gags are visual ( including the closing one , a very good one indeed ) , there are verbal jokes as well and the dialogue is good . They made relatively few of these , I suspect because Taz's motivation was limited and therefore there wasn't anything they could do here that wasn't being done ( to better effect ) with the Wile E . Coyote and the Road-Runner series of cartoons . This one's very good and the ending is very funny ( unless you're Bugs Bunny ) . Recomended . |
578,911 | 583,640 | 27,453 | 8 | Actually , for the Fleischers , this is a comparatively " normal " cartoon . | The Cobweb Hotel is a cute , somewhat dated , cartoon with some very good moments . Strange thing is , I keep reading and hearing comments from other people that range from " scary " to " weird and strange " , which tells me people haven't seen a whole lot of the output of Fleischer Studios ! Though the Fleischers did do some more sedate work than this one , compared to some of the earlier shorts , this one is downright " normal " ( whatever that is , anyway ) . Part of the Color Classics series ( where Max Fleischer tries to out-Walt Disney , instead of being Max hisownself ) , this is on the DVD release Somewhere In Dreamland , which is an excellent purchase . Try and chase down a copy , if you can . Well worth the effort . Recommended . |
578,939 | 583,640 | 33,824 | 8 | Good-not great-Disney Oscar-winning short | This Oscar winner is a rather sweet , gentle , charming cartoon that , from another studio , probably would not have won the Oscar . While it's a good cartoon , it certainly isn't my choice ( of those I've seen , I prefer Rhapsody in Rivets myself ) . This is the best one that prominently features Pluto and it cetainly does not make you scratch your head and wonder what they were thinking . A good , but by no means great , cartoon . Like most of the shorts ( with some lamentable exceptions ) , this shows periodically on The Ink and Paint Club . Recommended . |
579,253 | 583,640 | 46,968 | 8 | Another of Avery's looney looks at the " future " , this time farming | This cartoon is a fairly funny look at the " future " of farming-a future that most farmers are probably grateful hasn't come in a great many respects ! Typical of Avery , sight gags galore are fired at the viewer non-stop , with more puns than normal and more lunacy than usual . Good Avery , though not great Avery , even for the series of shorts this fits in with . Worth watching . |
579,246 | 583,640 | 55,721 | 8 | Another day , another dollar . | This short is mostly sight gags . Poor Ralph ! The things a wolf has to go through to earn a living and possibly to get a square meal on occasion . This one most obviously and conspicuously indicates the basic premise-that both wolf and sheepdog are just a job , you do your shift and go home . It's a living , I guess . Quite funny and well worth watching . Recommended . |
578,853 | 583,640 | 40,299 | 8 | The Saga of Louie and Heathcliff , a poor man's George and Lenny | There are quite a few shorts which have been made that were modeled on the characters of George and Lenny from Of Mice and Men and this cartoon is along those lines-with a modification in the standard riff played in such cartoons . As I want to talk specifically about parts of this short , this is a spoiler warning : Heathcliff is possibly the most moronic character to show up in cartoons-and that's saying something . Heathcliff has to be told to BREATHE at one point by his " friend " , a parrot by the name of Louie . Heathcliff is a very large cat . Why Heathcliff doesn't introduce Louie to his digestive system can only be blamed on the fact that he clearly has only one active brain cell . The start of the cartoon has Heathcliff rushing in to have Louie solve various problems , much to the exasperation of Louie . Then Louie reads to Heathcliff " what is on this pretty paper " Heathcliff brings to his attention-it's a will leaving a million dollars to Heathcliff , with an addendum which gives the money to Louie if something happens to Heathcliff . Greed jumps on Louie's head and he decides to make something happen . Louie isn't exactly a Rhodes scholar himself , because all he has to do is just stop helping Heathcliff and the cat will give up the ghost inside of two hours , tops . There are a bunch of hilarious sight gags involving Heathcliff and eating ( and cracking ) nuts . Louie's attempts on Heathcliff's life are as funny as they are unsuccessful . He tries to electrocute him by having him play a game of " Radio " , tries to bribe a bulldog into taking Heathcliff out and so on , with zero success . Finally , he tells Heathcliff it's his birthday and gives him a cake with three candles and a stick of dynamite . Heathcliff decides he's only three years old and gives Louie the stick of dynamite . There follows a lengthy tug of war between the two regarding his age until Heathcliff finds his birth certificate and it says he's four . The ending is hilarious and I won't spoil it here . This short is available on Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 and is well worth seeing . Recommended . |
