Likely Looney, Mostly Merrie

Warner cartoon no. 333.
Release date: July 5, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Tex Avery.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny), Kent Rogers (Willoughby) (?).
Story: Michael Maltese.
Animation: Bob McKimson.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: A dim-witted dog is on the look out for a rabbit. Being a threat to Bugs, he takes advantage of the dog's lack of intelligence with his smart tactics.

Throughout most of the early Bugs Bunny shorts, (with the exceptions of Tortoise Beats Hare or Elmer's Pet Rabbit), the Warner directors were still writing the same story formula for Bugs Bunny, involving Bugs outwitting several different characters each short.

With that said, being a very common trait of Bugs Bunny throughout his career, later shorts on the other hand had more focus towards story and each short had different dilemmas. In this short, this is really the basic, A Wild Hare-type story.

Instead of a hunter: Bugs is being pursued by a dim-witted dog (if you wish to call him Willoughby, fine). Since this is a short where the story formula was still largely the same, Tex still had a new set of gags to invent, and this short he is certainly experimenting with new gag ideas, that would still seem beyond what animated cartoons, then, offered.

The short starts off like how an earlier Bugs Bunny short might begin, the antagonist of the short appears first, as the purpose is the audience would be wanting to know the antagonist better.

Willoughby is seen sniffing out for the scent of a rabbit in the forest. He introduces himself, and explains to the audience of his intended target.

Note the walk-cycle that Tex gives to Willoughby, which shows how Tex's walk cycles only get even more bizarre in each short he is making. With the walk animated by Bob McKimson, Tex shows an urge of attempting to create funnier animation, which is becoming more noticeable in this short.

This then follows with a glimpse of Bugs Bunny's ears once Willoughby discovers a rabbit hole. Bugs' ears then appear out of scene. This requires stronger character animation, as well as a heavier set-up from a scene used several times previously.

Instead of Elmer's gun, Willoughby's mouth is held wide open, and the detail on the teeth emphasise on the viciousness the dog could be. And so, Bugs outwits Willoughby with his presence, where Willoughby is too late for his double-take delivery, a gag formula that Tex loved to use between two parallel characters. Once Willoughby realises his error, this follows through a sophisticated, walk-cycle of Bugs Bunny who walks in rhythm to Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn's synchronisation to I Was Strolling Through the Park One Day. The walk-cycle, likely animated by McKimson or Virgil Ross, shows how the animators at Warners were becoming more confident in exploring their animation, and that cycle alone expresses not only how much better the animators got, but also the freedom to explore several aspects when animating.

A great example of how Tex Avery was definitely allowing his animators to explore further in what they could do with animation happens in the following sequence. This classic sequence in the short centres on Bugs mimicking Willoughby's facial expressions in a psychological effect to have the dog's mind focused on making consistent facial expressions.

The sequence, animated by Rod Scribner, is great for what Tex was wanting his animators to do, as well as what he was attempting to explore. The wacky Tex Avery everybody would come to associate with is only at the tip of the iceberg in this short, and Scribner nails on how Tex probably visioned the scene.

Bugs and the dog go through some far-out expressions, such as the details of their mouths and Scribner was exploring the broadness of his animation in a lot of bizarre ways which no animator in Tex's unit did, he tries to top each pose with a more exaggerated feel towards it. Tex's comic timing is also a striking example of how he is attempting to achieve funnier timing.

The dog, making consistent face-making is already been fooled, to the point where Bugs is no longer a threat to the dog. It builds up with a typical Tex Avery delivery, as he holds a sign reading "Silly, isn't he?", but only returns from his hole with a giant baseball bat. Tex's use of colour to follow the effects is only seen at a brief glimpse, to find that the scene quickly follows with Bugs holding onto a damaged baseball bat. Tex's time couldn't get better for the build up that it got to. He is already succeeding in achieving funnier timing, and his talent of it is already glowing in this sequence. Stalling's choice for Mendelssohn's Spring Song heard briefly in the underscore is an excellent little cliche to emphasise of Bugs's innocent posture.

The following sequence, a gag which is largely borrowed from Tex's The Crackpot Quail, is once again another challenge in terms of animation in order to make the gag easier to follow as well as visualised in a comical way. Bugs, deciding to dive underwater, and placing his bathing cap, dives underwater, but only to end up being pursued by Willoughby on the way.

The effects animation (did they have other effects animators at that time, other than Ace Gamer?), is well achieved in order for the two characters to be communicated under water. One of the highlights would be through the communication of bubbles rising from the surface.

We can identify Bugs from underwater due to the frantic speed he is travelling through underwater, but once he's stopped by Willoughby, the silence then deepens. Their identities are somewhat more obvious as Bugs' ears and Willoughby's tail rise from the surface.

Tex only gets even more bizarre with the gag when a giant log is seen in the middle of a lake. Bugs travels straight towards the log, but manages to dodge by having both ears separate to each corner. Tex used a slightly, though more subtle gag in The Crackpot Quail which featured Willoughby sniffing the quail's gap, and at one point the tracks then become greatly separated. Here, it is more bizarrely visualised, as the ears separating is somewhat very surreal compared to the previous short.

The following sequence is another animated challenge, though it requires a lot of strong character animation, and methodical skills. The gag, being rather straightforward from Mike Maltese's writing: shows Bugs standing on top of Willoughby who is still hunting for Bugs, though without noticing his presence above him. Bugs, pacing up and down Willoughby, comes up with another strategy, and thus tickles him, causing Willoughby to scratch.

Whilst the gag delivery is somewhat basic in terms of how it looks how, the technical side would be a lot more challenging. For one, Willoughby would have to be animated separately, especially since Willoughby, for a small part of the sequence is animated as a walk cycle. Bugs, however, is animated separately, and thus making staging difficult for the animator, in order to achieve an accurate line position for the dog's back. It's likely that both animators were animated at the same time, once Bugs begins to tickle Willoughby, considering how the action is done.

The following sequence, and despite some great strategies and sequences invented by Mike Maltese: the following sequence is somewhat cliched. Willoughby, suspecting the rabbit is inside the bark of a tree has his hand reaching out on the other end of the tree. Bugs, once again taking advantage of the dim-witted dog, grabs out a tomato to place on Willoughby's hand.

Once Willoughby squeezes the tomato in his hand, Willoughby mistakes the tomato juice as Bugs' blood, crying, "I crushed him". He continues to cry, and expressing pity towards himself for killing the rabbit.

I've never been a personal fan of these sequences, and despite making the characters just appear even more foolish: it never made sense to me of their sudden sadness for killing an animal they intended to kill. Perhaps the impact of killing had reflected poorly on them? Well, a cartoon's a cartoon. Willoughby, mourning the "loss" of Bugs, arrives at his rabbit hole to place flowers besides it. Still sobbing, Bugs approaches on top of his hole and feeling flattered, puckers up to Willoughby: "For me, doc? Oh you darling".

This then leads to the cartoon's climax, and without doubt, the most memorable sequence in the short for several factors. One factor was that the sequence was reportedly considered to be the longest fall in cinematic history.

Tex Avery, who was taking new levels that Leon Schlesinger considered dangerous, had wanted to test the audience's patience by having the characters not fall for a great distance, but a total of three falls, which was cut from the print that everybody knows of today.

For further information on the removed sequence, read Thad K.'s enlightening blog post. Though the sequence was considered to be the reason why Tex Avery quit the studios (which wasn't the factor); it just goes to show how Tex was already becoming far more ambitious with his cartoon directing, but his original ending just happened to flop.

