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579,868 | 583,640 | 53,160 | 9 | Excellent cartoon with Daffy's best exit line ever | This cartoon parodies American television in the latter 1950s in general and several shows in particular ( like Art Linkletter's " People Are Funny " ) and provides opportunities for gags galore for Bugs and Daffy in the process . The cartoon pricipally plays on Daffy's greed to set everything in motion and takes off from there . It ends with the best exit line spoken by Daffy ever ! Excellent cartoon well worth watching . Highly recommended . |
579,316 | 583,640 | 37,569 | 9 | Until fairly recently , Goofy has been all too overlooked . | Walt Disney and his animation staff gave the world a great many fascinating , entertaining and memorable characters over the years , but one of the best has also , paradoxically , been largely given short shrift by far too many people-Goofy , who was and is , in many ways , far more interesting than Donald Duck ever was or could be and even gives Mickey a run for his money at times . Where Mickey and Donald needed foils to work exceptionally well , Goofy works quite well simply placed in a situation and having jokes bounce off him ( sometimes quite literally ) without needing a Pluto or a Chip n ' Dale around to provide a source for tension and / or interaction . Besides , in a pinch , every character in a cartoon could resemble Goofy ( like this one , for instance ) if need be . This is a marvelous short from the mid-1940s that holds up very well indeed . Typically superb animation ( a Disney hallmark throughout their history , as a general rule ) and hilarious premise and narration . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,376 | 583,640 | 43,274 | 9 | Lewis Carroll meets Disney , with remarkably good results . | One of the better marriages of a classic book ( actually , books-both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-glass were adapted in part ) to Disney adaptation . Just about everything clicks here-the animation is top-notch , the music is very good , the voice casting was inspired , in some cases . All in all , it's one of Disney's best efforts . Most certainly a feather in their caps . Recommended . |
579,010 | 583,640 | 53,131 | 9 | Good film , but overlong and with a surprisingly tepid performance by Peter Finch | The Nun's Story is a good film , well worth watching . But it's at least half-an-hour too long and at points Peter Finch seems almost bored with his role . Audrey Hepburn is very good and excellent work is done by most of the cast , particularly Dean Jagger and Edith Evans . The standout performance , however , is by Coleen Dewhurst , who is incredible as a mental patient . Good cast that , Finch being the exception , does good to great work . Well worth watching . |
579,838 | 583,640 | 30,046 | 9 | Somewhat fanciful , but engaging , Hollywood dramatization of history | Hollywood is known to take liberties with fact in its productions and certainly did so here . But for all that , this is a visually beautiful and very engaging short that won an Oscar ( deservedly ) . The short runs as filler on Turner Classic Movies on no set schedule along with tons of other shorts . Recommended . |
579,437 | 583,640 | 41,380 | 9 | Pepe Le Pew's only Oscar bid was a winner ! | This cartoon won an Oscar for Pepe Le Pew almost ten years before Bugs Bunny won for Knighty Knight Bugs . Pepe is one of my favorite characters and this is one of the better cartoons in the series , although not my personal favorite ( that's Touche and Go ) . Pepe discovers wht it's like to have the shoe on the other foot in this one . Great fun in this one . It should be in-print . It has been in the past , most notably on the tape A Salute to Chuck Jones from the Golden Jubilee series . Cartoon Network shows it fairly often . Recommended . |
579,126 | 583,640 | 119,822 | 9 | You make me want to be a better man . | How Titanic beat both this and L . A . Confidential for Picture is unfathomable . There is more romance in the line I quoted from As Good As It Gets in the subject line than Titanic has in the whole of the movie . This film has more ( and better ) quality performances from its cast ( even the bit roles ) , a better script , equally good or better production values ( save for special effects ) and will likely stand the test of time more solidly than Titanic . Jack Nicholson chews the scenery ( so what else is new ? ) , but the character is off-the-wall in the first place . Helen Hunt gives the performance of her career . The script is intelligent , funny , tender and biting-a solid piece of work . Big overblown epic beats solid character study most of the time , sadly . Well worth seeing . Most recommended . |
579,598 | 583,640 | 47,108 | 9 | Tex Avery's other Chilly Willy cartoon | This is one of the two Chilly Willy cartoons that Tex Avery directed , the other being Legend of Rockabye Point , where Chilly is basically an extra in his own cartoon . Chilly's front and center here , but the gags are courtesy of a trademark Avery dog . By all accounts , Tex saw nothing inherently funny in the penguin in general or Chilly in particular , so he created the dog to get some laughs and Chilly was basically along for the ride . A good cartoon with lots of sight gags , per the Tex Avery style . It's too bad he only did four shorts in his second stint with Lantz . One wonders what might have been had he stuck with Lantz . Worth hunting up . Recommended . |
579,372 | 583,640 | 37,657 | 9 | This is one of those rare occasions when Donald is a semi-sympathetic characters ( sort of ) . | I generally spend my time waiting for Donald to get his well deserved comeuppance in most of his cartoons . This one , nominated for an Oscar , is one of the few times Donald even comes close to being a sympathetic character . Oh , Donald is his usual considerate , affable self , alright , but at a point in the cartoon toward the end , he actually becomes a bit more likable ad I almost felt sorry for him at times ( almost ) . Very well done . This is shown from time to time on the Ink and Paint Club . Recommended . |
579,782 | 583,640 | 152,194 | 9 | A very charming little cartoon ! | This is a short that features an incredibly odd and quirky character named Duton Lang . No description could adequately do Lang justice . I can't really do justice to the cartoon . Duton Lang is quite a character-but the same can also be said of the narrator as well . Quirky , far too neglected short . Worth tracking down . Most recommended . |
579,124 | 583,640 | 27,963 | 9 | An intensely visual cartoon , pay attention to the viewing stands particularly ! | This is possibly the second-most caricature laden short ( after Mother Goose Goes Hollywood ) that Disney ever did and they aren't just playing polo , either . Half the fun is spotting familiar faces ( cartoon characters and caricatures of celebrities ) , while the other half is watching the strangest polo match ever put on celluloid ! Every time I've seen this one , I wonder what various celebrities thought of this one , if they saw it at all , particularly what Clark Gable may have thought ! Very visual , with the gags principally being sight gags and the Disney principals taking a back seat to the caricatures . Well worth watching . Most recommended . |
579,669 | 583,640 | 27,968 | 9 | Early Tex Avery , before he had his style fleshed out completely | This is an early Tex Avery short that is not done quite in the style that would mark his later efforts . An early Porky Pig adventure , Avery more or less cut his teeth as a director helping to develop Porky , as well as playing a major role in the development of Bugs Bunny , Daffy Duck and Egghead / Elmer Fudd , before leaving Warner Brothers after a dispute with producer Leon Schlesinger and moving to MGM in 1942 . Well worth looking for , it was originally in black ad white . Recommended . |
579,489 | 583,640 | 22,158 | 9 | One of their best , it's got the best opening credits sequence of all time | Though I happen to like other Marx Bros . films better , this ranks right up there with their best ! The credits at the beginning are some of the best i've seen ! Typical Marx action , lots of slapstick and visual action mixed with Groucho's wisecracks , much of which I suspect was ad-libbed . Very funny and well worth your time . |
579,926 | 583,640 | 65,872 | 9 | Marvelous script and great performances by the leads make this an excellent film | I saw this movie when it first came out and I remember it vividly from over thirty years later . I recently saw it again , expecting the passage of time to have dimmed my fondness for it somewhat . It was just as wonderful as I remembered it , but I understood things at the age of 39 that I did not at ten . Melvyn Douglas and Gene Hackman deservedly got Oscar nominations for their splendid work here . There is also a marvelous script , also nominated for an Oscar . I expect I will remember the last line until I die . Most Highly Recommended |
579,144 | 583,640 | 28,010 | 9 | The screwball comedy of all time and one of the biggest head-scratchers in Academy Award history ! ! ! | This film is an absolute joy to watch ! With an exceptional cast , four of whom were nominated for Oscars ( one in each of the four categories , although I personally think Eugene Pallette should have been nominated instead of Mischa Auer for Supporting Actor ) , a delightfully witty script that was also nominated for an Oscar and with excellent direction by Gregory LaCava , who made it six nominations all told for the film . Here comes the head-scratcher : no nomination for Picture in a year when TEN films got nominated ! ! ! For one nominee ( libeled Lady ) , Picture was the only nomination it got ! ! ! All in all , one of the more peculiar actions in Academy history . Ironically , William Powel was in both My Man Godfrey and Libeled Lady . Bells and whistles go off and cannons roar and peace and joy reign all throughout the land ! Most Recommended ! ! ! |