579,292 | 583,640 | 46,983 | 8 | Tex Avery-flea wrangler ! | This is a typical Tex Avery-start with a premise and turn it on its ear , firing sight gag after sight gag until the premise surrenders unconditionally . Here , the owner of a flea circus loses his livlihood when a dog comes backstage ( in violation of a sign that says , " NO DOGS ! " ) and the fleas ( and dog ) have appropriate reactions to this fortuitous circumstance . So , as has been stated by another , " Fleas run away from the circus to join a dog . " Tex Avery was the greatest friend acting fleas in Hollywood had , doing at least three cartoons featuring fleas prominently while with MGM-What Price Fleadom , Dixieland Droopy and this one . Given that Avery once voiced a spider in a short at Warner Brothers , perhaps his affinity for insects is understandable . Funny cartoon with lots of good sight gags . Vive la France ! Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,138 | 583,640 | 51,339 | 8 | One in a series of shorts designed to show what other peoples and cultures are like . | This short ( winner of Documentary Short at the Academy awards for 1958 ) focused on a Japanese village and a fishing method used as a livlihood in Japan . Disney had a series of shorts focusing in on other places and cultures and this is one of the better ones . Most of them were less than thirty minutes long and were cinematically beautiful to watch . They run very sporadically , when they run at all , on the Disney Channel's Vault Disney . sigh Disney is sitting on a treasure trove ! Recommended . |
579,288 | 583,640 | 57,925 | 8 | Tom is clearly a cat of parts ! | As is clear to those who follow the exploits of Tom and Jerry , they are both quite artistically gifted . Tom himself has played piano and bass and here sings opera . While I personally prefer his rendition of " Is You Is , Or Is You Ain't , My Baby ? " ( in Solid Serenade whilst playing the afore-mentioned bass ) , I freely admit that Tom is in fine voice here ( that of Terrance Monck , to be precise ) but Jerry still steals the cartoon . There is a sequence featuring a lemon in two sight gags that is absolutely priceless ! Even those who aren't especially fond of opera will enjoy this take on the artform . Not " What's Opera , Doc ? " , but good enough in its own right . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,798 | 583,640 | 22,672 | 8 | Betty Boop sells patent medicine from a wagon-this is a odd one ! | There is a marked difference in the cartoons starring Betty Boop before and after the censorship code and the arrival of the Hays Office . The obvious changes aside , like her hemline , the manic , zany quality seems to fade away in later shorts . That quality is what makes cartoons like this one special . In print and available . Recommended . |
579,678 | 583,640 | 107,703 | 8 | Exceptionally strange little short from Aardmann | This is a very odd little duck ( even for Aardmann Studios ) and is very well executed . It reminds me a bit of Beetlejuice and of Tim Burton's short Vincent . It features a very single-minded and quite determined lady who will stop for no reason-even death-in her desire to remain proper in all things . Well worth seeing , it's on a compilation of shorts from Aardmann called Creature Comforts . Recommended . |
579,909 | 583,640 | 22,669 | 8 | Just plain bizarre ! | This is the strangest Betty Boop I have ever seen in my life ! Bit and pieces make a strange kind of sense here and there , but it has to be easily the oddest Betty Boop made . Hard to describe , as it must be seen if it's to make even marginal sense at all . The ending is obvious to me-at least I think it is . I can't be at all certain . If you like Betty , then you'll probably like this one . Worth watching . Recommended to fans of Betty Boop . |
579,904 | 583,640 | 22,670 | 8 | Good , but can't help but be compared to a much better earlier effort by Disney | This short is nothing terribly unusual for a Betty Boop from the early 1930s-not the best they did , but enjoyable . The main problem with this short is that it pales in the almost guaranteed comparisons to The Skeleton Dance , a Disney short that is one of the best animated shorts of all time . Interestingly enough , the best part of the cartoon is the beginning , when Koko is taking Betty to the museum . There are a few cute bits after that , but the sequences in the museum vary quite a bit in quality . Cute ending , though . Well worth watching . In print and available . Recommended . |