Despite the original ending, the edited version does feel somewhat a lot more better in terms of the short's cliffhanger. The audience feel for Bugs Bunny, their favourite character, and this was Tex's vision of testing the audience's mind on how they could make it alive. The problem is solved with them skidding to the grounds safely, with Bugs remarking to the audience, "Ehh, fooled ya didn't he", in which Willoughby responds, "Uh, yeah". The delivery works well as an ending. Whilst the original ending would have shown Tex exaggerating the significant amount of feet they are falling and landing from, it does feel somewhat very anti-climatic, and shows how Tex's original approach didn't work out.

In all, for a short that did itself have a repeated story formula: this allowed Tex to explore at different heights in terms of approach to gags, as well as timing. Tex's timing is only getting faster and edgier compared to his previous shorts, and his idea for gag build-up has certainly gone to high levels which he hadn't yet achieved before. Of course, there are many sequences in the short where Tex had recycled certain gags, though the mimic sequence as well as the fall stand out as being far more original not only as to how they were timed, but also how they were delivered. Mike Maltese, appears to be under much of Tex's influence in the short as many of the sequences feel very Tex Avery oriented, and little of the charms from Mike Maltese. In all, it was an entertaining short for a Bugs Bunny cartoon, a character who is only getting funnier and broader in each short. The shorts by this point are only becoming a tad faster and edgier, and thus giving Warners a reputable name.

Rating: 3.5/5.

Warner cartoon no. 334.
Release date: July 19, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Chuck Jones.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
No cast.
Story: Rich Hogan.
Animation: Philip Monroe.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Inki, while on the hunt for the Mynah bird, he becomes endangered by a ferocious lion for attempting to spear its cub.

The Inki cartoons tend to show a patterned formula which is almost identical in every short. The shorts would begins with Inki hunting more vulnerable animals with his spears, but the Mynah bird catches his attention. The Mynah bird, whose leitmotif is Fingal's Cave, hops and walks in sync to the score.

The bird is symbolic in the Inki shorts, having a supernatural ability of being undefeatable. Inki would turn his attention towards the bird, but at some point in the short, he would face a more terrifying animal, which is usually a lion (an exception would be Inki at the Circus).

Despite having the exact same formulas, Chuck would attempt to make short slightly different whether it would mean using different scenarios or different deliveries in terms of gag approach.

This short, is mostly a repeat of Inki's first appearance, The Little Lion Hunter, in terms of story but Chuck invents some new situations and approaches along on the way. According to Mike Barrier's Hollywood Cartoons, the first Inki short happened to be successful amongst audiences, that Leon Schlesigner requested Chuck to produce another short. You could say this formula is almost prototype compared to the Chuck's Road Runner shorts, where the scenario and situations were no different each short, but just varying gags and ideas. This short is very much a repeat from its predecessor.

Watching the opening of the short, Inki is seen chasing after a monkey who hides on top of the canopy of a tree. Inki rushes to search for the monkey, relating to a gag where both heads are out but don't meet one another. Besides the opening formula being repeated, notice how Chuck Jones' timing and the animation being produced in his unit is becoming more liberal.

Jones shows a more comical approach for Inki such as the spear gag, where he vibrates rather jerkily.Chuck's timing is evident when Inki hears out for the rustling, crashing noises resulting in an appealing airbrush effect to emphasise his speed, when he rushes behind a tree.

When the rustling and violent effects from the shrubs continue, notice how the animation is much more broad and comical, which shows how Chuck is attempting to make his animation more humorous than Disney-fied. And so, the rustling from the bushes only lead up to a gag that actually pays off for Chuck. The Mynah bird approaches and does his hitch step, which only emphasises on the power he has, for such a tiny bird in comparison.

Chuck Jones also appears to try and find a comical approach in terms of power as well as force, which only pays off in some aspects. In the first part of the gag, Inki is seen hunting out for a baby cub who is licking its paws beside a tree.

Inki prepares to aim his spear towards the cub, but finds a larger lion's hands hold onto the spear, and knocking Inki over to the ground.

The gag itself is a little clumsy in terms of timing, as the approach isn't delivered well, as Inki didn't use enough force in order to achieve that effect, making the gag not realistically effective. The other gag, however appears much later on in the short's ending shot. Inki and the Minah bird shake hands, but the Minah bird's hand show a very firm grip which takes complete control over Inki's body, and leaving him to the ground. This was a more better approach as this once again emphasised on the Mynah bird's power, and the whirling effect made the gag more believable in devilry, whilst the spear gag didn't.

Following from the spear gag, Jones uses a great opportunity which would make up from the poor gag delivery. Inki's encounter with the lion is artistically rich in terms of Inki's point of view shots. The lion faces him upside down, but as Inki turns his head, the lion turns 180 degrees to its normal angle, thanks to the geniuses behind Smokey Garner's department.

Both Inki and the lion then respond to one another with a sheepish expression which only Chuck could master. Inki responds first with a sheepish grin towards the lion, but the lion's grim shows a much more intimidating grin, due to the largeness of his teeth, and gums. Whoever animated the scene, certainly captured the fear of this perilous encounter, the lion's teeth are very intimidating in terms of proportions and realism, and there is a great contrast in terms of size between those two characters. Inki, standing up sweating with fear, then makes a little twirl his foot before he skids out of screen. Another trait from the Warner directors, especially Chuck, where a character would attempt to act innocent by curling their foot before leaving, it makes great character animation.

The following sequence is another equivalence involving a vulnerable character standing on top of danger, a formula that Chuck loved in his early years. This time, Inki is standing on top of the lion's head, unaware of the danger he is standing on top of.

Believing that he has escaped from the lion, he proceeds to climb down the lion's head, but finds that his foot is touching the lion's tooth from his mouth. The rich character animation and gloss is evident in the scenes, to add tension.

This is a challenging scene to animate, as Inki has to act through his foot. Inki grabs hold of the lion's skin where he places it over the lion's tooth, in hope that he would be able to escape easily, despite being in a perilous situation. Inki then turns towards the right and then exits on top of the lion's head. This time he is hiding on top of a log, with the Mynah bird standing on top of his head. Inki now turns his attention towards the Mynah bird, in hopes of capturing it with his spear.

The cave sequence, without doubt is one of Jones' longest-paced sequences, where the action occurs for "long periods of time". To start off with, Inki was following the Minah bird who ends up walking inside the cave. Trying to trap the Minah bird, Inki uses the huge stones to block the entrance of the cave.

After a series of crumpling up stones to block the entrance, Inki weirdly mistakens the lion's behind as a stone in which he attempts to push his behind to the last gap from the cave. The gag itself is flawed because of the terrible contrast with colour between the rocks as well as the lion.

Had the cave and stones been painted like soil, then the gag would have probably worked better. Unaware of his danger, the lion looks Inki smugly, in which Inki's double-take leads him inside the cave.

Inside the cave, Jones only uses the eyes and teeth putting a lot of emphasis of black-and-white to emphasise darkness inside the cave. The animation itself is communicated well, when most of their body is in silhouette, and the sheepish expressions they make really work well. Inki then rushes outside the cave again, scrambling all the stones frantically, but finds he's been outwitted by the cunning lion. The scene then follows through a very confusing and somewhat incoherent sequence where the lion is attempting to entice Inki to walk inside the lion's mouth. The incoherent part follows when Inki ends up somewhat in a trance, and walks straight towards the lion's mouth. The gag itself doesn't pay off, having no indication or a source that casued Inki to almost go in a trance.