578,830 | 583,640 | 94,047 | 9 | Would never be confused with Barney ! | This short is beautifully realized , with excellent animation and good production values . Sort of a fairy tale , but not a traditional one . Sort of Gary Larson meets the Brothers Grimm . I thought it was marvelous ! Well worth the trouble to track down . Recommended . |
579,923 | 583,640 | 55,223 | 9 | One of the musical cartoons that Warner Brothers usually did quite well and a very worthy effort | A nominee for an Oscar , this cartoon has excellent artwork , a great musical score and an entertaining premise to make it a most worthy effort indeed . A very cute cartoon that uses artwork to provide a counterpoint to the premise on occasion . The music alone would make it worth watching this one . Some of the jokes are rather dated , but it's still a very well done cartoon . Recommended . |
579,383 | 583,640 | 26,109 | 9 | This is Grampy's cartoon-Betty Boop is secondary | The Betty Boop series of shorts were wonderful Grampy is probably my favorite secondary character . Koko was probably the strongest supporting character in the series , but I like Grampy more . This is his cartoon , hands down . He did that more than once in the series . While not the best of the series , one of the better ones certainly . The bulk of the series is in print and available and well worth having . Recommended . |
579,201 | 583,640 | 35,529 | 9 | The evolution of Elmer Fudd | The major Warner Brothers characters , at least the early ones , evolved over time into the characters best known today . Bugs , Daffy , Porky and Tweety all started out looking quite different in the beginning . But perhaps the most involved and extensive changes were made by Elmer Fudd . He started out as Egghead , got a name change to Elmer and then a physical change of appearance not once , but twice ! This is the early , more rounded Elmer . Probably one of the best of the early Elmers and an excellent short . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,109 | 583,640 | 39,930 | 9 | The second of Tex Avery's " adaptations " of Uncle Tom's Cabin | Tex Avery paid an earlier visit to this territory , a mostly benign cartoon called " Uncle Tom's Bungalow " that is rarely seen due to some of the caricatures . This is a more full-blown Tex Avery cartoon-vintage Avery sight gags from start to finish . It also is seldom seen for fear of offending people . Somewhere along the line , possibly with the advent of television , it was decided that cartoons were for children . They are not , at least not solely , but in the United States , they are treated as such . This is a good cartoon . Not the best I've seen , but a good cartoon that should be seen . A bit rough in spots for kids , but no reason to bury it as though it were radioactive waste ! Well worth hunting down . Recommended . |
579,802 | 583,640 | 154,300 | 9 | One of a series of very short cartoons made as training films for the Army by Warner Brothers during WWII . | This is one of 28 short ( three to four minutes each , typically ) cartoons showing how NOT to be a good soldier and the potential consequences of doing or saying the wrong things . Targeted solely at servicemen , the language was far more graphic and animation more adult in nature on a few occasions . Censored is about the need to censor correspondence home so that the enemy doesn't pick up vital information from the seemingly innocuous , casual remark ( i . e . , troop movements , location , unit number , et cetera ) . Private Snafu is the world's worst soldier and the name is an acronym-Situation Normal , All Fouled Up being the kinder , gentler meaning given in polite parlance . Excellent series , well worth seeing . Highly recommended . |
579,167 | 583,640 | 146,461 | 9 | Although clearly influenced by Disney , also different enough to succeed on its own merit . | This short shows clear influences on the animators by the Disney short , The Band Concert . The styles of the two studios , however , were so markedly different that the two cartoons are both quite different and can both be enjoyed on their own merits . Excellent short well worth the time and effort to track down . Most recommended . |
579,189 | 583,640 | 148,246 | 9 | Oh , this is the story of Dangerous Dan , | I will be discussing some of the details of this short so there will be mild spoilers : This is one of my favorite Heckle and Jeckle shorts . One of the things which makes this cartoon special , at least for me , is the song that Heckle and Jeckle sing about the villain , Dangerous Dan , the first line of which opens the short and is also the summary line for this comment . The lyrics and the visuals on the screen often match up ( sometimes rather loosely ) , but the song itself is hilarious . There are also some very good visual gags , such as Dan riding up in a cloud of dust and when the cloud settles , you see he's pedaling a bicycle . Dan also eats a miniature barber pole in the manner that a child might eat a candy cane . Dan wants our heroes to " make me look pretty ! " and fires a shot to emphasize the point . Naturally , since this is a Heckle and Jeckle cartoon and not a Dangerous Dan short , he starts out at a disadvantage . Since he's also clearly the " bad guy " here , he's doomed , as Heckle and Jeckle almost invariably come out on top against the really bad guys in their shorts . The cartoon ends , appropriately enough , with Heckle and Jeckle singing the last verse of the " Dangerous Dan " song , with Dan considerably the worse for wear and quite unhappy . This is a thoroughly marvelous short and is well worth making the effort to try and find . Too bad that the Terrytoons aren't in print , so far as I know , anyway . Most recommended . |
579,121 | 583,640 | 24,285 | 9 | Spooky proof that the old cartoons were aimed at adults by adults . | This is a fascinating cartoon-sort of a cross between Skeleton Dance and the much later Brave Little Tailor . A dramatic , rather scary short in spots , with some incredible visuals throughout , but most particularly a long scene set in a tunnel . Disney did some exceptional work in the early 1930s and the quality is still clearly evident even some 70 years later . There is apparently a computer-colorized version skulking about . I haven't seen it and , to judge by the colorized early Mickey Mouse black and whites that I have seen , I hope I never have it inflicted on my retinas . Part of the scariness here is the use of shadows in the black and white background . Colorizing this lessens the impact of those shadows . Excellent cartoon with an early appearance by Pluto . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,834 | 583,640 | 39,711 | 9 | Thoroughly charming and engaging cartoon | This is one of the most delightful cartoons Disney made in the 1940s , as well as being a very effective showcase for Pluto . Good use of music as well . Nominated for an Oscar in 1947 , this shows up every so often on Disney Channel's The Ink and Paint Club . Recommended . |
578,881 | 583,640 | 45,550 | 9 | An example of Disney's neglect of a treasure trove . | This marvelous film , while occasionally being run in the wee hours on the Disney Channel , has been otherwise shoved to the back of the vault and for being woefully neglected , has suffered a much better fate than much of Disney's output in the 1940's and 1950's . Disney regularly put out one and two-reel shorts and documentaries back then and the majority probably haven't been seen in decades . Ben and Me is a case in point-not in print and rarely shown , while we get the umpteenth replay of Cosmic Capers-a good short , but with so much material available , why not air some less-seen stuff ? This film , for example , a funny take on Ben Franklin and why he accomplished so much . One wonders what Edison must have consulted with . Most recommended . |
579,742 | 583,640 | 47,437 | 9 | Wonderful film with a marvelous cast and an even better script | This film is an absolute delight from start to finish . Starring Audrey Hepburn sigh , who is perfect in the lead role of Sabrina , with excellent performances by William Holden and Humphrey Bogart as well and an absolute gem of a script to boot . Quite possibly the romantic comedy of all time ! Won the Oscar for the costumes , which are gorgeous ! I love this film ! ! Most recommended . |
579,413 | 583,640 | 29,700 | 9 | Who cares about a strike with Popeye and Bluto around ? | This is much cheaper than attending a major league game and more entertaining to boot , although at times it bears little resemblance to anything drawn up by Abner Doubleday . Olive has the best scene , right at the end . Great fun and worth watching . Recommended . |
579,416 | 583,640 | 58,420 | 9 | Nothing can catch the fastest mouse in all Mexico ! | This is one of the better later shorts from the DePatie-Freleng years . Sylvester goes high tech in his attempts to catch Speedy with no more success than he had chasing Tweety for so many years . Sylvester's not a terribly skilled predator or so it appears here . Fun , entertaining short with mediocre musical score , but worth watching . Recommended . |