579,797 | 583,640 | 22,671 | 8 | Entertaining and good for a few laughs | This one is quite strange , but then again , the same can be said of most of the Betty Boops in the early 1930s . This one plays around with the idea that the Earth is for sale and does a gag about gravity or the lack thereof . While not the best one produced , this short has more than enough going for it to be of interest . Worth watching . Recommended . |
579,236 | 583,640 | 109,629 | 8 | This is sick , twisted and depraved-in other words , very funny ! | This short , brought to you by the man who developed Courage the Cowardly Dog , no less , is like what I would expect a collaboration between Tex Avery and R . Crumb to look like , if they were both doing copious amounts of caffinated beverages , that is ! It's even lewder than Avery and moves about as fast ( nobody does Avery as fast-or as funny-as the man himself , though countless animators have tried . This is perfect for Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted , but I got it on the generally tamer Festival of Animation , Vol 3 . It's an excellent tape , well worth getting . As for Dirdy Birdy , if you are easily offended , you may want to pass on this short , because your head might explode ! Recommended to anyone who likes Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted . Anyone else , it may be too much for you to handle ! |
579,449 | 583,640 | 35,861 | 8 | A bit dated now , but entertaining nonetheless | This short has a lot of topical humor , which is the case with most of the work produced anyway , but this is topical to World War II and to many people alive today , that seems like eons ago . References to Wendell Wilkie and " A " cards and the like will sail by many in the audience , but sight gags and the overall wackiness will be enjoyable enough . Check out the title of the book Bugs is reading at the start-it's a great gag ! Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,142 | 583,640 | 55,795 | 8 | The third time is most decidedly not the charm for Taz against Bugs | It's Close Encounters For the Third Time and , if anything , Taz comes off even worse this time . I guess his taste for rabbit is exceptionally pronounced . Anyhow , the jokes are more sight gag oriented than verbal here , although the close is very amusing . Taz is really all too limited a character in these cartoons to really be a good foil for The Rabbit . Good cartoon and worh watching but not the best . |
579,534 | 583,640 | 42,747 | 8 | Interesting and entertaining one-shot " Special " from Disney | This short was one of the cartoons made by Disney which wasn't part of a defined series-though there is a loose connection of sorts . There will be spoilers below : Morris is a small moose with regular-size antlers . He's largely ignored and those who do not ignore him laugh at him . He lacks the size necessary to make a favorable impression . Then he meets another moose ( Balsam ) with the opposite predicament-he has a full-size body but very small antlers . They decide to " put their heads together " ( literally ) in order to make an effort , jointly , to defeat the dominant moose of the herd , the rather large and intimidating Thunderclap . The decisive contest is actually fairly dull for the most part . It has a few good moments , but it could have been less predicable . But the character development is good and it's all rather charming . This short is on the Rarities volume of the Disney Treasures series of releases and is well worth seeing . Recommended . |
578,951 | 583,640 | 49,258 | 8 | Amusing sequel to the incredible Gerald McBoing-Boing | This short , nominated for an Academy Award , is a decent effort , quite amusing at times , but in comparison to the first short in the series , it suffers somewhat . Entertaining and quite creative in and of itself and well worth watching , but not a terribly special animated short by comparison to the other ground-breaking work that UPA turned out through the years . Recommended . |
579,848 | 583,640 | 33,962 | 8 | Good short which was re-vamped some years later as Back Alley Oproar | This short , done in black and white in the early 1940s , was later re-visited and another short ( Back Alley Oproar , done in color ) , which took the same basic idea and even some of the same gags , but embellished on the concept substantially , was the result . While Back Alley Oproar is the better of the two , Notes To You is also a very good short in its own right . I will be discussing some details , so consider this a spoiler warning : Porky Pig has gone to bed for the night when we see a cat climb up on a fence with a music stand and lots of sheet music . He uses a harmonica to get his " voice " in the correct