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8
This short , done by Disney , this was an Oscar nominee
This short , which technically was not listed as part of the True-Life Adventures series , but has the look and feel of those shorts and features , was nominated for an Academy Award and was extremely well shot . because I want to cover this in some detail , this is a spoiler warning : This short covers some of the wil...
579,268
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8
The manic Daffy makes life miserable for an occasional minor character named Conrad
For all that it's entitled as " Conrad the Sailor " , this is a Daffy Duck short-Conrad is just a rather unfortunate foil for Daffy in this one . As I want to discuss some of the cartoon , this is a spoiler warning : The cartoon opens up with a rather jolly Conrad swabbing the deck and singing ( as only Pinto Colvig ca...
579,850
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9
Best viewed in the original black and white version
I've seen both the original black and white version and the later , colorized , version and the shadings in the original version look much nicer than they do in the colorized one . I will discuss some details , so consider this a spoiler warning : The cartoon starts off with Porky singing , " Start the Day Right " whil...
579,057
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9
Jack Mercer made Popeye funnier
The character of Popeye was entertaining enough early on in the Fleischer Studios days , when William Costello was doing vocal duties . But the real spark that made Popeye special was when Jack Mercer took over . Mercer started as part of the animation team and then became the voice of Popeye . The choice of Mercer was...
579,997
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30,602
9
Excellent short rarely seen these days
This is an excellent cartoon with a great score that is not aired on television these days because 1 ) it has the temerity to be in black and white and 2 ) Porky imitates Cab Calloway at one point and that's considered offensive , or so some think , anyway . That's a shame , because there's a beautiful caricature of Pa...
579,233
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9
Bizarre even by Plympton's standards
Bill Plympton's work is , even at its tamest , exceptionally strange and odd . It would be fair to call him animation's David Lynch , save that even Lynch isn't this weird ! This short is even more the oddity than normal , even for Plympton . The most accurate description is to say it defies description . This grows on...
579,219
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9
One of Paul Newman's best and one of Jessica Tandy's last performances .
As far as the film is concerned , it's a nice , charming nugget of gold that might possibly be overlooked . That would be a mistake . Paul Newman does a fine performance ( although I'd go watch Paul Newman read the Uniform Code of Military Justice ) but it is an ensemble film and the performances of just about the enti...
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9
A morality play that is still quite powerful today
This movie , which is part silent and part talkie , is a tale of one man's disintegration , his actions which help to destroy an entire culture and his growing horror at what he has helped to bring about . The movie is still quite effective even now , more than 70 years later , largely because its concerns have probabl...
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9
One of the better of the UPA releases , it obviously influenced at least one later Disney short
Rooty Toot Toot is one of the best of a very good run of cartoons from the UPA studios . A stylized take on Frankie and Johnny , it has a great jazz score and uses its limited animation to great effect . Excellent blend of music and visuals , it clearly had influence on at least one Disney short , Toot , Plunk , Whistl...
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9
Excellent ensemble cast and worthy script make this a must-see
This film has much to recommend it-set design , cinematography and so on - but what makes it truly shine is a marvelous script and an ensemble cast that almost uniformly turn in excellent work . The characters live and breathe and fair jump off the screen at the audience . You come to care about them , even the ones yo...
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218,003
9
All too close to reality , unfortunately
This short is another example of the excellent work done by the National Film Board of Canada . The sad fact is , this is only fictional on the surface points . All too many species are disappearing unnecessarily and have been for some time . This makes that point deftly . Well worth hunting down and locating . Recomme...
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9
Very good ( although a somewhat loose ) adaptation of the story with incredible detail in the Claymation
This short ( actually close to 30 minutes in length ) was nominated for an Academy Award and deserved to be . The attention to detail is high , which is typical of a Will Vinton project . Narrated by Will Geer ( a perfect choce , by the way ) , the story is adapted rather loosely in spots , but it's a marvelous piece o...
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9
Proof that Private Snafu's long suit is not intelligence !