579,785 | 583,640 | 150,462 | 9 | Excellent adaptation of the fairy tale with the vocal talent of the great Hans Conreid | This is a wonderful adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale , done with typical attention to detail by the UPA studio and featuring the voice of Hans Conreid . Given his rich and distinctive voice , it is hardly surprising that Conreid did quite a bit of voice work in animation , both narration and character acting . While never identified as the primary vocal talent for a studio , Conreid did work for most of them , particularly Lantz and Disney . He's perfect here , appropriately gullible and smarmy by turns . Well worth the effort to track down . Recommended . |
579,756 | 583,640 | 41,201 | 9 | I actually feel sorry for Brodie on more than one occasion here ! | This short would be very difficult to discuss without talking about specific details , so there be spoilers here : This short has far more funny lines than it has visual gags ( though there is one beautiful bit with a little dog expressing its opinion of Steve Brodie in a very visual and hilarious manner ) , with even Brodie getting a few good lines . Bugs is everywhere here ( literally ) as he makes Steve Brodie a very unhappy man through the course of the short . One of the funniest lines here is spoken by a disembodied voice , when Brodie first visits Swami Rabbitima : " Enter , O seeker of knowledge . . . ( pause ) . . . That's YOU , fathead ! " and Brodie is then struck on the head ! Brodie then drops into his very own nightmare-The Land of a Thousand Rabbits ( or perhaps just one a great many times ) . Along the way , he's bounced by a gorilla ( and not just any gorilla , but one wearing a starched collar ) called a masher , beaten by a cop and baked in an oven . Just one of those days , I guess ! There's a framing sequence which bookends the body of the short that's rather cute as well . This short is on Looney Tunes Golden Collection , Vol . 3 and is well worth getting . Recommended . |
579,686 | 583,640 | 85,478 | 9 | A character-driven movie , with Julie Walters easily in the driver's seat | This film is primarily character-oriented , although the script is quite good . As such , the leads must perform well or the film will die . They pull it off admirably . While Michael Caine is marvelous in his role , the part is one he could do in his sleep . Rita is the linch-pin role and Julie Waters carries the film , playing the role exceedingly well . Without a dynamic performance from her , you migh as well turn this into bookmarks . Recommended . |
579,527 | 583,640 | 57,339 | 9 | A very low-key and surprisingly effective animation from the National Film Board of Canada | This short , nominated for an Academy Award , at first blush , seems rather simplistic and a trifle trite and ordinary . Amusing but minor , which is atypical of the NFBC as a general rule . But it benefits from more than one viewing and its very low-key nature works in its favor . The sense of the ordinary that permeates the whole short makes the situation even more amusingly absurd each time you see it and you begin to find layers-kind of like peeling an onion . Definitely worth the effort to seek it out . Canadians have somewhat easier access to NFBC's productions than others do . There is a website that sells videos , but only persons residing in Canada can order online , though they do sell elsewhere . Most worthwhile . Highly recommended . |
579,532 | 583,640 | 148,314 | 9 | Delightful short in the Heckle and Jeckle series | This is a very good short in a series where the shorts tend to fit one of two basic categories-either Heckle and Jeckle are troublemakers and their adversaries are put-upon good guys , or Heckle and Jeckle are the good guys and their adversaries deserve the rough treatment they receive . This is an example of the latter type of short . There are a few exceptions , but that's how most of the shorts work out . I will be discussing some details , so this will serve as a spoiler warning : Heckle and Jeckle are in the demolition business . The house they are scheduled to wreck is the current hideout of a bad guy hiding from the police . As doors start disappearing and bathroom fixtures are being pulled from the walls , the crook begins to realize something is making his hiding place disappear around him . Eventually , he crosses paths with the two magpies and they start seriously trying to ruin his whole day ! They start doing things to a flight of stairs , among other things , until the crook winds up where he belongs and they drive off in their truck , singing , as they were when the short started . There are at least three shorts which have a " theme song " , if you will-this one , Hair Cut-ups and Blue Plate Symphony . All three are rather catchy tunes and the three are among the best the series has to offer . A most enjoyable cartoon and well worth hunting down . Recommended . |
579,319 | 583,640 | 37,831 | 9 | Marvelous short . One of his best . | This short is wonderful ! Take a pilgrim that sounds a lot like Droopy , add a turkey who sounds like Jimmy Durante , add a bear wearing a sandwich sign , let Tex Avery stir it all together and you have a great cartoon . Sight gags everywhere , especially the bear ( typical Avery running gag ) but beware ye old edited print off ye Cartoon Network-this is a classic . Most definitely worth looking for . Most recommended . |
579,687 | 583,640 | 37,828 | 9 | Excellent variation on Jack and the Beanstalk | George Pal did a series of shorts centeing on a character named Jasper . This one was nominated for an Academy Award and is a delightful re-telling of Jack and the Beanstalk . George Pal's shorts have all but vanished from public view , which is unfortunate , because they deserve to be seen . The disappearance of the Jasper shorts really saddens me , because they most likely have ( incorrectly ) vanished because of the racial content . Ironically , the Jasper shorts present blacks in a largely positive , non-stereotypical light for the most part and are very well done . Most recommended . |
579,475 | 583,640 | 154,347 | 9 | The very first appearance of Private Snafu , the unwitting best weapon-for the enemy . | The Private Snafu series was composed of training films made by various animators , directors and writers working for the Warner Brothers animation department ( I think MGM did a couple , but mostly it was the boys from Termite Terrace ) and they revolved around the worst soldier in the Army . The name Snafu is derived from an acronym of the phrase , " Situation Normal-All Fouled Up " ( this is the more socially acceptable variant ) and quite aptly describes our " hero " . This short serves as an introduction to the series , which was shown solely to the troops and is thus more risqué and the content quite often coarser and more colorful , like the standard version of the above-mentioned acronym . Excellent series well worth watching . Most recommended . |
578,858 | 583,640 | 28,123 | 9 | The trapper becomes the trapped ! | This is a very well done short which was directed by Frank Tashlin , who had the distinction of directing both animated shorts and live-action features . He did quite a bit , yet , to the general public , his name probably isn't as familiar as Chuck Jones's is , or perhaps Friz Freleng or Bob Clampett . His work was very good . As I will be commenting somewhat on this short , this is a spoiler warning : Porky Pig is the guardian of the animals in the woods and he puts up sign after sign , making trapping , fishing , hunting , fires ( and just about anything else ) illegal . So , of course , a trapper comes along , finds all the signs incredibly funny and does everything he isn't supposed to do . Here come two beavers ( probably brothers-they fight too much with each other to be friends ) who both try and get some fruit off a string placed above a trap . One of them gets caught and the other rushes off to find Porky . Porky frees the little beaver and quite a few other animals from various traps . There's a scene where the various animals go in one door of Porky's cabin with obvious injuries , only to come out another door with their injuries healed . The trapper discovers that all his traps have been sprung , but are empty and goes looking for whoever emptied his traps . He finds Porky and starts beating on him something fierce . An animal spots this and sends out a distress signal . Animals pour out of every corner of the woods to return the favor and rescue Porky . This is not a good time to be the trapper . He gets attacked from all sides by all kinds of animals and winds up trying to flee them on skis , with no luck ( he's even attacked by turtles-in snow , no less ! ) . He finally winds up buried upside down in the snow and there is much rejoicing . The final gag is cute . This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection , Volume 4 , which is a very good set , just like the three earlier releases . Recommendations for both this short and the whole collection . |
579,338 | 583,640 | 25,321 | 9 | Iwerks near his best on his own . | Ub Iwerks was a technical genius , but often plots and story were afterthoughts . Exceptionally visual cartoons not needing much plotting work splendidly , while those needing strong characterization , story or plot fare less well as a rule . This one is an exception to that . Visually excellent and technically superb , this is also engaging and has fascinating characters and a good plot . Iwerks was creative in his own area of expertise and one of the reasons that Iwerks and Walt Disney worked so well together was that their strengths were complementary to one another . This is Iwerks Studios near their best . Absolutely beautiful short , it's good to see this in print . Well worth getting . Recommended . |