Only the Minah bird can stop Inki's trance from the lion's enticement. The Minah Bird breaks open the rocks from the cave, hopping to Fingal's Cave, and the lion stares at Inki out of curiosity. After the Minah Birds hops out of the scene, the lion turns towards Inki, cornering him by the wall. The lion, attempting to charge at Inki without mercy, finds however he has the inability. The supernaturalness and the power of the Minah Bird has prevented the lion, as his tail is revealed to be tied to a tree stump, therefore making Inki safe. Inki, realising the Minah Bird had saved his life, walks over to thank the Minah Bird who, as mentioned earlier, responds with a firm handshake to leave Inki whirling, emphasising his powerfulness. Though the Minah Bird doesn't have much other action other than his hopping routine, the handshake feels somewhat acceptable, and in character.

The short is very much parallel towards the first shot, so it is nothing much different in terms of story, except just new gags along the way. It feels somewhat typical to name the short Inki and the Lion, as it's no different to the previous short's title. Artistically, Chuck Jones does manage to keep it rather fulfilling, not only the animation, but the use of camera angles like the POV shots, as well as the use of colour contrast, even though it worked well in some areas, and others it didn't. The opening sequence I felt showed a lot of promise of a much, improved Chuck Jones when looking at his comic timing and liberal movement in animation. After the opening, however, it felt too slow and much like Chuck's usual cartoons he was making around that era. Overall, the short is nothing new from Chuck in terms of gags and story, and it feels as though I've already seen this short only two years previously.

Rating: 2/5.

Warner cartoon no. 335.
Release date: August 2, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Tex Avery.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: William Day (Singer), Mel Blanc (Voices), Robert C. Bruce (Narrator).
Story: Dave Monahan.
Animation: Sid Sutherland.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: During a flight to the Darkest Africa, along the way they experience some barmy encounters along the way.

Though the short is a mockumentary of air travel, and vacation documentaries; the short itself feels like it has been split into two halves. The first half of the short centers primarily on the airplane travelling towards its intended destination, although it stops at certain places along the way. The first part feels like much like in the style of Ceiling Hero.

It contains very little character animation, and only technical animation such as shots of the plane as well as a reliant on effects animation for gag purposes. Tex uses a lot of effects animation for the first part, as thats what the gag requires: particularly in the train gag sequence.

The plane is seem from an extreme down-shot as a silhouette, and a locomotive steam-train speeds through the railway tracks, and the plane dodges on the incoming train, which is a bizarre gag blended in with Tex's humour.

The second part of the short feels like a completely different short in terms of scenery, story direction as well as subject change. Once the plane arrives in "Darkest Africa", the rest of the short feels as though these were leftover gags from Tex's previous effort The Isle of Pingo Pongo, a short which primarily satirised civilisation as well as the scenic nature of African provinces. The sequences which cut to animals such as the ostriches, as well as the native tribes certainly suggest as though the short had turned to a new subject.

Starting off with the first part of the whole sequence; Tex mostly focuses on satirising geographical locations which are familiar in the United States like California, Mount Rushmore, as well as gags involving the planes. Most of his gags relying on geographical locations are as corny as he would have interpreted them, such as the "Sunny California" sequence.

The sun looks blazing warm form the beams and the brightness of the sky, but the camera trucks back towards the rest of California looking glum and grey. Of course, the gag is suggesting otherwise, contrasting California's reputation of warm weather.

Other uses of geographical visual puns would be evident in the "Darkest Africa" scene, just before the cartoon switches over to a different subject.

The gag itself was mostly well-known for being in Porky in Wackyland, though in this short it is a more visually ambitious shot. Whether this was inspired by the Clampett classic, I don't know, but likely. Most of the shots featuring the airplane is shown as a held cel that travels through overlays. Reasonable to have it held as the held cel was all that the animation required. For gags, the technical animation has elements of Tex's charms. One methodical scene, of the plane travelling is straight towards the moonlight. The moon zips rapidly upwards for the plane to travel past, before the moon lies back down. This is a fine example of how the technical animation coming form Warners had already been accomplished by this point. Whether this was done by one of his animators in his unit, or an effects animator, I'm not sure.

One of the more dated gags would appear in the Mount Rushmore sequence. Upon the time of the short's production, as well as the release date for the short: Mount Rushmore was very much near completion, as the presidents' faces were constructed throughout the mid-to-late 1930s. Funding for the construction ended in October of that year, when they hadn't enough in funding to construct the remainder of the original designs' depiction: carving each president form head to waist. The camera fades into a close-up of the famous American presidents, as the narrator identifies their faces one-by-one, through a camera pan.

After the appearances of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, the camera then pans towards a satirised constructed piece of the 1940 U.S. presidential election. For the Republicans, the face carved is Wendell Wilkie, and for the Democrats: Franklin Roosevelt, who of course, had already won the election by the time the short was released, and possibly during the short's production. This makes the gag somewhat dated, even upon the short's release, as Roosevelt was already re-elected.

As the plane stops at the Emerald Isle (Ireland), the next sequence is revolutionary in terms of humour. Tex takes satire to a whole new level, and thus making the delivery an un-prediction for its audience.

It really doesn't belong to the short at all, though it only works to a small extent as planes would used to stop at various places, considering how they couldn't travel as far as today's standards.

The sequence, in which the passengers visit Ireland temporarily, watch an Irish folk singer sing: When Irish Eyes Are Smiling. The animation, probably done by Bob McKimson, is animated very realistically in order to make the gag appear more unpredictable, as well as making the approach more amusing.

During his song sequence, Tex's gag appears where he mocks the technical problems that make film reels faced in the time period: pieces of hair on film prints. In this case, the piece of hair is animated so the audience are under the impression the piece of hair is stuck on the film projector. The hair is largely noticable when animated, and the emphasis of the silhouette is evident. The animation itself has to be done meticulously and technically so the realism of the gag can meet great results. The folk singer, during his song, interrupts due to his distraction as he bellows: "Hey you up there, get that hair out of here!". From William Day's singing vocals, to Mel Blanc's yells are contrasted brilliantly when it comes to delivery. Once the projector's hand pulls out the piece of hair, the Irish folk singer finishes off his song, and ends the brilliantly, inventive sequence.

The following sequence, the short enters of how I will interpret it as "Cartoon #2". Set in the Darkest Africa, the short now focuses more on civilisation for the native tribes, as well as the animals that reside there. The narrator narrates a sequence of a form of communication that tribes use when sending out messages: through the beat of tom-toms.

The scene starts with a long-shot of a realistic-looking tribe sending a message through the tom-toms, in which the camera pans towards another tribe member in the far distance messaging out the same rhythm. The camera pan as well as the layout of the scenery looks rather complex in terms of how the gag ought to be interpreted.

The following shot, animated by Rod Scribner, features the tribe leader asks his squire: "Err, what do he say?". The squire therefore responds back be scatting out the rhythm of the tom-toms, without any sort of translation that the audience may be expecting. This is one of the sequences which Tex was attempting to invent more original gag deliveries, and this one is an exception.

The other gag sequences in the other shorts, are not much spectacular and are rather cliched from how Tex constructs his gag. The sequence involving a tribal hunter slowly approaching himself with a dart shooter is treated with suspense. We suspect he is capturing a target, once he blows out his shooter, it turns out he's playing a game of darts. His "target" responds, "Terrible shot, Joe".

Another sequence that stands out with repeated gags, as well as a very cliched delivery, would be the scene involving butterflies. The narrator narrates a brief analysis of the tropical butterflies in Africa. We find a cocoon wrapped inside, as the narrator describes with enthusiasm of the cocoon's transformation into a butterfly.

This follows into a pan where each cocoon spits out beautifully transformed butterflies with individual wing patterns. The last cocoon, however, only spits out the butterfly, who in close-up looks rather frail. The narrator asks, "Say, what in the world happened to you?", as the butterfly responds, "Well, I've been sick". From watching a lot of Tex's spot-gag shorts, this is Tex using the delivery as a recurring gag, though it doesn't exactly hold up well in the sequence, compared to the sick alligator in Wacky Wildlife.