Another episode in the saga of Private Snafu-the dimmest bulb in the Army . This Rhodes scholar is more dangerous to his own unit than he is to the enemy ! Entertaining series of training films done during World War II . Here Snafu comes agonizingly close repeatedly to well-deserved destruction , only to be saved by th...
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9
Some of the funniest dialog in a Warner's short can be found here
This is a very funny short and very dialog-centered , with visual gags relatively scarce . The verbal gags are beautiful , for the most part . Because I want to discuss some details , this is a spoiler warning : We see all kinds of signs in the beginning that strongly prohibit poaching anything ( including eggs ) on th...
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9
This is one of the best pairings of Yosemite Sam and Bugs
This is an extremely funny short , from Bugs crooning to a carrot to his closing line , which is marvelous . Sam has some limitations as a foil for Bugs generally , but here the situation is perfect and the character is used to best advantage . Wonderful cartoon . Good to see it's available . Well worth watching . High...
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9
An Orson Welles finger-exercise and quite a good one , as well
This short , nominated for an Academy Award , was adapted from a ghost story Welles once heard and was filmed during a financially-enforced sabbatical during the filming of Othello . It is remarkably moody and quite creepily atmospheric . It is essentially a finger-exercise for Welles , but it is a comment on Welles ( ...
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9
This is a SPOILER WARNING ! ! ! I can't review this one without details . Sorry .
I've debated reviewing this one because I generally don't like to discuss significant details , instead preferring to go into atmosphere and general discussion . But this cartoon has one pint that I have to discuss directly , and since there is no plot outline , it can be considered a spoiler . You are forewarned . The...
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9
Probably the best of the sports cartoons Disney has made .
This short , nominated for an Oscar , is likely the best of the sports cartoons Disney did ( most of them centered around the lithe , atheletic and graceful Goofy ) and is a classic , although Tex Avery was there ahead of them , with Screwball Football in 1939 . Tex more than holds his own , but How To Pay Football is ...
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9
Oscar winning two-reel short that's quite good
his two-reel short won an Oscar in 1940 and is a fairly good look at Teddy Roosevelt and reasonably historically accurate , for Hollywood . Sidney Blackmer actually looks like TR ( thanks to a good makeup job ) and it suffers only sligtly from melodramatic excess . The performances are for the most part good and it's a...
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9
Holds up well despite the passage of time
This short , done under the auspices of the National Film Board of Canada , holds up quite well in an area that can date in an instant . The animation effects are exceptional and my only real problem was with the narrator who came perilously close to becoming a cure for insomnia . Very well done , it was nominated for ...
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9
Christopher Crumpet is a very unusual little boy-to say the least ! ( Spoiler warning )
SPOILER WARNING ! This short , nominated for an Academy Award , concerns a little boy who , when he doesn't get his way , is a bit more creative than most children . No breath holder or pouty face is he , oh no . He turns into a chicken . His poor suffering parents are at a loss as to how to handle this and the consequ...
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9
A most frenetic , energetic and unusual cartoon !
This is an extremely odd cartoon to describe . The premise is that a harmonica playing quartet essentially destroys a general store by virtue of rather energetic playing of their instruments . The sight of the poor shopkeeper as he watches his livelihood disintegrate ( despite his best efforts at damage control ) befor...
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9
A very effective blend of live-action and animation that is sadly unavailable in the US .
I saw this on one of it's re-releases when I was very young and it has stayed with me . It is one of Disney's best efforts and I'd love to see it again . Unfortunately , Disney is loathe to offend anyone and it therefore seems that this film will be consigned to the vaults because Disney is unwilling to risk any heat ....
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9
Be careful what you ask for-you just might get it !
This short is a remake of a Fleischer Studios effort , the title of which escapes me at the moment , and is impressive enough that it can hold its own against the earlier cartoon , not often the case with Famous Studio work . Lots of sight gags , but the voice work is excellent . Beck was the best of the voices for Blu...
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9
Starts charmingly enough and suddenly turns much more serious
Mild spoilers This cartoon begins , engagingly enough , at breakfast . Using animals instead of people as characters reminds viewers of those cute , lovable cartoons of yesteryear . Right . Life is what happens while you're making plans and sometimes life throws a curve or two-and sometimes , life throws the baseball b...