pitch and then begins singing " Figaro " . Porky takes issue with the " caterwauling " , so to speak , and throws a vase at the cat and returns to bed . The cat then switches to popular tunes ( perhaps under the impression that Porky merely objected to an aria ) and Porky throws a book ( Fu Manchu ) at him . When the book comes back and hits Porky , it reads The Return of Fu Manchu . Porky and the cat go several rounds , with the cat generally getting the better of their exchanges . Porky finally shoots the cat , which sings a farewell , " Aloha Oe / Farewell To Thee " and Porky tries to go back to bed , only to be " serenaded " by nine ghosts , who are singing more opera , thus bookending " popular music " with opera . A number of the gags in this are repeated , some with minor variations , in the other short , though the other short has some exceptionally nice bits which were new material . Back Alley Oproar has Elmer Fudd in Porky's stead and Sylvester is the cat in place of the cat here . This is a very good short and I hope that it gets released on a Looney Tunes Golden Collection at some point . Most recommended . |
579,417 | 583,640 | 150,916 | 8 | A serious case of role reversal here . | This is one of perhaps a dozen or so of the post-Fleischer Brothers Popeyes that I like . Most of them are nothing special . I think the older cartoons were better animated and better written for the most part . But I like this one , because it's clever and funny . This time , Popeye has to fight off the most unwelcome advances of a woman bent on matrimony and Olive must come to his rescue ! Engaging and entertaining with a hilarious premise . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
578,947 | 583,640 | 33,952 | 8 | The cutest Tom and Jerry short | This short is reasonably good , has good background art and detail work and is a staple on The Cartoon Network around the holidays . It has to be the cutest Tom and Jerry that I've seen . It almost becomes a little too cute in spots , but just hits the right grace notes at the end . Tom and Jerry were still new as characters and were just beginning to develop as characters . Traces of what they would become are shown here and there . Not a great Tom and Jerry cartoon , but entertaining and a good Christmas cartoon . Recommended . |
579,561 | 583,640 | 452,139 | 8 | Interesting , if somewhat pat and predictable | This short is fairly good , if a tad obvious in spots and about a subtle as a baseball bat in revealing plot points . Even with the predictable nature of the short , the performances make it quite gripping . Because I want to discuss the short a bit , there are mild spoilers : This short starts with a man who is having " one of those days " - you know , the kind of day when you feel like you're the punchline of a really bad joke that everyone but you is laughing at all day . The biggest strangeness that happens to him is a little boy who comes up and says , " You need to take me to school , papa " , ( at least that's the gist of it-the subtitles have a hair-trigger and don't stay on the screen long and I don't follow German well ) . This surprises the man , because he doesn't have any kids . You guessed it , along with 75 % of those watching-the kid is his , he eventually helps the kid get to school and ruins the rest of his day . One thing that happens I found particularly amusing-he gets possibly the most insulting and humiliating job rejection in the history of humankind , without an interview , all delivered as the man he was scheduled to be interviewed by is meeting his mistress and speaking to his wife on the phone ! Though I'm not generally a vindictive type , I'd have gotten his address and phone number , followed him around with a camera , gotten photos and mailed them to his wife ! The basic plot points of the short stand out a mile and the ultimate ending is telegraphed early on . In a feature length film , this would be a bad thing much of the time . But in a short only 23 minutes long , figuring out the ending halfway through isn't as troublesome , as long as the other aspects are good enough . The performances keep this engaging . While I doubt I'll watch this too many times , it was worth seeing . This short is included on a DVD of the Academy Award nominated shorts for the year 2005 , which includes all of the live-action nominees and three of five animated nominees . The disc is highly recommended and this short is recommended . |