And so, the short comes towards an end as the plane departs Africa heading back towards USA. The shot itself is also as cliched as how Tex would end journey spot-gag shorts. The dazzling sunset background by Johnny Johnson, as well as the "reluctant farewell" narration are all parallel to the previous shorts, for the sake of consistency. As the plane dances in rhythm towards Aloha Oe. That's funny, I thought this was set in "Darkest Africa". Perhaps not the best choice Carl Stalling has chosen for a departure scene set in a different geographical location.

Just as the plane is approaching towards New York City, the plane is distorted by the heavy fog which "makes visibility poor and landing difficult". As the plane appears only translucent during the heavy fog, the pilot makes an announcement of the "circle of field coming in". As the fog clears away, the plane turns out to be caught in a carousel in a theme park somewhere in New York. For the right gag delivery, the Merry-Go-Round Broke Down is heard from the carousel, as the cartoon ends.

And so, we bid a reluctant farewell on this cartoon review. This is a typical mess that Tex has made from his many spot-gags he made at Warners. Time to time, he would make some exceptionally good spot-gags like Cross Country Detours as well as a handful of MGM shorts, but this short seems a lot more cluttered than a lot of the spot-gags he was making. It doesn't appear to be completely focused, and the concept seems a tad lazy, as well as repeated. The first part of the short is very much in the style of Ceiling Hero, whereas the second part is just another of Tex's nature mockumentaries. It's two already used travelogue elements compiled into one. Though, the Irish folk singer sequence is an exception as it stands out as the funniest sequence in the whole short, and personally, the funniest gag in all of Tex's spot-gag Warner shorts. From the time of the short's production, Tex was already at the brink of leaving the Schlesinger Studio, and this short alone is the last short where Tex Avery is given 'supervision' credit, as his other shorts wiped out his time, having already left the Studio.

Rating: 2/5.

Warner cartoon no. 336.
Release date: September 8, 1941.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Bob Clampett.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Porky Pig/Mice), Sara Berner (Kansas City Kitty), Billy Bletcher (Irish Mouse), Phil Kramer (?) (Gangster Mouse).
Story: Melvin Millar.
Animation: Izzy Ellis.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Kansas City-Kitty shares her unusual story in Porky Pig's radio program, of how her kitten was kidnapped by a group of gangster mice, and how she seemed revenge.

A satire on the 1930s radio program, "We the People", Clampett has his fun where he parodies the popular radio program, where people would share some unusual experiences or stories towards the audience.

So, the radio show would have been evidently popular enough to have been spoofed in the short, which the program is titled, "We the Animals". Hosted by the supposedly fading star, Porky Pig, Clampett once again takes Porky's smaller appearances to his own advantage.

As a host he still shows the blandness from the lack of effort Clampett as well as the writers were giving him in terms of personality. Much like many other smaller appearances he's had, Clampett's crew (Tubby Millar and Warren Foster) are still reliant in giving the other bad puns, such as commenting on the rabbit's "hare-raising story". He goes ahead to introduce a new guest star of the show, 'Kansas-City Kitty', who will talk about her "unusual tail". From the point on, the audience would already know that Kansas-City Kitty is the star of the short, and much less of Porky, suggesting Clampett is craving to break away from black-and-white shorts. She speaks with an Irish brogue, to give her more of an identity, though its likely it could be a reference to the Molly character in the show, Fibber McGee and Molly, as for a brief time the character had a bit of a brogue.

Clampett takes some advantage of adding some of his own little touches of humour in the following montage sequence. Like how the guests started their stories in the original program, its necessary for Kansas-City Kitty to start off with some exposition.

There is a decent contrast of the kitten's shadow which hovers almost the entire wall, and once the kitten approaches, the contrast between size is evident, which is paid off from one of Clampett's animators.

The "growing rapidly" crack is a rather touching sendup from the previous scene. It is as satirical as well how Tex Avery would have interpreted, thus showing the Tex influence. Tubby Millar's use of hyperbole of the word "rapidly" is blended in well when it comes to animation.

Following to the next piece of exposition, Clampett once again challenges the censors with his charming use of subtlety. It is suggested however that when Kansas-City Kitty fell in love with her lover ("Tom Collins", they both conceived before marriage. However, to avoid a scandalous reputation on air, she immediately switches the timeline of events of her marriage before she gave birth. Only Clampett could get away with a bastard gag, as well as express the scene with such subtlety, that the scene itself could easily be missed by audiences as well as the censors themselves.

And so, Clampett once again shows he can be ambitious in terms of animation, where he would make the "impossible things" in animation appear rather realistic in a short. Whilst the other directors relied on rather rich backgrounds which at times overlapped the animation, Clampett keeps a lot of his staging and layout looking very simple. This occurs in a small scene where the mouse is attempting to break into mouse hole, whilst Kansas City Kitty rampages her way to retrieve her kidnapped Patrick.

The walls themselves are animated to add some wacky weight to the wall looking rubbery in order for the kitten to fit inside the mouse hole, and therefore showing a ironic difference with weight. The frantic mouse attempts to break inside the mouse hole, but in terms of avoiding realism, he pushes a part of the wall open to save himself, causing for the cat to frantically bash the wall.

Just as America was slowly beginning to prepare for war with Germany and Japan, Hitler had already reached his peak, having successfully invaded almost all of Europe by the time of the short's release. Around the time of the short's release, Hitler had endorsed 'Operation Barbarossa', in which he attempted to invade the USSR, which proved unsuccessful.

Already well-known for his extreme policies and dictatorship, Clampett makes a brief reference during the plotting sequence from the gangster mice, which is one of the earliest references to Hitler, relating to war (A brief reference appeared earlier in Bosko's Picture Show, though it was prior to the war).

The mice are plotting revenge on Kansas-City Kitty, a strategy to get her out of the way in order to carry on raiding the food in the house.The leaders of the group, points out the coordinations of the mouse, where a doodle of Kansas-City Kitty and her kitten, Patrick are centered in the map.

The mouse draws out a little Hitler moustache, plus his hair, thus making Hitler a negative connotation, as well as suggesting the support and hatred the U.S. felt of the dictator, though not yet having declared war. The rest of the sequence is a little tedious in terms of suspense and satire, though I'll give it credit for the Mel Blanc delivery on the concerned cat bellowing "Why? It's moider!". Carl Stalling's usage of Shave and a Haircut is nicely synchronised to the hands clapping over the mouse's mouth.

And so, Tubby Millar builds up to a great sense of irony where the mouse leader confronts Kansas-City Kitty. Occurring right after the kidnapping of Patrick, the mother bangs on the mouse hole, who happens to be reliant towards her mother. Some great use of deliveries are used from the leader who threatens to kill her kitten if Kansas-City Kitty dares to move forward towards the mouse. The leader pantomimes a "throat-cut" sound to make the threatening appear more dangerous ("Listen, Mother Macree. One more move out of you, and your kitten--(throat-cut panto)".

Whilst I find the use of strategy to be inventive and established, the pacing just sidetracks with more, with more pointless ideas of how the mice will kill the cat. The reaction shots of the cat freaking out is rather is very bouncy when looking at Clampett's standards. It is enjoyable and loose, as well as a sense of sympathy for the mother cat.

This follows through a dull song sequence of the song Iola which holds out no merit. The song occurs while the mice are having fun raiding the kitchen, as well as bullying Kansas-City Kitty.
The song sequence feels very forced, it lacks a lot of Clampett's charm and quality, especially the corny and uncharming scenes of the cat crying in rhythm to the song.

The string of gags are also unfunny. A striking example in particular would be the group of mice carrying blocks of cheese, and impersonate cannibals.