579,186 | 583,640 | 27,233 | 9 | Visually very impressive , particularly Olive cheering on the sidelines . | Fleischer Studios , particularly in the early years , did some extremely visually well-crafted cartoons . Most of the more unusual ones were Koko the Clown and Betty Boop shorts , but there were a number of Popeye shorts that are notable for great visual bits too . The most interesting ones here are Popeye giving new meaning to the nickname " Crazylegs " and Olive doing a cheer on the sidelines for Bluto ( yes , Bluto-Olive is fickle , remember ? ) that reveals she's a contortionist . While not as good as Football Toucher Downer , this has its moments and a running gag that features Wimpy . What else can you ask for ? There is a colorized version . The black and white is superior . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,851 | 583,640 | 25,332 | 9 | Who would have thought that elves were so partial to doughnuts ? | This short , nominated for an Academy Award , is an adaptation of the fairy tale about the shoemaker and the elves . It's one of Lantz studios musical shorts and features a lot of the basic sight gags that have become so familiar if you've watched any of the adaptations of this particular story before . Good cartoon , well animated and entertaining , especially for those who really like doughnuts ! Worth watching . Recommended . |
579,134 | 583,640 | 34,127 | 9 | The best of the Barney Bear cartoons-it's hilarious ! | The Barney Bear cartoons were more silly than funny for the most part . The most interesting thing about them is the fact that the character was purportedly inspired by actor Wallace Beery , a big star in the 1930s and early 1940s . You can see similarities between the two . This is the best of the series and is wonderfully done . It was deservedly nominated for a Oscar for Animated Short . Poor Barney goes through a basic training concocted by de Sade ! Probably not that far from real basic training at that ! Highly recommended . |
579,896 | 583,640 | 117,542 | 9 | This one is unusual even for Richard Condie ! | Richard Condie has made a living from rather strange and eccentric ( to put it mildly ) shorts . This one , nominated for an Academy Award , is the strangest one I've seen to date . Sung as an aria , in Italian , I think , the subtitles are often hilarious and the short is excellent , if quite bizarre ! Look for it , by all means . Highly recommended . |
579,721 | 583,640 | 64,064 | 9 | Probably more laughs per second than any other film ever ! | Seeing as this cartoon is very short ( I wouldn't be at all surprised if the opening title and closing credits run longer than the body of the cartoon itself ) , there are probably more laughs per second here than anything else ever done . The music is perfect , the credits are hilarious and if I write much more , this comment will come dangerously close to taking longer to read aloud than the running time of the cartoon . Bambi should have prepared more for this meeting . Highly recommended . |
579,332 | 583,640 | 37,956 | 9 | Formative Pepe Le Pew cartoon and another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences . | This short , a formative cartoon featuring Pepe Le Pew , concerns a cat who thinks he'll solve all his problems by pretending to be a skunk . Trouble is , he attracts the most unwelcome attention of an honest and for truly skunk ( our hero , Pepe , entering stage left ) being decidedly more attentive , shall we say , than M . Cat would like . Every great plan has its drawbacks , but this one's a corker ! I wonder if Jack Warner got a call from the Hays Office over the fact that Pepe and the object of his adoration were both male . After all , Betty Boop was in part responsible for the Production Code coming into existance . Subsequent " conquests " were clearly and most definitely female . Very good cartoon , but Pepe is a character who works better as the focal point , rather than supporting . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,088 | 583,640 | 469,146 | 9 | Excellent animation style which suits the story being told very well . | This short , which was nominated for an Academy Award , is a form of stop-motion where the figures are primarily shot in silhouette to make them darker and to heighten the overall mood of terror and suspense . The technique is perfectly suited to the story being told , which has so many literary and cinematic influences that its hard to know where to begin . In addition to the more obvious suspects ( Poe , Verne , Wells , et cetera ) I would also add Bram Stoker and a sub-genre of Science Fiction / Fantasy called " steampunk " , which Lucas himself has cited as an influence . Novels like The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling and Lord Kelvin's Machine by James P . Blaylock ( both highly recommended , though not as dark as Morello , if you like the basic idea of a high ( er ) - tech Victorian England ) are excellent examples of " steampunk " and I would be a bit surprised if Lucas hasn't read at least one or both . The feel is certainly there . One warning : this is NOT a short for children , especially young children . There are at least two scenes unsuited for anyone younger than 12 or 13 . This is available on an all-region DVD made in Australia . Most highly recommended . |
579,498 | 583,640 | 27,212 | 9 | One of Disney's better shorts from the 1930's | Although this short lost the Oscar to another Disney cartoon ( Three Orphan Kittens ) , it's actually got a lot more going for it than the winner . An adaptation of the old nursery rhyme ( very loose adaptation , as is typical of Disney ) , there's a lot going on here . Mae West isn't the only parody here . Hollywood would be parodied quite a bit by both Disney and Warner Brothers in cartoons . Well worth your time . Recommended . |
579,429 | 583,640 | 45,033 | 9 | Imagine-Mister Magoo as baby-sitter ! | This short was nominated for an Oscar and is one of the better Magoo cartoons produced by UPA for theatrical release . A typical Magoo short , it places Magoo in a situation that makes his nearsightedness an issue and a series of comical circumstances arising from that shortcoming ensues . The Magoo cartoons have lately been targeted as being insensitive and degrading . Somewhere along the way we've lost our senses of perspective and humor . I'm glad to see some of the Magoos in print . Recommended . |
579,441 | 583,640 | 69,281 | 9 | Really a two actor tour de force | This film is really all about Michael Caine and Sir Laurence Olivier . While the script is excellent and with fine direction , if the two leads aren't dead spot on , the film dies . Despite a tendency to ham it up a bit on occasion , Caine and Olivier are solid most of the film . The ending is a real shocker as well . The byplay between the two is worth watching all by itself as they try and steal scenes from each other ! Most recommended . |
579,282 | 583,640 | 34,077 | 9 | Not so much a remake of Sock-a-bye Baby as it is a variation on a theme . | The Fleischers , toward the end of the studio's existence , for whatever reason , chose to do one or two thematically similar shorts that copied ( somewhat ) earlier shorts in the Popeye series . Given that Famous Studios practically strip-mined the old Fleischers for ideas ( and usually just pointed up how poor their shorts were in comparison ) , Max and Dave can be given some slack here . Particularly as this cartoon is perhaps slightly better , given that it has Jack Mercer and a funnier ending . The animation is superb , though the sight gags in the earlier short are more effective . Both are very good work . Well worth seeking out . Most recommended . |
578,826 | 583,640 | 36,264 | 9 | I wonder if Uncle Walt knew what he was starting ? | When Disney did the first The Three Little Pigs , I wonder if he knew he was starting a cottage industry at the very least and The Animators Lifetime Employment Act at most . I suspect more different animators have taken a turn at the Pigs than any other characters in the history of animation . There have been military takes ( Blitz Wolf ) , Pigs as con artists ( a meeting with Bugs Bunny ) and musical takes , like this one . This is one of the better uses of classical music tied to animation ( the best short to do so is Rhapsody in Rivets ) , with the action on screen fitted to the corresponding musical scoring . This was nominated for an Oscar and periodically plays on Cartoon Network . Recommended . |
579,098 | 583,640 | 71,484 | 9 | Proof that Thoreau was right ! | This cartoon , a product of the National Film Board of Canada , tells the story of a family living contentedly on their own until the outside world mistakenly believes they need " help " . Watching this cartoon , I remembered something Henry David Thoreau once said , " If I knew that a man were coming to my home with the fixed intention of doing me good , I would flee for my very life . " Good deeds are often a mixed blessing for all parties . First , above all , do no harm . Highly recommended . |
579,541 | 583,640 | 67,073 | 9 | Darwin made funny ! | This short , nominated for an Academy Award , is admittedly not incredible . You will not be awed by it nor will you be stirred or moved . That said , it is screamingly funny ! ! I found it delightful and a pleasure to watch ! Another excellent production of the National Film Board of Canada ! Most recommended . |