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9
Football was possibly the most popular sport for cartoonists to parody .
For the majority of the major studios , sports were a frequent source of fun . Disney did a whole series of sports related shorts featuring Goofy . Baseball and football were the most frequent subjects and offhand I think football was slightly more often the target . There were two or three Disney ( of course , there w...
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9
The special effects are still remarkable after more than 40 years !
This is a very well-done adaptation of the H . G . Wells novella , with an Oscar for the special effects that are still impressive more than 40 years later . Good performances by an ensemble cast and a good script also help . One interesting side note : character actor Whit Bissell was in both the 1960 version here and...
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9
The Pink Panther enlists-with obvious consequences !
This is an exceptionally funny short where the Pink Panther does for the Army and his Sargeant ( " The Little White Guy " ) what Gomer Pyle did for the Marines and Sargeant Carter . I'm going to go into some detail in this comment , so this is your spoiler warning : The scene is set when the Pink Panther sees a recruit...
579,958
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9
Beautiful artwork and backgrounds , if occasionally too cute for words .
This cartoon's use of color and background detail is excellent . Sometimes , the story and the action is just too cute for my tastes , but it more than makes up for this visually . The dragon is great ! Nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short , this runs on Cartoon Network occasionally and , when TCM does its...
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9
This short is one of the better " Sing-a-Longs " done by Famous Studios
Fleischer Studios did a regular series of shorts with a mix of live-action and animation with featured " sing-alongs " , where the audience would sing along with a musical performance . The lyrics would appear on the screen and a guide would pace the audience in time to the music . When Paramount switched their animate...
578,908
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9
Disney's first take on Noah
This short was Disney's first visit to Noah-it was followed up 26 years later by Noah's Ark . Of the two , this one is much closer to the typical Disney animated short and this one is very good . The other is more unusual in style and format , but both are fairly successful in what they try to do . Good to see this in-...
579,068
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9
Lantz , like Disney and other studios , made music the starting point for a series of cartoons
This short was one of a series of shorts Walter Lantz made which were built around either a musical piece or a musical style , with classical and jazz predominating . Here , a very familiar piece of classical music was used to show the " workings " of an orchestra . I plan on discussing some details , so there will be ...
579,069
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9
Splendid use of stop-motion animation and live action
This short is an extremely effective use of the stop-motion technique of animation blended with live action footage about a very determined chair and a young man who wants nothing more than to sit and read . I personally negotiated a deal with my chairs : if they perform some basic function , they can remain . If not ,...
579,136
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9
Leprechauns , a Sidhe ( Banshee ) and Sean Connery with an Irish brogue ! What more could you want ?
This is a charming film with warmth , tenderness , tragedy , love , drama , betrayal and nobility all rolled into one and seasoned with humor . Albert Sharpe , who plays the lead , is a character actor whose face wll probably be familiar to movie fans . Sean Connery with an Irish brogue is worth the price of admission ...
578,959
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9
One of the more satisfying shorts Iwerks made .
This one works-at least for me , it worked . One of the most unusual singing quartets you'll ever see . Some exceptional backgrounds and very good animation here and also fairly well-developed characters ( not usually a hallmark of Iwerks studio ) make this an entertaining short . The farmer looks a bit like Al Falfa f...
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9
In a war between Speedy and the other male mice for the affections of all the senorita mice , the loser is Sylvester !
I can't really discuss this cartoon without including at least some details , so consider yourself warned as to spoilers : The male mice in a small village have something of a problem-his name is Speedy Gonzales . Every little senorita mouse is far more interested in the dashing Speedy than they are in anyone else . In...
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One of the most interesting and humorous concepts developed by Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones , in addition to both working with solidly established stars such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck and doing one-shot cartoons like Martian Through Georgia , did some thematic groupings of short using continuing characters in a small number of cartoons . Ralph and Sam , a sheepdog and wolf , were one of these ....