Enough time passes, a mouse guarding the trapped kitten, finds that she has set herself free, with some amusing comic timing. Seeing this as an advantage, Kansas City Kitty seeks her revenge on the mice upon discovering little Patrick free.

It's a real oddball and incoherent turn watching the leader mouse making a take on little Patrick set loose, perhaps to suggest that it makes him feel powerless. Though, from how it was staged and written, the cat could have easily killed the leader anytime, having staring at him face-to-face. Kansas therefore begins to threaten the mouse leader, "T'Aint funny, McGrab(McGee)". This then leads to her revenge, as he halts all of the mice, and spins the mouse leader around with her feet.

And so, this short then concludes towards one of the lamest endings of a animated short possible. Kansas City Kitty finishes her story, of how she won the battle. The audience applause, and Porky congratulates her for winning top prize for the best story of tonight's program.

Porky hands on over Kansas City Kitty a present. She unwraps it but finds an Irish mouse, as she takes at the mouse, as she stands on top of a chair, scared out of her wits. The Irish mouse, perplexed, remarks: "Well, faith 'n me jabbers", as the cartoon ends with a shamrock iris.

The gag itself is very incoherent that there isn't really a purpose for it at all, it ends at a very bad closure. Kansas City Kitty has already expressed in her story of how she got her revenge from the mice, and throughout the story she appears to appear fearless of mice. What was the gag purpose for the conclusion? Though, the shamrock iris out is a rather subtle send off for the short, but I suppose its what Clampett had in mind.

Whilst Clampett once again was having an average streak with the black-and-white shorts he was outputting, with most of them didn't really hold up too well--this short killed it. Whilst some of Clampett's subtle humour and comic timing are fitting in some places here and there, I find the cartoon to be one of the more confusing, bizarrely put-together short that Clampett has directed. Bear in mind, it is a decent idea to satirise the then radio show, but there doesn't appear to be much satire at all in there. The pacing for the short is rather lengthy and slow where the dialogue between the mouse leader and Kansas-City Kitty is just plodded with too much unneeded dialogue, that the short already clocks in longer than normal. The ending itself was a lame send-off which wasn't expressed at all clearly, if it was meant to at all. One of Clampett's weaker shorts this year, as well as his directorial career.

Rating: 1.5/5.

Warner cartoon no. 337.
Release date: August 16, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Various Voices) / Jim Bannon (Narrator) (unconfirmed).
Story: Michael Maltese.
Animation: Gerry Chiniquy.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: An off-focus view of sports with several literal interpretations of what each sport may present.

As the spot-gag shorts tended to be centred primarily on Tex Avery, as well as a handful of shorts done by Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng now gives it his shot at directing one. The short's focus is on shorts, which is a suitable short for a director like Friz Freleng, who as everyone knows, is the master of animation timing.

There is a good connection between sports and animation timing, so this is a pressing advantage for Friz, who can experiment with all sorts of speed and timing that sports require. It's the right casting to go to Friz Freleng, as much of the gags in this short rely on comedic timing, which you wouldn't expect from a typical Tex Avery spot-gag cartoon.

The short itself doesn't have much of Mike Maltese's own approach to humour, and the short feels as though it could've been written by almost anyone who had worked for Tex Avery, or Bob Clampett. There isn't really much narrative in this short at all, its merely just a slideshow, supposedly featuring champions representing their own sports they specialise, with no recurring gags or build-up gags.

Such sequences that would require Friz's timing occur in some of the starting sequences, such as the section on billiards. The pool player, who is seen analysing the texture of his cue stick, then positions himself by the pool table to shoot at the most appropriate angle when playing pool.

The following scene switches to an extreme down-shot of the pool player, supposedly "breaking" the rack, but the balls still remain intact. The rack flows throughout the table, hitting at the edges a couple of times, before they all fall in a side pocket--making it a win for the player.

The comic timing of the sequence is successful, being technically difficult to animate, as well as keeping the scene technical to make the gag work.

The following sequence, occurring after the billiard scene, is a group of players competing in a table tennis game. Treg Brown keeps the sound effect of the ping pong looped for consistency, as well as Friz Freleng timing the scenes of the audience's eyes watching in a cycle, to make the synchronisation accurate as well as entertaining, gag-wise. The extreme close-up of a spectator's pupils moving in synchronisation of the ping-ball table moving back and forth. The pupils watching the ping pong ball proceeding to stop is also a very entertaining touch from the genius of Freleng.

Another reflection of complex animation done in this short takes place during the football stadium sequence, at the "Avery Memorial Stadium". Perhaps it was intended to have the stadium named after Tex, as a way of paying homage for Tex's 'influential' spot-gag shorts? Anyway, the sequence centers on a graph of the outline position of the squad. At first, it starts out rather simply, with the blocks as well as arrows moving one at a time to indicate positions to be made by different positions in the squad, such as the quarterbacks. Further on, the chart then becomes even more complex to the point where the graph is unreadable with too many arrows and complicated positions moving at a time that it all goes awry.

Not only does the gag work that way, but it's a technically difficult sequence to do. It's great for it satirises the technical manoeuvres that is required in American football, for it is one of the most boring sports ever invented, and to watch. It's a gag that could have been interpreted by Tex the same way, but this requires Freleng's meticulous nature. The scene itself is very complex to do in terms of timing and animating, that it's a wonder how Freleng timed that scene, and not to mention how the scene was planned out on exposure sheets.

A very complex scene in terms of staging, as well as visually fulfilling is seen during the skiing presentation. The narrator describes the ski chute to be the "highest, longest and more treacherous ski jump ever constructed".

The height of the chute with the backgrounds, as well as the steepness are enough to make the scene suspenseful.

Notice the low-level figure shot of the skier's legs cowering timidly of the height and steepness of the chute. The angle shot is just wonderful in terms of capturing the feeling of vertigo, as well as the idea of courage for the skier. The camera then pans to the skier who skies all the way down through the chute effortlessly, with the skier moving in perspective, and so making the scene looking very complicated to animate. Supposedly, the gag of the sequence is to emphasise that the slide wasn't as scary as how the narrator envisioned it, thus making the descriptions biased.

One aspect which I'll reflect is some of the poorly proportioned as well as animated scenes that occur in the swimming slideshow. Understand, the humans would need to be drawn realistically to an extent that the gag itself will be paid off, and in some cases it does work.

During the sequences with the narrator listing out several different strokes for swimming, the 'crawl stroke' is successfully accomplished in animation, as the gag itself is silly through subtle animation. The mermaid gag itself is also a good touch too.

Where some scenes don't work too well would be some of the shots of the swimmers swimming, though they are distorted with effects animation, to make the poor animation look rather unnoticeable. Other scenes with the divers diving are poorly animated in terms of a lot of circumstances. The proportions aren't flexible and the anticipation is weak.

The timing of the dive is also very poorly timed, as the dive is very slow. The scenes are all on 'ones', but the fact they're all in single frames shows how there are too many drawings done for the timing, which explains the slowness of the dive. Nonetheless, the gag itself focuses on several diving techniques, and it's enough for the punchline to perhaps be amusing to some people. The punchline cuts to "everybody's favourite dive", where the shot cuts to an exterior shot of a saloon titled "Sloppy Joe's", which is a very Tex Avery oriented gag.

Speaking of Tex, there are several other gags which resemble a lot of Tex's style of gag as well as delivery, and punchlines which have been repeated by Tex Avery several times previously. A striking example would be the cycling sequence, which is the type of gag created to test the audience's patience.

Maltese mocks the consistency that cycling races consist of, which are consistent laps. Here, the track is purposefully laid out to look short to make the laps quicker to complete.