579,272 | 583,640 | 49,020 | 8 | A very atypical Tom and Jerry . | Not your everyday Tom and Jerry short for many reasons . One , there's a voiceover narration by Jerry , which is odd , because Tom and Jerry rarely speak . Two , the two are friends , which was also rare and seldom works as well as the more adversarial shorts do . Third , and most importantly , the cartoon is rarely humorous ( by design ) and the jokes here are dry chuckles with a little cough and a bubble of blood at the end . Think a Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by Tim Burton . Not wholly successful , but it largely does work . The creepiest ending for an MGM short that I can recall . Not for everyone and proof that these shorts were never intended solely with children as the target audience . Well worth watching . Recommended with the caveats above . |
579,618 | 583,640 | 57,812 | 8 | Excellent film that turns on a wonderful performance and great makeup | Unusually for a Geore Pal film , this movie does not have at its core the special effects , but rather a wonderful performance by Tony Randall ( or more accurately , performances ) and the makeup , which received the first Oscar ( a special one ) ever given for makeup . A good cast and script are also plusses . Read the original novella by Charles G . Finney if you can find it-it's well worth tracking down . Recommended . |
579,204 | 583,640 | 52,012 | 8 | Good , enjoyable , but not among the best Warner Brothers produced | This is a good , if average , short that is worth watching , but it's not going to have you rolling on the floor . Bugs has a few good lines , but the sight gags are predictable and the jokes are mostly retreads . You've seen it before and likely done better . Fun cartoon , but nothing special . False Hare is funnier . Worth seeing at least once , though . Recommended for die-hards and completists . |
579,843 | 583,640 | 63,613 | 8 | It looks as though the Pink Panther took kite flying lessons from Charlie Brown ! | This short is a very good Pink Panther cartoon . The series pretty much has a limited number of plots it used , with most of them having to do with the Pink Panther doing something ( or at least trying to ) and having it backfire , usually on his main foil , a character who was apparently loosely patterned after Friz Freleng himself . The only name I've heard used for him is " The Little White Guy " . In this one particularly , I feel sorry for the poor guy . As I intend to discuss specifics , please consider this a spoiler warning : The Pink Panther makes several attempts to fly various kites . To say that he isn't overly successful would be an understatement . Most of the misfortune , naturally , befalls the poor little guy who has done nothing to deserve what happens to him , at least not in this particular lifetime . The absolutely worst thing to happen to him is a sequence of events heartbreaking to behold-the Pink Panther , on one of the only occasions when he actually gets a kite significantly aloft , passes it over the grill where the poor guy is cooking in his yard , catching the tail of the kite on fire . Eventually , the flaming kite crashes earthward-right onto the roof of the guy's house . The look on his face as he watches his house burn down is priceless-you can read various emotions in the look on his face . In the end , the guy snaps and comes after the Pink Panther and another kite with a World War I biplane , looking for all the world like the Red Baron ( yes , the second " Peanuts " reference implied here is intentional ) . The final sequence is quite nice and the short itself is fairly funny . This short is available on the Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection and is well worth seeing . Recommended . |
579,298 | 583,640 | 31,093 | 8 | Takeoff on the " Ripley's Believe It or Not " | Tex Avery loved to do spoofs of things and this one was a spoof of Robert Ripley's column / program , " Believe It or Not " , where he detailed odd or unusual events , items and the like for his readers ' edification . This is Avery doing the same , but Avery's way . The running gag ( Avery almost always used one in his shorts ) consists of Egghead ( Elmer Fudd in the larval stage ) periodically showing up to scoff at various claims , saying , " I don't believe it ! " The ending is probably the best gag , the rest being either mildly amusing or falling a bit flat , with one or two not working in the slightest . Egghead basically makes this one worth watching . Decent idea , with some funny gags , but the parts are definitely greater than the sum . Average Avery , which means that it's equal to quite a few other directors ' better work , but a simple finger exercise for the maestro , Still worth watching . Recommended . |