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9
As with all the True Life Adventures , the camera work here is simply fantastic , particularly the time lapse sequences
This short , which won an Academy Award for Live-Action Short , is one of the most fascinating things that Disney has ever released . It follows one particular natural area for an entire year , from one spring through to the next . Because I want to discuss some details , this is a spoiler warning : The short begins by...
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9
Excellent short , just beautiful and it has a ( gasp ! ) PLOT ! ! !
Alright , so it isn't a terribly complex plot-but it is more of a plot than Iwerks usually had for its cartoons . This one features the same Old Man Winter as did the short Jack Frost , another cartoon from the same studio . Backgrounds and animation are incredible , but then those always tended to be hallmarks of the ...
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9
Extremely well-conceived and executed animated short on public health programs
Although somewhat dated in a few details , much of what this details regarding public health and safety , such as inoculation versus disease and the need for good sanitation is still of importance today . I saw this in Cartoon Network on a special ToonHeads featuring rarely seen or little-known animation . This won an ...
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9
Yet another episode in the saga of Wallace and Gromit
This short , which won an Academy Award , is the one I enjoy slightly less of the first three , which makes it only great ! A sheep named Shaun steals the show here . Wallace is marginally more lively in this one . All in all , well worth seeking out and fairly easy to get . Highly recommended .
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Every time I see this one , I wonder if Art Carney ever saw this one .
This cartoon has Spike and Tyke of Tom and Jerry fame , without said cat or mouse . Sort of giving the supporting players a shot at the brass ring , as it were . Their problem child here is a dog clearly modeled after the pre-eminent second banana , the Ed Norton character from the show The Honeymooners . I half expect...
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Popeye creates his own nightmare here , but solves the mess in the end .
In this one , Popeye " teaches " Olive how to drive . I'm curious as to who taught Popeye , as he neglects to impart Important Rule # 1 : Pay attention to the road when navigating any vehicle anywhere . It isn't that Olive is totally inattentive . She's just not attentive to minor trivialities-like steering or the traf...
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One of many movies done after Grand Hotel with all-star ensemble casts , but unlike most of the others , this one works !
In the wake of the success of Grand Hotel , there were a number of attempts to duplicate its formula . Where this one succeeds admirably , others failed . Much of the credit goes to the cast and the script . Jean Harlow is wonderful , as are Wallace Beery and the Barrymores ( who , unless I'm mistaken , never have a sc...
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9
Very good Droopy cartoon
This short is a very good Tex Avery Droopy . Droopy is the cartoon " Everyman " who somehow manages to come out on top whatever the odds are or the forces arrayed against him . Tex Avery's principal continuing character while at MGM , I wouldn't be at all surprised if Droopy was the character appearing in the most Tex ...
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One of my favorite Tex Avery shorts .
This is one of my favorite Tex Avery cartoons . It's Tex in full stride and typical of his Warner Brothers work . It even has Tex doing voice work ( appropriately , because he was a big man ) as a walrus . There are celebrity caricatures sprinkled here and there , but the music is what sets this apart . Just a bit of t...
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How Courage the Cowardly Dog started
This short was made for the Cartoon Network as a part of their Cartoon Cartoon series , aired in theaters and was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short . The rules have been changed to preclude nominees from being part of a series or conceived originally for television from being eligible . I personally th...
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9
Will Vinton Studios stretches its muscles a bit .
While Will Vinton and the studio carrying his name are best known for Claymation ( a term coined and either copyrighted or service marked by Vinton , but also a good general description of the animation style ) , the studio and / or Vinton does occasionally produce works directed by others in other styles . The Creatio...
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9
The most musically-oriented Heckle and Jeckle I've seen
This short has Heckle and Jeckle running a diner . Since I want to discuss some details , there will be spoilers : While there have been other Heckle and Jeckle shorts which have featured songs ( such as Hair Cut-ups and House Busters ) , they really weren't what you would call musical cartoons . This one is a little d...
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9
Quite funny , as well as a bit wistful and bittersweet .
Given the nature of its premise and the country of origin being Russia , it's a fairly logical guess that the title is a reference to Yuri Gagarin , the Russian cosmonaut who became the first man to climb into a glorified tin can and be shot into orbit around the Earth . This is a very cute , often funny and sometimes ...