A group of cyclers go around in laps rather rapidly, and continue to do so until they all pause, and comment on the race with the cliched punchline from a Warners short, "Monotonous, isn't it?", and they proceed to continue racing. Other gags which resemble the Avery punchline also take place during the football slideshow, (before the graph scene). The squad are practicing out their positions, in a leap frog style (also another excellent scene in terms of timing), and then they come to position as they bundle on top of the referee. The narrator exclaims with suspense, "Is it a touchdown? Did he make it?", the ref pops out of the bundle and responds, quoting Mr. Kitzel, "Mmm, Could be".

As you may expect from a lot of spot-gag shorts, you can't hide the fact you'll expect some very lame puns, as well as gags that are as corny as they can get. A bad pun example is evident during a baseball game. The baseball catcher appears to be called "Gabby" (unless this is satirising a baseball star, though the audio is unclear).

Of course, the name 'Gabby' is already describing his own personality, as he is consistently speaking without a single breath wasted. "That's the pitching in there old kid," and he continues to speak quickly as well as incoherently.

Another sequence occurring earlier in the short, which is corny in how the gag is approached, but you can't help but admire the corniness in it. In the sequence involving athletics, the athletes are at the starting line about to prepare for their high-hurdles race. Once the gun blasts, the athletes are on. They race rather rapidly, but once they reach the hurdles, instead of jumping over them, they lazily climb on top of them, creating a great contrast between speeding up and slowing down, in terms of timing.

Following to the final sequence in the short, is the sequence involving motor racing. Looking at the animation of the motor races, Freleng evidently would add dry-brush effects to give an emphasis of speed shown from an audience's point of view, with no camera panning whatsoever. As they continue to zip through the scene rapidly, a racing car finally wins the race. Watching the scene in closeup, there appears to be a deliberate visual gag that as the car has stopped for the driver to cheer, the car appears to have a purposefully dry brush effect painted as a background; to once again put a lot of emphasis on the speediness the car can take.

Comparing this spot-gag towards the many others produced at Warners, I'll look at this spot-gag a lot more favourably. I'd give it a pass. Friz really takes advantage of his animation timing in areas there it is required: especially during the football stadium sequences, and the eyes following the ping pong. Other aspects are a tad lame, such as the puns which you could expect from a lousy spot-gag short, or running gags that have appeared in some of Tex's shorts. Nevertheless, this was without doubt, an artistically ambitious short to animate and craft. Animating under Friz Freleng is evidently tough enough, for any animator working on a Bugs Bunny short by Friz, or a Sylvester & Tweety, but the results in this short definitely pay off.

Rating: 3/5.

Warner cartoon no. 338.
Release date: August 30, 1941.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Bob Clampett.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Porky Pig / Daffy Duck / Junior / Various voices), Sara Berner (Mrs. Daffy Duck).
Story: Warren Foster.
Animation: John Carey.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: During a divorce trial, Daffy Duck is sued by his wife but losing their egg by the use of magic.

Clampett, again, feels he still has the responsibility of directing a Looney Tune short, where Porky Pig must have a screen appearance, despite the fact that earlier this year: the system at Warners was becoming more relaxed, and Clampett himself had already begun directing a couple, coloured one-shot cartoons.

This time, however, by keeping Porky to a limited role, Clampett makes Daffy Duck the star of the short, and was already a cartoon star, having appeared in several Porky shorts as well as a few coloured Merrie Melodies.

This could have been a pressing advantage for many times with Clampett who was frustrated of using Porky in every short, and yet having Daffy Duck appear more regularly would have perhaps turned out more better quality shorts that way.

In this short, however, Daffy is seen portrayed as a henpecked husband, with this short being one of the earliest of the "married" Daffy Duck shorts, which is a formula that's been used several times over his Warner Bros. career. Porky Pig, however, is a tad underplayed, but to a suitable role where he is portrayed as judge for the "Court of Inhuman Relations".

The establishing scenes of Daffy Duck and his wife, are very well outlined by Warren Foster, who establishes their personalities and problems brilliantly, as well as Clampett expressing it visually. Daffy's entrance to the courtroom expresses a melancholy atmosphere. With the arrival of Mrs. Daffy Duck, it's a different sort of mood, a more intimidating mood.

Clampett uses some intense camera angles, like low-level figure shots of Daffy's wife, who exclaims repeatedly, "I want a divorce", and the use of the camera angles are handled brilliantly to capture the mood and tension the wife is feeling.

Daffy's scenes are also great in close-up, to express the depression he is facing. Not to mention, the backgrounds are usually kept very simple, an old device by Clampett to make the chemistry of the scene match the action or emotion from the characters.

Not to mention, the stereotypes of the wife acting like a control freak is also amusing too, especially how she treats Daffy. It's evident in the scene where Mrs. Daffy Duck, off-screen, bellows "Well, don't stand there, say something!". Just as Daffy was about to speak, letting out a breath, the wife smacks his beak, henpecking: "Don't you dare open your mouth, you and your lies!". This is great use of conflict by Foster in terms of stereotyping marriage conflicts, especially when dealing with your wife. Before Porky can grant her a divorce, however, he wishes for her to reflect the story that related to the circumstance. Just as she is about to begin the story, the multiple rings then flashback back to the event, an old filmmaking device to show a flashback.

Looking at the flashback segments, not only does Clampett use some artistic shots to convey the mood, but he also does a wonderful job capturing it in the flashback sequence, too. The starting scene is a great example, as Daffy Duck and his wife's henpecking chemistry is presented entirely in silhouette. Daffy's wife is about to leave the house, and asks Daffy to sit on the egg during her day out. She threatens to "wring his little neck" if the egg goes missing.

It's the sort of technique that could have been inspired from Frank Tashlin. It's great when presenting a scene involving dialogue as well, as that is exactly how a scene ought to be presented--as watching them fully interact with dialogue, as the silhouette makes the scene look more striking.

A technically ambitious to do, especially when the wife exits fro her silhouette as she reveals herself fully once she walks out of the door. Another great scene occurs much later on in the short, during Daffy's major dilemma, where he is frantically searching around the house, attempting to retrieve the missing egg. Daffy moves frantically that he appears rapidly when moving in perspective animation, making the layout and staging of the scene rather perplexing to do.

All through the flashback sequence, the audience get a real taster of Daffy Duck's inner emotions, and Foster and Clampett certainly explore more of the character, and thus giving him more of an identity. Compared to being routinely casted as an all-round goofball, who enjoys pestering his enemies for the fun of it, Daffy still shows the wackiness he was born with, but is presented as a more three-dimensional character.

Notice in the scenes where Daffy scolds at his wife behind her back, mocking her henpecking mannerisms as she scolds ("Yes m'love!") numerously, only to find she rapidly opens the front door, very suspecting towards Daffy's mockery. This ends, once Daffy returns to his nest as he responds meekly, "Yes, m'love".

Another great sequence occurs when he loses his egg during his magic trick act. Attempting several times to retrieve the egg from under his sleeve, his emotions get carried away where he expresses a lot of impatience from the flawed magic trick. He shouts out the spell, "Alakazam!" several times and more desperately as he begins to break down on the door, in a almost panic attack. Mel Blanc, himself captures the anxiety and panic-strickened emotion Daffy faces which makes the scene work successfully. The forth-wall cut, "Say, is there a magician in the house?" is also a charming touch for a 1941 audience.

As Daffy Duck has been sitting on the nest for, supposedly quite a long period, he becomes very restless when sitting on the nest. He looks at the egg to examine it, and by accident begins to create some magic himself. This is a charming little sequence which is succeeded with some decent character animation. Perhaps the most challenging scene to do in that segment would be the close-up of Daffy's hands, which requires a lot of acting.