579,897 | 583,640 | 38,115 | 9 | The updated story of the Nativity-with a little Christmas Carol twist tossed in . | This short , which won an Academy Award , is a modern day variant on the Nativity , complete with a Scrooge , wonderfully done by J . Carroll Naish . This short was a marvelous vehicle for this veteran character actor and he shines in the spotlight . This short runs on Turner Classic Movies between films , with Christmas Eve and Day as natural opportunities to catch this at least once . It's a longish short , but most definitely worth the time and effort to catch . Most recommended . |
579,337 | 583,640 | 44,840 | 9 | The tale of the biter bit . | The whole premise of the Pepe Le Pew cartoons is based on a whopping bit of irony-a French skunk styling himself as " the great lover " ( think Charles Boyer squared ) but , for reasons obvious to everyone save himself , he finds it difficult to get a date on Saturday nights . Like a great many would-be Lotharios , when the tables turn , Pepe turns chicken and runs . A very funny cartoon , with a joke that will be particularly enjoyable for horse racing fans , at least older ones anyway . One party-pooper note : by law ( unless it's been changed ) French nationals cannot join the French Foreign Legion , which , given the name , should be stunningly obvious . Well worth tracking down . Recommended . |
578,771 | 583,640 | 27,371 | 9 | Formative Porky cartoon-formative Avery too | This is an early Tex Avery , with Avery still feeling his way . The cartoon is actually more cute than menacing and Avery seems to have more fun with the villain than with our hero , the rather hefty Porky ( this was a formative cartoon , when they were still fiddling around with character design and Porky carried a good deal more weight then ) , with Porky's role limited to one running gag and the payoff at the end . This is a cute cartoon and there are quite a few sight gags , but pacing is slower and the gags are more repetitive in nature and form than later Avery shorts . Avery taking baby steps . But I like this one a lot , personally . The original black and white is far superior to the later colorized version ( usually true , but in this case , the use of shadows originally makes colorizing this one an especially bad idea ) , so try and catch the black and white . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,543 | 583,640 | 71,636 | 9 | Very good and quite disturbing | This short , produced by the National Film Board of Canada , was nominated for an Academy Award . Once you've seen it , you'll see why . Not easily forgotten , although you may wish to . The choice of animation styles was made , I suspect , deliberately , in order to keep viewers off-balance . It's a perfect choice . A thought-provoking , extremely unsettling look at hunger in many forms . If you are easily disturbed or offended , this probably isn't for you . Otherwise , highly recommended . |
578,900 | 583,640 | 20,752 | 9 | Mickey , we hardly knew ye ! | The early Mickey Mouse cartoons show a Mickey different from the solid , dependable mouse we've grown to know in his later years . Could it be that , in his formative years , Mickey was a scamp and a rapscallion ? Actually , Mickey displays the same irreverence the Marx Brothers display and The Chain Gang is a prime example . Very good cartoon and one that will see print again . It surely deserves to and soon . Well worth tracking down . Recommended . |
579,862 | 583,640 | 29,546 | 9 | Music by Gershwin , dancing by Astaire and Rogers , with Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore in tow | This film ( one of the better ones Astaire and Rogers did ) probably doesn't get quite the praise it merits because Top Hat and The Gay Divorcee are so widely praised ( rightly so ) . But this movie is equally well executed and any movie that has in it's score the songs , " Shall We Dance " , " Let's Call the Whole Thing Off " and especially " They Can't Take That Away " deserves to be warmly remembered . There's a score by Gershwin , dancing by Astaire , Rogers and others and Edard Everett Horton and Eric Blore in support ( they appeared in so many of the Astaire-Rogers films that their casting must have been legally required ! ) . Well worth your time . Recommended . |
579,396 | 583,640 | 38,060 | 9 | The very best of the Screwy Squirrel cartoons and vintage Avery | This is the best of the Screwy Squirrel shorts . I am convinced that Tex Avery wanted to design the prototypical Avery character , did so , then revved it up about 180 RPM faster and Screwy was born ! Screwy's motto seems to be , " Let's not push the limits-destroy them instead ! " To say he is outside the rules is to mistakenly believe that he admits the rules even exist ! Sight gags come fast and furious with Screwy and even the form and nature of conventional cartooning isn't safe ! Tex Avery was a mad genius ! Actually , that last is a redundancy or there is no such thing ! The final frame and it's a strike ! A perfect game ! Most recommended . |
579,581 | 583,640 | 38,260 | 9 | One of Danny Kaye's best films | Danny Kaye ( with a good deal of assistance from his wife Sylvia Fine , who wrote most of his musical numbers ) was one of the finest musical comedians ever and is in fine form here in one of his best vehicles . He plays twin brothers and is quite manic at times . The special effects deservedly won an Oscar and the musical numbers are great ! Especially the one during the opera . The Marx Brothers aside , opera has never been more fun ! This film is a treat and is most happily recommended ! |
578,814 | 583,640 | 152,771 | 9 | Early Pete Smith Short | This short , nominated for an Academy Award , is a very early short narrated by Pete Smith . It is fairly representative of the style of short he would become noted for : broadly comic narration , good camera work and effects for a short subject and covering a somewhat offbeat topic in a comical , somewhat jocular manner . Turner Classic Movies runs this as filler between features occasionally and virtually every March for the 31 Days of Oscar . Not his best but well worth catching . Recommended . |
579,484 | 583,640 | 36,052 | 9 | Very funny , quite verbal short with possibly the lowest wattage bulb Bugs ever crossed carrots with ! | The giant in this one has got to be the dumbest adversary Bugs has ever faced . Even Beaky Buzzard is brighter . However , lost in all this is the fact that the giant is actually the aggrieved party here . Bugs is stealing from his garden in the beginning . Granted , Bugs is our hero and the giant isn't the shiniest pebble in the pond , but there are property rights to consider . This is mostly verbal gags , with a few sight gags involved for timing purposes , I'd expect . Lots of very funny gags here , with the obligatory reference gags to World War II here , naturally . The duel between Bugs and the giant is beautifully executed and the closing sequence is great ! Well worth watching . Most recommended . |
578,847 | 583,640 | 49,069 | 9 | One of the rare shorts with Donald versus Chip an ' Dale that worked for me | Normally , Donald and Chip an ' Dale in a short together is like nails across a chalkboard for me . They just don't mesh well as far as I'm concerned . But this one works for me . It's funny and a plausible conflict between them exists here for a change . Entertaining and engaging . Well worth watching , this runs on The Ink and Paint Club periodically . Recommended . |
579,140 | 583,640 | 46,908 | 9 | The first of four encounters ( five if you're a stickler ) between Bugs and Taz | This is the first of four ( or five , if you include a cartoon done in 1979 as part of a special half-hour Christmas cartoon ) battles between Bugs and the Tasmanian Devil and in many ways it's the best of them . While Taz is really a one-note character in these and was only in five cartoons between 1954 and 1964 , the cartoons are all very good . The ones with Bugs pretty much all revolve around Taz's efforts to have rabbit added to his diet . Mostly sight gags , mainly revolving around food , but Taz has some good lines , particularly in the effort . The ending on this one is very funny . Recommended . |
578,870 | 583,640 | 29,426 | 9 | Tex Avery's importance to Warner Brothers ( and animation ) is evident | This cartoon was the start for Daffy Duck . So Tex Avery played a significant part in the development of Bugs Bunny , Daffy Duck , Porky Pig and developed the character ( Egghead ) who grew into Elmer Fudd . This is a good short to watch to see how Avery and Clampett worked together . Not a seminal cartoon , save for Daffy , but well worth watching . Tex Avery was a very successful man , who by all accounts , was never really sure he ever managed to do much of lasting importance . Most assuredly , he did quite a bit . Recommended . |
579,155 | 583,640 | 62,353 | 9 | Excellent cartoon from the National Film Board of Canada | This short , nominated for an Academy Award , is a very funny and very pointed satire that really deserves to be more widely seen than it has been . Produced under the auspices of the NFBC , it scores points in quite a few areas , lampooning aspects of modern culture . Produced in 1967 , the points it makes are just as cogent and valid today . Until recently , Cartoon Network showed this occasionally on the very late-night series , O Canada , which , sadly , is not currently airing . Cartoons are not just for children and much of the output from the National Film Board of Canada shows that they understand this . Try and catch this somewhere if you can . It's most definitely worth seeing . Most recommended . |