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9
One of the funniest Donald Duck shorts Disney made .
This short is clever and very funny , as it follows Donald through the process of building and flying a plane he makes entirely from plastic ! I ask you , how secure would you feel riding in a plane made of plastic constructed and piloted by a very impatient and short-tempered duck . Parachutes , anyone ? Sadly , this ...
579,165
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9
Very good later Woody Woodpecker
This short is one of the better ones that the Lantz studios produced in the 1960s . There are echoes reminiscent of Tex Avery's short Sh-h-h here , but this one has an energy and charm all its own . I feel extremely sorry for the poor guy here . The ending is perfect ! This one is worth tracking down . Most recommended...
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After 65 years , this film is still all too timely
This film deals with the Irish rebellion in the 1920s and more specifically one man's life after he informs on a friend for the bounty on his head and the subsequent consequences . Watching the film , I got the feeling that you could take the script and with just some minor updates , do it again and it , sadly , would ...
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9
Excellent cast , but an even better script
You have here a situation that is rarer than you might imagine-a top-notch cast with an even better script . This is a delightful film with fine performances all around and some of the best dialogue ! Strangely , none of the cast were nominated for their work here , although three were nominated for other performances ...
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9
Cute , well executed short about a ballet school
This cartoon is a humorous and rather charming look at a ballet school , rather overeager management and its harried but able instructress . Well animated and with an engaging story , the ending is quite appropriate and hilarious . Well worth watching . Recommended .
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9
Tim Burton , eat your heart out !
On the whole , I actually think that Tim Burton would find this one amusing if it ever crossed his field of vision . I think James Whale would probably have loved it too . Not your typical Christmas cartoon , by any means . Sentimentalist that I am , I like to think that when Frannie grew up , she got an appropriate jo...
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Very strange short with a small part for an early take on Betty Boop .
This is a BImbo cartoon and quite an odd one it is too . Betty Boop makes a relatively brief appearance towards the latter half of the short and at the end and her look is slighly different in this early short . Exceedingly strange things happen throughout to say the least ! Great fun but definitely an acquired taste ....
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Some days , it just doesn't pay to get up in the morning .
Poor Barney ( in more than one sense , at that ) , he goes to a great deal of trouble to find a treasure , only to run into a gopher that makes his life miserable ( the Marquise de Gopher , perhaps ) and thus we are treated to a raft of sight gags almost painful to watch executed with obvious glee ( I wonder if the scr...
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The Old Woman Who Lived in the Shoe-Fleischer style !
Like Disney , the Fleischers took fairy tales and adapted them for cartoons . But the Fleischers added their own twists to these cartoons . They weren't Disney , never could be and their weakest work is when they tried to out-mouse the Mouse . The highlight here is a great rendition of the song , " Mama Don't ' Low " a...
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Time-honored and well-tested conceit .
Tex Avery used a plot device here that he used in several cartoons : A character or characters want to avoid being heard by another character . Another character does their level best to cause them to disturb the character , setting the stage for his much-beloved sight gags fired rapidly at the audience . Cartoons are ...
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An excellent , if somewhat flawed , look at the life and work of James Whale
I've always been fascinated by James Whale , if for no other reason than the fact that , in one career , he directed Frankenstein and The Invisible Man on one hand and also directed the 1936 version of Showboat and The Great Garrick ! That kind of dichotomy is not something you see every day . All four films are at lea...
579,162
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Woody's first appearance , but it's an Andy Panda short .
Happens all the time-a seasoned pro gives a young unknown a break and it makes the unknown a star ! Woody went on to eclipse Andy Panda in popularity and was the top draw for Lantz studios in the years that followed . But the two always had a cordial , if somewhat bizarre , friendship , appearing in a number of shorts ...
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Visually striking short with a rather old premise
This short , deservedly nominated for an Academy Award , shows off what CGI can do to far better effect than using them to save money on large crowd scenes in epics ever will ( or can ) . Here there be mild spoilers : Having characters arguing with the person who created them is an old idea . But most ideas are old and...