The hands are seen playing around with the egg, until Daffy accidentally uses both hands to make them disappear. Then, with some knowledge of magic, he finished the spell "Hocus pocus. Flippity flan. A razzamattaz, and Alakazam!". Then, the egg appears, through the charming "Byoop!" sound effect, which, according to Clampett, was created by himself. A charming little sequence, until everything goes wrong for Daffy..

Upon discovering that the Mrs. is returning home, Daffy awakens after a faint and attempts to find an item to disguise the missing egg. After frantically tugging at the door, he uses the fallen doorknob as the perfect disguise to find the egg. Upon placing it on the nest, the handle inanimately turns the other side up, meaning the metal bar is sticking upwards.

Only Clampett would include such subtle, crude humour of Daffy sitting on top of the other end of the doorknob. Upon feeling the pointed part, he immediately reacts and briefly turns into a pose that makes him look rather camp.

Upon the arrival of Daffy's wife, she storms in a shot of both of them appearing in silhouette. The use of the silhouette is once again used to portray the conflict, making the scene appear ambiguous to an audience. Not to mention, it's also used as a gag purpose, as Daffy's wife holds Daffy's neck upwards, in order to reveal his secret. The pointy handle sticking out from the nest is also very amusing in Clampett's own subtle ways. Daffy's wife looks at the handle in awe, "Mama's little darlin'", before her double-take.

And so, as the short cuts back to the modern day, Daffy's wife still barks "I want a divorce!". Daffy, on the other hand, pleads to Porky to give him another chance in performing the trick. Porky accepts his offer, "Alright, but remember, just one more chance!".

This follows with a suspenseful montage of the courtroom's reaction, creating suspense and tension, just how it should be. And so, Daffy, with a lot of anxiety surrounding his feelings, performs the spell uneasily, but lo and behold: the egg appears once more.

The take from the hen in the jury is priceless, she looks at herself with pity, murmuring, "Alakazam and you get an egg? Oh dear, and for 15 years, I've been doing it the hard way!", once again making the joke subtle in Clampett's taste. After the missing egg's recovery, both Daffy and his wife reconcile. Then, the egg begins to hatch, and so Daffy's new child is hatched. This so ends rather cutesy as Daffy's junior responds "Case dismissed" and bangs on the gavel gently as the cartoon irises out.

The Henpecking Duck is another hit that Clampett would turn out once in a while, after directing a lot of mediocre material. I'd say because the short is merely a Daffy Duck short, and much less Porky, as Daffy Duck was already starting to achieve stardom by this point, and becoming a more popular character such as Bugs Bunny. Clampett evidently made the short very visually fulfilling with not only simple backgrounds or silhouettes, but also great staging as well as the use of intriguing camera angles to convey emotions and atmosphere in the scenes. Daffy certainly proved to show more identity, much like how he was explored further in Freleng's You Ought to be in Pictures. Overall, it is a funny short, it is very charming, and the chemistry between the characters are believable. It is certainly one of Clampett's brighter shorts of 1941.

Rating: 3/5.

Warner cartoon no. 339.
Release date: August 30, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Chuck Jones.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
No cast.
Story: Rich Hogan.
Animation: Bobe Cannon.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: The two curious dogs are seen sliding along a frozen river, attempting to retrieve a bone, but it all ends up causing havoc.

What appears to be evident in the short, despite my hatred for the two Curious Dogs, the animation as well as the character designs are beginning to look a lot more slicker than how Chuck had really interpreted them previously. Previously, they were drawn just as realistically as how Chuck Jones preferred to have had the style.

Around this time, Chuck had already started to become more liberal with his drawing style, as the likes of loose animators like Bobe Cannon joined his studio, and thus the animation in his shorts were becoming a lot looser and sketchier, and this is noticeable with the dogs in the shorts.

The stories and circumstances are still mundane and monotonous, and here in the short it doesn't change anything from the formula that Chuck had given them. Chuck is still relying on experimenting several sequences, with the dogs having Pluto-like mannerisms. Whereas previously, they've encountered surrealistic experiences involving secluded areas like a futuristic house, a hollow stage theatre or an amusement park, here; their misadventures occur at a secluded lake area during winter, where the entire lake is frozen, and the entire short is spent on the dogs dealing and struggling with the ice.

From watching the opening of the short, the establishing shot of the two curious dogs shows potential from an artistic perspective. It's a more visually fulfilling opening than any of the short the two dogs have appeared in. It begins with a very complex layout and scenery of the village, with the large dog chasing the pup all in perspective. A very complex scene to layout, and it looks intriguing on screen.

The entire opening sequence in the short starts off rather artistically with again, more complex and intriguing camera angles and pacing. The puppy comes to a stop, when he reaches dead end: an ice chute. From the puppy's perspective, the chute is steep and dangerous.

The clumsiness of the large dog results in, indeed, slow pacing with weak anticipation of the dogs soaring in mid-air, but these noteworthy camera angles and camera pans definitely make up for the poor timing.

A favourite shot of mine in particular would be the extreme down shot of the puppy soaring after the bone. The perspective and anticipation of the scene is wonderfully executed in terms of animation, and the unique camera shot really stands out wonderfully. Admittedly, the use of colour for the sky in the short really sticks out like a sore thumb, and this is putting it bluntly. The colours for the snow effect are indeed decent, but the colour code of the clouds matching the wintertime slush is all wrong. It looks rather polluted, and for a short which the background theme is winter, you'd expect a more suitable combination between the snow and the sky.

What tends to be noticeable in the Curious Dogs shorts would feature an incoherent running gag that would consistently leave audiences confused for the gag showed no purpose, such as the canary bird living in a magician's hat in Stage Fright, or even a magician's bunny in Prest-O Change-O.

Here however, there does appear to be an actual gag which isn't left to ambiguity, though the fact they re-occur throughout the entire short makes the recurring gags flaw somehow.

During the business the big dog is dealing with, such as slipping through ice, the dog would either crash through a completed constructed dam built by a beaver, or the dog would crash through some snow, hitting a tree, and thus causing the squirrel to take from the crash effect.

Whereas the recurring gags to pay off to an extent in the ending scenes, there doesn't appear to be any bigger build-ups in terms of gag anticipations. Meaning, there doesn't appear to be a gag topping on top of the previous gag, meaning the same gag routine is just repeated, and therefore: the charm and humorous opportunities, unseen by Rich Hogan, are wasted.

And so, much like you'd expect from a dog featuring the dogs, each of them encounter a separate dilemma which would clock in for a majority of the short, with Jones' molasses timing, and constant padding. The puppy's first dilemma is with the pup standing on small pieces of ice patches centered around the frozen lake. The animation of the pup struggling to survive standing on an isolated ice patch is rather enjoyable as well as well-crafted.

To make the sequence appear more suspenseful for the pup, the ice patch begins to break apart in two, leaving an awkward position for the pup whose feet are standing each on the ice patch, and this is another dilemma for the pup, making the suspense more intriguing. The pacing is slow in terms of Chuck's standards, though I do find however the suspense and the cliffhangers being built up to be rather enjoyable in how the pup will get out of the patch alive. Though I find that most of the circumstantial situations pointless in how Chuck plans them out for his characters, I find this sequence however, an exception for it does build-up, whereas in previous situations, they are poorly padded and unwatchable.

The sequences involving the bigger dog, however, is unwatchable for its poor padding, as well as making the circumstances appear anti-climatic. The bigger dog, who is already experiencing problems with the slippery ice, accidentally knocks his head onto the tree stump, covered in snow.

Once he exits the foot of snow, the sequence turns to nonsense involving the dog acting very weary from the head damage. He discovers the dog bone, but struggles to retrieve it cue to the weariness suffering in his head. Some of Chuck's comic expressions for the weary dog are passable.