579,183 | 583,640 | 116,999 | 8 | This family put the " dys " into " dysfunctional " . | This is really the little movie that could . It is a very good film that likely got made only because Robert DeNiro co-produced it and thus had the clout to raise financing . With a script at different turns funny and wrenching and an exceptional cast that by and large does a great job playing a family that occasionally makes the Addams family look mundane , particularly Diane Keaton and Leonardo DiCaprio . Am I the only one who's noticed that DiCaprio does his best performances in little films ( read : small-budget ) that make up for limitations by , wonder of wonders , good scripts and perhaps more challenging roles . He can act ; all too often he doesn't seem to want to from his selection of parts . Yes , I am talking about Titanic . Good movie , even if it isn't going to save the ozone layer or bring about world peace . It is an entertaining way to pass not quite two hours and it does have Hume Cronyn , whom I'd gladly have watched reading a newspaper and drinking coffee , he was so good . Well worth seeing . Recommended . |
579,322 | 583,640 | 29,154 | 8 | One of many takes on the old fairy tale , Little Red Riding Hood , done by Tex Avery and others | Tex Avery and other animators must have liked this fairy tale , because it was used frequently as the basis for a number of cartoons . Avery himself did more than one , this one and a couple he did at MGM , as well as using it as a brief gag elsewhere in other shorts . Fairy tales were commonly used by animators as the jumping-off point for cartoons . This one features Egghead in a running gag seen throughout the short . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,753 | 583,640 | 21,380 | 8 | The first official Looney Tunes release and a rather good ( if a bit odd ) short | This is the first official Looney Tunes short ( there was a demonstration short , called Bosko the Talk-ink Kid , that served as a pilot and got the ball rolling and is actually a more interesting short than this one is , in some respects ) and it has the first recurring character , Bosko . As characters go , Bosko is average-not the best , but not the worst either . The main problem with Bosko shorts is the sameness of them . They have some very amusing and occasionally clever bits , but a lot of the gags are repeated ad tedium . I want to talk about some of the things happening in the short , so there may be spoilers below : Almost anything can be a musical instrument in a Bosko short ( and often is ) . The short begins with Bosko in the bathtub , with Bosko humming the song , " Singing In the Bathtub " and playing various " musical " instruments and eventually dancing , where the bathtub also starts dancing as well . Bosko gets dressed and goes to his garage to get his car , which is in the out-house . He drives over to his girlfriend Honey's place and she too is humming the same song in her bathtub . I'm curious to know just how much sheet music for " Singing In the Bathtub " was sold after this short came out . But I digress . After turning various items ( including steps ) into musical instruments , they go off in Bosko's car . After a misadventure or two , Bosko falls out of the car and breaks into several tiny versions of himself ( a gag they would often repeat in later shorts with Bosko and other characters ) eventually " pulling himself together " and chasing after the car . In the end , everyone goes off a mountain cliff and Bosko and Honey wind up " Singing In the Bathtub " again-a lake ! This is on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection , Vol . 3 and is well worth seeing . The Collection itself is highly recommended . |
579,728 | 583,640 | 84,005 | 8 | By and large , a vehicle for Kitten Natividad | This adult feature is a girl-girl movie that apparently was either done to capitalize on the fame of Kitten Natividad or to augment it , which one I cannot tell . She basically does her strip routine and talks about herself in addition to introducing the segments featuring the other girls . Okay , but really only impressive if your a fan of Ms . Natividad . X-rated . |
579,566 | 583,640 | 455,912 | 8 | This is a good short , but the Oscar nomination puzzles me | This short is a very nicely animated , occasionally funny and very cute cartoon-with just a bit of teeth at the end . When I first saw it on-line , it put a smile on my face , though I wasn't sure just why it was nominated for an Oscar for Animated Short . I didn't really have that big a problem with its nomination-and I really still don't much mind the nomination , but I'm even more puzzled since I got the collection of 2005 Academy Award-nominated shorts , which also included two non-nominated animated shorts , presumably to augment the disc because two of the animated nominees aren't included here ( Pixar presumably declined to include One Man Band because they placed it on the Cars DVD as an extra and 9 has been optioned for expansion into a feature ) . Trouble is , at least in my opinion , both of the non-nominated shorts included deserved a nomination more than Badgered did . Don't