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Excellent silent mix of live-action and animation .
This is along the same lines as the Alice shorts Disney did in the 1920s , only the star isn't the live-action little girl but Ko-Ko the Clown , the first animated star Fleischer Studios had . Here , Ko-Ko has a series of adventures with a little girl who shrinks in size and goes with Ko-ko . Very well-executed and the...
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Hubie and Bert doing what they do best-causing no end of trouble
This cartoon short , an Oscar nominee , features Hubie and Bert ( " Yeah , yeah , sure , sure " ) tormenting poor Claude for the first time . Poor Clude didn't fare terribly well in any of his cartoons , either with Hubie and Bert or in other cartoons , but this is by far the most devastatingly funny appearance by any ...
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Bizarre , quirky , outlandish animation-in other words , a Bill Plympton cartoon
Bill Plympton is an acquired taste , one I have acquired . This short is outrageous , strange and at times unnerving , to say the least . Which is pretty much the norm for his work . This is an excellent , if somewhat bizarre , short , although those who harbor the mistaken notion that animation is strictly for childre...
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The best of Tex Avery's cartoons giving human characteristics to inanimate objects
This cartoon was nominated for an Oscar , which is welcome although a bit puzzling , as this is a prototypical Tex Avery cartoon-take something ordinary , twist it in some odd or extraordinary way and fire sight gags at the audience for the bulk of the cartoon . Avery often gave inanimate objects human traits , as he d...
579,175
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One of the best Tex Avery cartoons that Avery didn't make .
This short was made at the Walter Lantz studio during Tex Avery's brief stint as a director there and though he wasn't involved , his influence is seen throughout . As I want to discuss some of the details , this is a spoiler warning : This is a story told in flashback ( for the most part ) and is about two dogs , John...
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Porky's sole Oscar nod and it took a battle of crooning fowl to get it for him !
This cartoon , nominated for Oscar , was Porky's only shot at the gold . It's a marvelous cartoon and parodies Sinatra and Crosby , among others . Watch particularly the audition , when Porky is trying out singers to get his hens laying eggs again . The guys at Termite Terrace loved parodies , not only actors , but sin...
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More talky than normal for Tex Avery , but it's largely successful .
This is a cartoon that was made in a format Tex Avery wasn't always successful with-a series of loosely connected blackouts , which are little comic set-pieces . Avery didn't always do these well because each distinct piece had its own setup , joke and punchline , usually requiring more dialogue and a slower pace than ...
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A fun and lively cartoon that I find very entertaining .
Through most of the mid to late 1940s , Paramount's Famous Studios did some fairly good work . Sometime in the 1950s , they kind of seemed to surrender to a rising tide of mediocrity and just turned out shorts virtually indistinguishable from each other and started strip mining the old Fliescher Studios shorts for idea...
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9
Beautifully shot , watch this for the visually glorious surroundings and try to ignore the occasionally silly narraion
This documentary is one of the best ever produced by Disney and has both the strengths and weaknesses of most Disney documentaries-excellent visually and technically but with narration that is all too frequently vapid , silly and boring , with the added difficulty that the narrator's droning monotone almost puts me to ...
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The changing of Egghead
This short is , so far as I'm aware , the first ( and only ) time Egghead is called Elmer . The similarities between the two are peripheral but notable : style of dress , a lack of hair , etc . At some point , Egghead stopped appearing and Elmer started getting paired off with Bugs and Daffy instead . Was it a delibera...
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Books often don't translae to film too well , but an excellent job was done here
This is an excellent adaptation of a very good novel by Frederic Forsythe . All too often , novels are poorly adapted to film , for various reasons . This is one of the better examples of how things can work but don't . The plot is discernably that of Forsythe's book ( the author has not always been fortunate in that r...
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9
Droopy gives Spike a bad case of double vision
This short is an energetic little cartoon that introduces a twin brother of Droopy's for the first ( and only ) time to hilarious , if predictable effect . Good effort that makes Droopy a more interesting character . Well worth watching , even if it isn't one of Avery's best . Recommended .
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9
Ub Iwerks closed his studio with a bang !