579,634 | 583,640 | 106,387 | 9 | A much better film than it's generally thought to be | This film , though by no means a masterpiece , is quite a bit better than most seem to think . The cast is excellent , particularly Depp , Quinn and Platt . Masterson is quite good , although at times , her character is treated as an afterthought . I suspect that part of the reason this is less well thought of than it deserves is that it's a quiet , off-beat romantic comedy with characters a bit too odd for most people's comfort . Most people don't react well to " different " in real life , let alone films . Very well-done and worth watching . |
579,928 | 583,640 | 46,917 | 9 | One of the best Droopy's and a somewhat atypical Tex Avery cartoon | This short by Avery is somewhat different from his normal approach of firing as many sight gags at the audience as possible as rapidly as possible . There is actually something of a story here and the jokes principally flow from the premise of a dog who loves Dixieland jazz . There are some beautiful scenes hee and the connection of music and animation is great , particularly in one portion of a chase sequence ! Most recommended |
579,612 | 583,640 | 35,981 | 9 | Worth watching for the music and Eric Blore | This short won the Oscar for 2-reelers and its understandable . The concept is a trifle cute but the music is worth the price of admission and Eric Blore ( familiar to anyone who's watched just about any Astaire and Rogers film ) does a marvelous job here . Entertaining , if lightweight and well-executed for the most part . Turner Classic Movies runs this occasionally as filler and runs it in March as part of their " 31 Days of Oscar " festival . Recommended . |
579,150 | 583,640 | 64,284 | 9 | The most unusual short I've seen yet from the National Film Board of Canada ( possible spoiler ) | This short is difficult to discuss with a possible spoiler , so I give you fair warning and thus proceed . Nominated for an Academy Award , this short is most aptly titled . It consists of several people walking . This is one of the oddest productions I have yet seen produced by the NFBC , which is quite a statement in itself . An interesting work and quite well-animated and worth watching if you really like esoteric animation . This will either bore you silly or fascinate you . With that caveat , most recommended |
579,479 | 583,640 | 46,922 | 9 | Sylvester , Tweety up a tree , surrounded by a do pound full of bulldogs-it isn't pretty for Sylvester ! | This is a series of set pieces called blackouts , all revolving on Sylvester's increasingly outlandish , generally painfully futile , attempts to get to a supremely well-guarded Tweety . I doubt Fort Knox is much safer than Tweety is from Sylvester in this one . Animals in cartoons are certainly an inventive and quite resourceful lot ! Mostly sight gags with a couple of funny lines . The closing gag snatches defeat from the jaws of victory with a cameo from a prominent member of the principal stable of characters who is definitely more than Sylvester can handle . The final line from Tweety is a groaner , but this is a wonderful short . Well worth watching . Most recommended |
579,603 | 583,640 | 49,131 | 9 | Amusing takeoff on Holmes and Watson | This cartoon , while not as funny as Boobs in the Woods , most certainly has its moments . Pay attention to the drink orders in the pub and watch Porky in his scenes . Daffy is even more of a twit here than normal , but that's part of his charm . The cartoon is an affectionate takeoff on the Sherlock Holmes stories with an achingly bad last line . All in all , a very enjoyable effort . Well worth watching , although I'm not sure Sir Arthur or many Baker Street Irregulars would be as amused as I am . |
578,803 | 583,640 | 53,714 | 9 | After seeing this , a few points need to be made | This documentary ( and it is a documentary , not a docudrama ) won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature and deserved to win . There are a number of things in this documentary which could be most unsettling to the faint-hearted , so not only is this a spoiler warning , but some of what I cover may be disturbing , so be forewarned : This documentary covers the trek of a scientific mission to try and map the uncharted area of the island of New Guinea . It starts out with the team flying in and features the only bit of forced drollery in the beginning with a comment about one guy's evident interest in the air hostess . In the main , the narration is on point and informative . Evidently , some do not grasp a basic and essential reality , to judge by some of the comments I've seen , so I have a few observations to make here . One , the company numbered over seventy when they met up with their porters . They initially planned to make as much of the trip to the base of the mountains ( the climbing portion of the expedition ) by water , which would allow them to carry more supplies , including food , for a longer part of the trip , but had to change plans and go on foot , trying to carry as much of their equipment and supplies as they could . It is practically impossible for enough food to be carried by men traveling on foot on a journey of that length for a period of five to seven months , even if all they carried was food . So they either have to be able to live off the land ( which they did , to a degree , though when anything you don't recognize could prove lethal if consumed , this has practical limits ) or someone has to drop supplies like food and medicine to you . That's just a practical reality of this kind of project . Second , on a trip like this , everyone pitches in-no one , unless they are ill , is dead weight . It's just a practical necessity . Everyone had to carry their own weight . Third , they were encountering tribes which could as easily decided to kill them as interact with them . The skulls and bones weren't decorative props on a movie set . They were very real . They faced danger most of the time they were out there , in one form or another-from sheer drops in the higher elevations to wild animals to being swept away in the rapids when attempting to cross the rivers . This was not a walk in the park . I am in awe of the individuals who took this trip , both for their physical efforts and the hardships they ( willingly ) undertook ( which I could not do ) and for their behavior towards the tribes they encountered there . They weren't condescending and , apart from the understandable and ( at least to me ) justifiable horror at the clear evidence of cannibalism , the observations of the customs were remarkably free from judgment and were respectful . This is available on DVD , along with the film Black and White In Color and the DVD is well worth having . Most recommended . |
579,629 | 583,640 | 96,258 | 9 | Sick , twisted and hilarious short ! | This has got to be one of the sickest cartoons I've seen in my life ! It's also hilariously funny . Our " hero " is repulsive to an extreme and at times I was cheering for the thing referred to in the title . But this is a very well-done piece of animation . Just bring your sense of humour . Those easily offended by the coarse ( i . e . , Andrew " Dice " Clay ) should avoid this by all means . Recommended to those with a fondness for animation AND with a strong stomach . |
578,952 | 583,640 | 131,409 | 9 | Excellent and very funny short | This short won the Academy Award for Animated Short and probably deserved to win . The detail is impressive , but secondary . The plot is marvelous and the character of Geri is well developed . If you've seen Toy Story 2 , Geri makes a " cameo " appearance as the toy repairman . All in all , a remarkable piece of work . Available on some copies of A Bug's Life VHS and DVD and well worth seeking out . Recommended . |
578,910 | 583,640 | 27,397 | 9 | Wherein the honorable oversigned discusses a favorite short and also his philosophy on comments . | This Popeye is one of my favorite shorts and my pick for one of the better ones in the series . My favorite character , one J . Wellington Wimpy , is prominently featured ( with an amusing twist on his own well-known catch-phrase ) and Bluto is smarmy , rude and surly , even for Bluto . A little something for almost everyone in this one . A little gem . Well worth watching and most recommended . I've heard from a fair number of people about some of my specific comments , but also occasionally on my comments in general . So I decided to put down my approach to comments in general : As a rule , I confine my comments to things I have ( though there are exceptions ) and to things I have liked ( also with exceptions ) . Thus , there will be very few killer comments . Even when something I want to review doesn't quite work for me , I will say what I liked as well as what I didn't and leave it as an exercise to the reader to decide if it interests them . Different people like different things . Finally , I tend to review animated shorts , as animation tends to get short shrift , even here at the IMDb . There you have it , ladies and gentleducks . For any who are curious ( all three of you in the balcony ) , that's my policy on comments . |
579,053 | 583,640 | 27,401 | 9 | Brotherly love , as only Popeye could teach it , in all his glory . | Somehow , I doubt that Gandhi would recognize the conclusion of this short as a good example of brotherly love ! A very funny cartoon , well executed and true to the character's nature . Olive is in her typically " fine " voice , as is Popeye , in the singing of the title song . Very good cartoon , if a tad obvious in spots . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,921 | 583,640 | 42,569 | 9 | Tom and Jerry conduct an orchestra with typical hi-jinks . | Tom is conducting an orchestra when Jerry , complete with tuxedo and baton , comes out and wants to do some conducting also . Typical Tom and Jerry chaos erupts periodically amidst the classical music wafting around them . The blend of music and mayhem is inspiring ! An excellent cartoon , for the most part . Cartoon Network runs this one reasonably often . Most recommended . |