misunderstand me-I like Badgered and , again , I have no problem with its nomination , but The Fan and the Flower and Imago were even better , at least to me . Now onto my comments on Badgered . As I plan on discussing some details , this is a spoiler warning : This is a deceptively simple tale of a badger simply trying to get some sleep . That attempt is frustrated , first by a pair of rather raucous crows and then by the incursion of man into the badger's burrow , in a very disturbing manner-they turn the area around and under his burrow into a missile silo . It's a very short film and the ending is basically " gallows humor " , but the badger does ultimately get his wish-he gets the world to leave him be to sleep in peace . I particularly like the final shot of the crows . A good , if rather pat , piece of work , though overshadowed by The Sun and the Moon , which deservedly won the Oscar and is on the collected 2005 Academy Award nominees disc . I highly recommend that disc to anyone who really likes shorts , as most of the live-action shorts are quite good as well . This particular short is well worth seeing and is recommended . |
579,607 | 583,640 | 63,573 | 8 | An enjoyable , light comedy | I admit this is not the best thing Paul Newman has done . But it's an entertaining little comedy that is charming and quirky in its own special way . There are plenty of familiar faces , particularly if you watched lots of television in the ' 60's and ' 70's . A move that's a bit rough around the edges but still well worth watching on it's own merits . |
579,526 | 583,640 | 55,849 | 8 | A very unusual short , even for Norman McLaren | This short was nominated for an Academy Award and is absolutely one of the strangest works to be produced under the auspices of the NFBC . It's actually three very brief pieces with a framing sequence-at least I think it is ! Norman McLaren's fingerprints are all over this one ! Known for very odd work , it's an acquired taste . I happen to like McLaren's work , but even I find this one a bit far out . If you like McLaren's very eccentric stop-motion , you'll probably like this . Otherwise it may be a bit too strange for you . Recommended if you like the unusual or Norman McLaren . |
579,061 | 583,640 | 151,147 | 8 | How do I describe The Little King ? | This is one of a relatively small series of shorts done by the Van Beuren Studios which starred a comic strip character named The Little King . It's a reasonably good short , but it's difficult to describe . Because I will be discussing some details , this is a spoiler warning : The Little King is a difficult character to describe because , in many ways , he's very bland and unexciting . In general , he doesn't speak ( the only short I've seen where he does speak was a Fleischer Studios appearance in a Betty Boop short and the voice is a bit ridiculous ) . He's very child-like , almost to the point of being annoying . In this short , he has a trip scheduled to visit the state prison . The funniest part of the short is his preparations to go to the prison and the trip there . He's aided by a butler to get ready and then slides down a long bannister , at one point getting off to allow the butler to get ahead of him in sliding down in order to catch him when he reaches the bottom ( the butler misses him ) . On the way to the prison , the Little King gets distracted by flowers and winds up falling out the window of the carriage . He tries hitching a ride , finally finding a bicyclist who carries him on his head until they reach the carriage , where the coachman and footman are searching under and around the carriage in vain for their king . Everything-Little King , bike , cyclist-goes into the carriage and off they go . When they reach the prison , the Little King is allowed to wander off on his own and he finds two inmates playing a game of checkers . He suggests a move to one which naturally causes him to lose the game immediately , whereupon the inmate breaks out of his cell and begins chasing the king , who timidly gives him the keys to the prison . The obvious happens and a riot breaks out . The ending is a bit predictable , but still cute anyway . This short is well worth seeing and can be found on the DVD The Attack of the ' 30s Characters . Recommended . |
578,956 | 583,640 | 36,829 | 8 | Good , but not great , Andy Panda , cartoon | I'm at a loss to understand just why this short was nominated for an Academy Award . It's cute , Andy Panda is somewhat less bland than usual and certainly worth watching . But there isn't anything terribly special about this one . Oh well . Check this one out anyway . The cat is hilarious , particularly when he tries to use logic to get what he wants : dinner . Recommended . |
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