At least one source lists this short as the last release from Iwerks studio . If that's so , then their swan song was a most impressive finale . The sad thing is , this cartoon is better than the overwhelming majority of the shorts that preceded it , but likely got booked in far fewer theaters , because by that time th...
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41,326
9
Talk about self-fulfilling prophecies !
This cartoon ( the title is a play on the film title " Each Dawn I Die " ) is one of the better Elmer Fudd solos the did . It concerns a rather foolish rooster , the hazards of jumping to conclusions and the danger of inattention . The narration is excellent , visual gags are here in abundance and the payoff is a screa...
578,994
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20,041
9
Ah , the pre-Code cartoons , he waxed nostalgically .
Prior to the creation of the Hays Office ( named for Will Hays , the first official censor , who left Washington just ahead of the posse , having been part of the Harding administration , the most corrupt administration pre-1968 ) and the installation of the Code in the early 1930s by these paragons of virtue , films w...
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43,517
9
One of the better shorts with Bugs and Yosemite Sam
This is a very engaging and humorous short with Bugs engaged in a battle of wits with Yosemite Sam . Sam makes an ideal foe for Bugs , as his temper lends itself to all manner of situations . Elmer makes a good foil , as it makes sense why a hunter would want to shoot a rabbit , but Sam opens up many more possibilities...
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9
This was made early in the Paramount Famous Studio's existence , when they were still funny !
This short was a marked contrast to much of the later output of the Famous Studios for Paramount , which was hackneyed and trite in comparison . Famous Studio was a pale successor to the Fliescher Studio and couldn't even come close to the " Big Three " - Disney , Warner Brothers and MGM-but this cartoon is actually cl...
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9
An exceptionally fine film with a great script and fine cast
This film , nominated for an Oscar , was eligible the same year as the film Z , otherwise it might have won for Foreign Language Film . The script is fantastic , the cast does superbly and the direction is as good or better than either . The principal female roles are very well-executed . The male lead is a dithering ,...
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43,419
9
The archetype Tex Avery cartoon .
Tex Avery loved sight gags piled on top of one another , coming fast and furiously at the viewer . This short is simply one long string of sight gags in a battle of wits between a dog ( usually named Spike , but not to be confused with the Spike found in Tom and Jerry cartoons with some frequency . Same name , differen...
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9
Daffy really should quit while he's behind
This is the middle cartoon of the three ( between Rabbit Fire and Duck ! Rabbit , Duck ! ) and is the weakest of the three , while still being quite funny . It simply depends on one gag for too much of the action . Still a good cartoon . I feel a definite sympathy for Daffy in this one , which is rare for me . Daffy is...
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35,790
9
Excellent footage with an unnecessary , tacked-on , prologue
This Oscar-winning documentary features some spectacular battle footage and is generally well-done , except for the Hollywood hokum grafted onto the beginning , for who knows what reason . It's ridiculous and boring . just ignore it and watch the documentary . The documentary , sans lead-in , is recommended highly .
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9
A bit dated , but holds up well after seventy years .
While the cartoon does have a dated feel to it in spots , the animation is excellent ( a Disney strength during the 1930s ) and it still largely works for the most part , although probably not as well for the age group raised on jump-cut , fast-pace edits and Matrix style special effects . Well worth watching . Recomme...
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93,779
9
A satiric comedy with humor and sadness , dark with the light .
This film is an intelligent , sardonic send up of several genres that pokes fun ( affectionately ) at fairy tales , swashbucklers , love stories and basic conventions of film . One of my favorite scenes is where Inigo Montoya first confronts his quarry after years of searching . His adversary does the unexpected-and wh...
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9
An Oscar nominee and entertaining because of Speedy's two amigos , Pablo and Fernando
Speedy Gonzales was essentially a one-note character ( kind of like the Roadrunner ) so the quality of a Speedy cartoon is largely dependent on the surrounding characters and situations they get themselves into rather than Speedy himself . The two mice Speedy is rescuing frequently , Pablo and Fernando are excellent ch...