579,456 | 583,640 | 42,573 | 9 | The first of two where Bugs is bothered by a construction worker | This is the first of two cartoons where a thoroughly obnoxious and unlikable construction worker tramples on our stalwart hero , with generally hilarious results ( though the construction worker was probably less than happy about it all ) . The second of the two , No Parking Hare , is slightly better , but both are marvelous and are well worth watching . This one is happily available . Recommended . |
578,915 | 583,640 | 29,370 | 9 | One of a handful of Popeye shorts where Olive's affections are not a point of contention to fight over . | This is a comparatively rare short , in that Popeye and Bluto aren't fighting over the " honor " of having Olive Oyl for a girlfriend ( a battle which never ceases to amaze me-Olive is a vain , shrewish , flighty and not terribly intelligent woman . But then Popeye and Bluto aren't prizes either . C'est le vie . ) but rather Bluto's questionable business tactics . Window washer Bluto creates work by splashing mud far and wide . Popeye one ups him at his stock and trade and the battle for the ages has another , very funny and quite creative installment . Having temporarily de-commissioned the U . S . S . Popeye and ever the gentleman , introduces his hands to her neck , but Popeye eats his vegetable and rides to the rescue . Excellent short , well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,453 | 583,640 | 42,583 | 9 | A very funny short-particularly the ending-slight spoiler . | This short is a very good example of the 1950s Bugs Bunny cartoon-a mix of sight gags and verbal jokes . Bugs is still having problems with primates . Here , they're a bit farther down the evolutionary ladder than , say , Elmer or Yosemite Sam . The best line in the short is at the end . Trivia note : slight spoiler here . Petrillo was the president of the American Federation of Musicians at the time , which was a major union , probably THE union for musicians . |
579,910 | 583,640 | 22,604 | 9 | Koko and Bimbo just can't win here at all ! | This short had to be done pre-code , because it wouldn't have been worth doing if you have to change much to make it " decent " . Koko and Bimbo both try to impress Betty , but they make an unfortunate error and try to give her what she says she wants-a dangerous move to make with most women . This is the place where a comment about fickleness in general and Betty Boop in particular , would belong , but visions of irate women armed with torches and pitchforks descending on my residence like extras in Frankenstein give me pause and , as with all noble cowards , discretion is my chosen course , so instead , I'll make an observation about people in general saying one thing but changing their minds about it later . Koko and Bimbo are in for something of a surprise in the end here . The moral here , kiddies . is to always have a backup plan for when things ( almost inevitably ) go differently than you planned . In print and available . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
578,969 | 583,640 | 22,715 | 9 | Very good Bosko short featuring a little monster named Wilber ! | This is one of the better Bosko shorts , with some very good sight gags and a slight wisp of a plot . There will be a discussion of some details below , so this is a spoiler warning : Bosko is working in his store and virtually all of his movements are in time to music . He actually dances through much of the short . The cartoon essentially is in two halves-before the advent of Wilber and after him . The short has some funny gags after Wilber comes in , but the most enjoyable part is before his appearance . Bosko has to contend with a bologna eating dachshund that becomes like a concertina and a little mouse making a prank telephone call . He dances with a broom as he sweeps the walk in front of his store . There's some very nice stuff in the first three minutes or so . And then comes Wilber . Wilber is the prime argument in favor of birth control . He makes Damien from the Omen look like Buster Brown . Wilber comes down to the store with Honey and proceeds to cause trouble , first with a rude remark to Honey and then by systematically trying to destroy Bosko's store ( and probably Bosko into the bargain ) . Bosko must have the stamina of Wile E . Coyote in this one . Gags involving bananas and molasses figure prominently and the final gag ( involving barbed wire ) looks painful and is priceless . I truly hope this short eventually makes it onto a Looney Tunes Golden Collection in the future and the sooner the better . Most recommended . |
578,973 | 583,640 | 22,714 | 9 | Funny short with some cute bits surrounding the attempts to hide for a surprise party | This is a very entertaining Bosko short , centering on a surprise party for Honey . I want to talk about some of the gags below , so this will serve as a spoiler warning : Bosko shows up at Honey's house , where a surprise party is being planned . Honey is dressing upstairs ( delicately moving behind a screen-with a mirror reflecting her while she changes ) . Honey's dog greets Bosko so enthusiastically that Bosko is afraid he'll tip off Honey . Much of the early part of the short deals with the attempts of guests to hide . A large pig tries to hide under a bed , in the process revealing what looks like a mouse hiding in a chamberpot . Bosko deflates the pig so that he'll fit under the bed . The little obnoxious cat ( Wilber ) keeps trying to hide in places which are already occupied-Bosko finally covers him with a flowerpot . Intercut with scenes of animals trying to hide are shots of Honey strolling down the upstairs hallway heading downstairs . Honey is surprised by her guests and given her gift by Bosko-a ukulele , which leads to the almost obligatory musical number ( I don't recognize the song and the lyrics aren't too clear ) . The final gag has Wilber managing to turn everything upside down . I hope this makes it onto a future Looney Tunes Golden Collection . Well worth finding . Recommended . |
579,970 | 583,640 | 22,711 | 9 | Very good Bosko short , with a fair number of really good gags involving animals . | This is one of my favorite Bosko shorts . It has some nice animation , a lot of nice visual gags and the timing is fairly good here . I want to discuss some of the bits in this one , so there will be some slight spoilers in my comments below : As the title suggests , the first part of this short takes place at a lumberjack camp ( either that , or it's an ax lover's convention ) and the first scenes have various critters chopping and / or sawing down trees . There are some nice visual gags in the first minute or two . We first encounter Bosko in silhouette ( which is more impressive than Bosko in person is ) . He chops down a small tree , which has a very elaborate death scene-aided and abetted by Bosko . Bosko ( who seems almost to dance instead of walk in almost every short ) then is seen having encounters with a moose and a skunk before Honey brings him his lunch , which Bosko eats with an exaggerated gusto which is faintly disquieting . Enter the villain of the piece-another lumberjack , first seen eating a sandwich made of two pieces of wood and nails for the filling . He spots Honey and decides he wants " a big kiss " , so he hauls her up a rope . Bosko notices she's gone only after she screams and we're then treated to gags involving Bosko's failed attempts to rescue Honey . Eventually , the bad guy makes a run for it ( figuratively and literally ) in his canoe , leaving Bosko to give chase on a log which suddenly sprouts a sculling crew of mice with oars and Bosko starts calling out the stroke count ! There's a really nice visual bit toward the end of the water chase that I won't spoil here . The bad guy takes Honey to his cabin , where a moose head mounted on the wall as a gun rack acquits itself better in defending Honey's honor than Bosko has so far . Bosko comes in and doesn't initially do any better at the cabin than he did back at the camp , at one point sliding across the room and under a bed , to emerge with a " crown " which looks suspiciously like the top of a broken chamberpot ! In the end ( as Bosko is , of course , the star here ) he beats the bad guy and Honey calls him her hero and there is a suitable closing gag . I truly hope this one makes it onto a Looney Tunes Golden Collection in the very near future-I really like it and think it's one of the better Bosko shorts . Most recommended . |
579,917 | 583,640 | 80,928 | 9 | Very good movie with some excellent performances and good scriptwriting ( great ending ! ) | Let me start out first with a bit of a disclaimer : I am disabled , so I was either going to love this movie or hate it , depending on how real things seemed to me . So my comments have to be seen in that light . Here goes : This is a very good film , with a good cast , some excellent performances and I love the script . But the thing that impresses me the most about this film is its portrayal of the disabled . They come across as average , normal people-sometimes they're jerks , like most people and sometimes they're nice folks , like most people . There is nothing inherently heroic about being disabled . Conversely , the disabled should not be hermetically sealed off from society for their protection ( or yours ) . All too often , peole make assumptions about people and far too many are made about the disabled . End of sermon . The other thing I like about this film , although it is admittedly a bit too pat , is the ending of a couple of plot threads . Suffice it to say that Several of the characters get what they deserve , good and bad . I love the poetic justice ( or karma , if you prefer ) at the end , in the basketball arena . Most recommended . |