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29,995
9
Excellent cast , script in a tale of ethics vs . ease
This film features an excellent cast , ably led by Robert Donat in a performance that is superior to his marvelous performance one year later in Goodbye , Mr . Chips . As a young doctor , he begins with the highest intentions , gradually becoming cynical and disillusioned . He decides it's better to have money than scr...
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152,357
9
Cartoons as propaganda during wartime .
This sort of cartoon was made during World War II by most , if not all , the studios as a form of propaganda . The major studios were turning out training films for the military , doing live-action propaganda and the animation departments did their share of work in that vein as well . Some had merely passing references...
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43,354
9
Very funny entry in a very good series of cartoons from Warner Brothers
This cartoon was part of the " Goofy Gophers " series of cartoons and is one of the better ones . It features two of the most laughably , almost painfully polite , characters ever seen . Although Disney's " Chip ' n ' Dale " preceded them and are probably better-known , I personally like The Goofy Gophers much better b...
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9
The penultimate short from an artist who is already missed
Faith Hubley produced animated shorts with her husband John right up until his death in 1977 and continued producing and directing a short a year up until she died in December 2001 . This was her next-to-last one and has aired on the Sundance Channel . Even the more commercial work they did to help pay the bills has a ...
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9
An enjoyable cartoon with a great closing scene
This cartoon is one of the better Clouseau cartoons . Clouseau and his sidekick are in pursuit of a mystery man , chasing him over a great many different terrains , in different weather conditions and usually with rather painful and visually comic end results for their efforts . The final scene , in which Clouseau lear...
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9
Alan Arkin and Audrey Hepburn make this worth seeing , although the film is really quite good in other respects also
Audrey Hepburn was nominated for an Oscar and how Alan Arkin missed out on one for Supporting Actor I'll never understand . The performances carry the film , although there is a very good supporting cast , afairly decent script and production values are good . The performances by epburn and Arkin raise the film from av...
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9
Deep down , do all things , great and small , dream ?
The folks at Pixar do a wonderful job here . While this isn't their best short , it is definitely a fine one and the hero here is a surprising one : a little red bike , an inanimate Walter Mitty ! I got caught up in this short . Pixar really should re-release their collection of their short films . The short work they ...
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9
Seeing this in the original black and white is best .
While I have not seen a colorized version of this , I understand one does exist . But I hope never to see a colorized version of this , as I would never want to see The Skeleton Dance colorized and for the same reason : the cartoons make excellent use of shadows , light and dark contrasts and visuals which would be sev...
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9
Very good but typical Pink Panther cartoon
This cartoon was nominated for a Academy Award . It's a fairly good cartoon , although it is quite similar to The Pink Phink in conception , tone and execution . Not really a terribly novel cartoon by any means , but great fun and very entertaining . Recommended .
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9
The best of the whole series , with a hilarious ending !
This is just about the only genuinely funny Captain and the Kids cartoon they made . A few were reasonably good , if not terribly memorable . But this one deserves to be seen and remembered . I suspect that the fact that , despite the title , The Captain makes but a cameo appearance has something to do with its success...
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9
A mouse named Jerry as the " Mama " to a baby woodpecker ! How charming !
This Tom and Jerry , nominated for an Oscar , concerns an egg , Jerry mouse and the joys and headaches of unexpected " motherhood " for a very surprised mouse when the egg hatches into a baby woodpecker . Tom gets involved and typical sight gags ( most rather painful to Tom from the looks of things ) abound with great ...
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51,008
9
Too bad none of the shorts in this series seem to be in print
This series of shorts was brief ( seven in total ) , but it's one of Chuck Jones ' best concepts and , sadly , not a single one appears to be in print at present , which is a pity , because they are hilarious . Sam and Ralph are an interesting combination and the idea that forms the core to these is great ! The ending ...
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9
One of a series of cartoons describing the future of a particular aspect of everyday life
Tex Avery did a series of cartoons describing the future-here he describes what the " Car of Tomorrow " might look like-in typical Tex Avery fashion , it is the starting point for some sight gags galore fired rapidly , one after another . There is some verbal humor in the narration , including one joke reminiscent of D...