579,492 | 583,640 | 187,859 | 9 | Well-done , fascinating documentary about following your heart and a dream . | This documentary follows Paul Pena , a blind blues musician ( and the songwriter behind Jet Airliner , a hit for the Steve Miller Band ) and a group of friends to a place called Tuva for a competition in " throatsinging " , which Pena had come across and decided to learn . The documentary is a fascinating look at Tuva ( part of Mongolia now under Russian control ) , " throatsinging " ( an acquired taste , but worth hearing at least once ) and Paul Pena's adventures on the trip as well as his feelings about the whole thing . Most recommended . |
579,995 | 583,640 | 31,429 | 9 | Entertaining , enjoyable one-shot cartoon | This short is a one-shot , that is to say that the characters and situation were not continuing as part of a series , but principally just the one cartoon . It's a thoroughly engaging and entertaining short with excellent use of music ( more or less automatic for Warner Brothers animation for most of their existence ) as is appropriate , given the title . Pinto Colvig is best known to most people as the voice of Goofy , but did a fair amount of voice work elsewhere . Well worth seeking out . Most recommended |
578,914 | 583,640 | 1,527 | 9 | Easily one of the most . . . unusual shorts I've ever encountered and well worth seeing | This short is a puzzlement . Words fail me here , as this is almost indescribable , Technically exceptional after more than 90 years ( the visuals are remarkable and even occasionally amazing ) , this is not something you watch if you like things that are mundane or " normal'-because it most certainly is not either . This be an odd one , gang . Well worth checking out , but if things like Ren and Stimpy make your head hurt , you may want to skip this . Recommended . |
579,927 | 583,640 | 96,454 | 9 | Most excellent comic turn on the Sherlock Holmes saga . The game's afoot ! | This is one of Michael Caine's funniest performances and he and Ben Kingsley worked quite well together . The supporting cast is top-notch as well . Jeffry Jones as LeStrade is very good and Peter Cook has a fine supporting turn . As for the premise-that Holmes was a front for Watson , given the fact that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was himself a physician and that he grew so sick of Holmes he tried to kill him off , I suspect he would have enjoyed the whole thing enormously . Twists and turns throughout , as a good mystery should and enough comedy to keep you laughing . Some interesting twists at the end . Poor LeStrade ! Recommended . |
579,908 | 583,640 | 22,668 | 9 | Betty Boop in a grass skirt and doing a hula dance | This is a great cartoon featuring Betty in all her glory . There is a phrase , " Anything can happen in a cartoon " and that describes the early Fleischers in general and the Betty Boop series in particular . These cartoons are animated insanity in some cases and are quite engaging for the viewer , because anything ( well , almost anything ) is likely to happen and the charm is trying to catch lots of little things . In print and available . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,981 | 583,640 | 79,079 | 9 | This short starts out in a humorous vein , turns bittersweet and then has a tender , touching ending | I recently saw this film on the DVD released by Rembrandt Films , The Best of Zagreb Film-Nudity Required . I want to talk about the short in some detail , so there will be a spoiler or two-consider yourself warned : I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this , so I went in expecting nothing at all , to be honest . After the first minute or two , I figured it would be a comical farce detailing one slightly brow-beaten little man's misadventures with a blow-up doll . Much of the short , we watch the poor man's life disintegrate because of his interactions with a doll which seems to have a mind of its own . The guy pretty much loses everything , at one point , except the doll and we see him establishing a " relationship " of sorts with the doll . That's when tragedy strikes and the final indignity is administered to the man by three punks . The fight between the man and the three punks is beautifully done , by the way . The doll is damaged beyond repair and the man is desolate . Enter the final twist and some of the funniest bits in the short , as well as the most touching and charming part of the short , at the very end . Watching the end , it's easy to see why this was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short . As others have commented , it resonates with the live-action short The Red Balloon . A delightful ending , to say the least . While this isn't Bob Godfrey's best short ( that honor goes to Great ) it's certainly well worth watching and is recommended . |
579,931 | 583,640 | 33,951 | 9 | Cute , charming and humorous take on the 1890s | This short is a delightful look at the 1890s-a time not so far removed chronologically from 1941-and the use of Mickey and Minnie as a courting couple is a perfect fit for the whole concept . Enjoyable now , back then , large segments of the audience back then probably could recall the timeframe from personal experience . Well animated , as is generally the case with Disney at the time , it's good to see this in print . Well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,859 | 583,640 | 150,961 | 9 | Smile when you say that , pardner ! | In the unlikely event that someone out there doesn't realize this already , this is a very strange parody of High Noon . One of the better Woody Woodpeckers . the nemesis here is Buzz Buzzard , who gave me nightmares as a child . That may be why I rarely like cartoons involving Buzz . This is , happily , an exception . Well worth the time and trouble to track down . Most recommended . |
578,818 | 583,640 | 104,361 | 9 | Great short with interesting concepts | This short was nominated for the Academy Award . It introduces us to Wallace and Gromit . Interestingly , the stars are less appealing than one of the supporting characters : the little whatever-it-is they run into on their jaunt to the moon for cheese . This little critter apparently wants to be Jean-Claude Killy when it grows up . The best parts of a very fine short are with this odd little entity , whatever it happens to be . Fine beginning to a great series that's gotten better as it goes along . Recommended to those few souls who haven't seen it yet . |
579,411 | 583,640 | 33,956 | 9 | Lots of visual gags in this one . | This short has a different villain , a different voice for Olive Oyl and is toward the latter stages of the Fleischers ' run doing cartoons for Paramount . The gags are more visual than verbal here as Popeye once again must save Olive from a fate worse than death . Great animation and well worth watching . Recommended . |
579,184 | 583,640 | 33,978 | 9 | Watching this , you really feel sorry for Popeye . | This short revolves around a winning sweepstake ticket bought by Olive . Popeye winds up chasing all over town to retrieve it , with hilarious results . The scene where Popeye is pretending to read a newspaper while trying to figure out just how to get the ticket off a very statuesque young lady without getting slapped into next month is priceless . The ending of this just goes to prove that true love is a most problematic thing and surely Popeye must be in love , to go through all this for that payoff and not run like the wind far away from Ms . Oyl . The black and white print is better . Recommended . |
579,493 | 583,640 | 27,536 | 9 | cute early Tex Avery cartoon | Although it may be hard for anyone who's seen much of his output , Tex Avery did turn out a few cute cartoons . This was one , but you needn't fear . A Tex Avery cartoon is still a Tex Avery cartoon . One word of advice : don't get ol ' Dan Cupid riled at you . He has a mean streak and sures knows how to get even ! Entertaining cartoon with the usual sight gags and more dialogue than is typical in a Tex Avery short . Well worth watching . |
579,767 | 583,640 | 114,308 | 9 | Sort of a cross between Frankenstein , King Kong and Indiana Jones and loaded with " inside " jokes ! | This short was nominated for an Academy Award when it came out and I can see why . It's hilarious , exciting and the pace is frenetic and unrelenting . There are also quite a few gags pointed at heavy-duty Disney and / or movie fans , starting with the opening shot of Mickey playing a video game . Look at what he's playing . This is not your grandfather's Mickey . The visuals are great and the gags come almost as fast as the average Tex Avery cartoon . This was recently released on the Disney Treasures Mickey Mouse In Living Color , Volume 2 . If you haven't already got it , you probably better hurry . I doubt they'll last too long . The cost on the secondary market will be considerable . The set is great , as are the other Disney Treasures releases . This short is definitely recommended and the Disney Treasures sets cannot be more highly recommended ! |
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