The sequence shows some very beautiful character animation of the weary dog (likely animated by Ken Harris), but the continuous padding is already off-putting, as it just doesn't let the scene play, or at least move onto to another climax.

And so, the climax heightens, but with another dilemma, making the next dilemma anti-climax. The dog has the rear half of his body blocked by a chunk of ice, and the dog attempts to think of solutions to fight his way out of the chunk of ice. This once again ends up with another uninspired Pluto-like sequence, with the outcomes looking flat and unfunny.

Once the puppy makes it out alive from the dilemma he faced with the ice patch, he encounters more circumstances, and thus this DOES lead up to a climax, unlike the padded sequence with the dog and the chunk of ice. Once the puppy lands back onto slippery ice, he encounters a new problem.

The ice is beginning to crack, meaning the dilemma is already building up towards a bigger problem than the previous issue the puppy had. This leads to the puppy running away from the ice frantically.

This is rich material for the puppy, who without doubt is the character given the juiciest sequences in the short, despite having identical personalities with the larger dog.

Note when the puppy breaks the beaver's dam, the gag involves into a gag which is likely inspired from a Donald Duck short, The Hockey Champ. In that short, Donald frantically crashes through a wall of snow, which covers him completely, but covering him is a steam-locomotive gag to emphasise the speed he is racing. The gag in this short is almost parallel, except the puppy is sprinting in the style of a steamboat, disguised by the dam logs. This time, after crashing a tree, the build-up finally arrives for the squirrel, who encounters a new problem: the tree is splitting.

Just as the climax is going to build up, the pup chases the bone which ascends its way up the ski lifts. Once the bone drops from one of the lifts, it lands upon a very steep hill which becomes perilous for the pup once he retrieves the bone.

In a long shot pan, the dog trips slightly, but as he rolls down the hill, he transfigures into a giant snowball in the shape of a dog. The other dog, who is still struggling with the ice, watches the snowball and mistakes it as a monster figure.

And so, the dog runs off frantically: resulting in a action chase sequence. And so, the recurring gag of the beaver's dam pays off when the snowball figure crashes the dam, but transfigures into a snow-built dam. With the havoc over, the puppy and the dog stick their heads out from the snow, though the bigger dog finds the chunk of ice caught in his head: meaning he has more problems, as the cartoon ends.

Comparing this short to the other cartoons featuring the Curious Dogs, I'd consider this short to be one of the more better shorts, but only a little better. I'd say this short is at least close to being 'passable', but it still hasn't quite merit that level. The unique staging and camera angles were rather effective to start off as a camera opening, that as a rarity, it caught my attention, especially from an early Chuck Jones cartoon, whose shorts I tend to struggle to keep my attention-span focused. The dilemma with the puppy was also great stuff, as it built up with more suspense as well as some good action which did pay off. Nevertheless, there was still a lot of flaws which makes the short still not a passable short, the situations with the older dog was very clumsily paced and uninspiring, the recurring gags weren't inventive or creative, and it felt wasted. It's saying a lot to say this is a short I'm tolerant of watching, as to say the least, the Two Curious Dogs have produced some of the my least favourite shorts ever made. Perhaps, this could be foretelling Chuck Jones' developing and improving on true talents he would later on master.

Rating: 2/5.

featuring BUGS BUNNY
Warner cartoon no. 340.
Release date: September 20, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Tex Avery (uncredited).
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny), Darrell Payne (Black Hunter) (unconfirmed).
Story: Dave Monahan.
Animation: Virgil Ross.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: A negro hunter is on the hunt for a rabbit, but no hope comes to him when he targets none other than Bugs Bunny.

As I've wrote before, the earliest Bugs Bunny shorts mainly deal with Bugs Bunny dealing with several Elmer Fudd-like personalities but choosing different nemeses for Bugs, either animal, ethnical or whichever.

As unsophisticated as Tex could go, the hunter is instead a black, Stephen Fetchit-type personality, which shows Tex satirising the actor, as well as the African-American stereotype that parodied for entertainment purposes. The voice actor, though unconfirmed is believed to be done by the name of Darrell Payne who appears to have vanished into obscurity, with little or no information on him, according to Keith Scott.

Going as far to condemn Tex to be racist is too far. History of history. Bugs Bunny tricks the hunter much like any other hunter, except perhaps for the final scene in the film. I do find however the stereotype to be in bad taste.

As this is clearly parodying the persona of Fetchit, who was known for stereotype "coon" personalities. I can't understand the appeal of the actor, for his mannerisms aren't entertaining to me. Admittedly, I don't mind a good stereotypical joke (who doesn't?), but it just doesn't hold up too well in this short, but I find it lacks taste.

Watching the introduction to the short, it's constructed almost parallel to A Wild Hare, though comparing both of them show major differences. Not only are the gags surrounding Bugs Bunny starting to become more humorous and witty to Tex's taste, but notice how the Fetchit hunter and Elmer really do contrast greatly.

It starts off with the Fetchit hunter who represents the "coon" like personality: the slow walk, the voice as well as the lazy posture. "I'm gonna catch me a wabbit". Just as he spots rabbit tracks, the camera pans towards Bugs' hole where he is seen chewing carrots, and tossing out the remains from his hole.

We also get some subtle humour out of Tex where Bugs, off-screen, eats the wrong side of the carrot, and accidentally tosses out an entire carrot. The hunter points his gun towards Bugs' hole which moves just whilst the hunter is walking.

The business with Bugs' hole moving towards the bark of the tree is really wonderful stuff in terms of gag purposes. The gun explosion, and thus blowing up the tree is also a great touch. And so, Bugs deals with the Fetchit hunter like how he'd deal anyone, he'd ask "What's up doc?", the hunter would explain his goal, and so Bugs makes his move before he "swims" through the soil for his life. And the rest of the short is built up with gag-after-gag, which will all be discussed further in the review.

Not only are Tex's gags becoming wilder, but his timing for action scenes are beginning to appear more frantic, and more like how Tex would time out action scenes in the shorts he did for MGM. A great example appears during the sequence where Bugs almost takes his life, but gets spared by a group of passing by bullets.

The gag then gets wilder to the point where the bullets are inanimate, and almost human. When the bullets miss Bugs Bunny's direction, the bullets then brake, and it is animated and laid out wonderfully.

And so, this leads to some great timing of Bugs hopping from hole-to-hole from the bullets, to the point where he crashes a faulty hole. Treg Brown also adds some great emphasis of speed with the great effect, which would later become more known for the Tasmanian Devil shorts.

He places a "fake" sign over the bullets, only for them to form a question mark. The bullets fleeing cautiously away from the skunk hole is also genius from how Tex and Dave Monahan delivered the sequence. This was very new, exciting material for an audience to watch in animation, and it's a well-done anticipated gag that Tex makes the "impossible things" in animation to appear normal and subtle.

Not to mention, Tex's approach to takes are also becoming a lot more broader and wilder, too. Perhaps only a year ago, Tex wouldn't have dared to have used such takes or perhaps such slicker timing. Thus, making violated rules of animation appear very suitable.

A striking example appears in the scene after the great log sequence. Bugs watches the hunter fall, he tuts "Too bad, too bad. Ah, well". Just as he walks away, the angered hunter in bandages returns and Bugs is seem standing at gunpoint.

Bugs goes into a terrific take, where limbs break apart. This would be considered outrageous in animated shorts, but thanks to the animation by Bob McKimson, he made the take look subtle and somewhat believable. Other instances of Tex's timing becoming a lot faster appear in the cave scene, where the hunter and Bugs are seen standing besides the bear, but they exit out of the cave in the style of a comet. Tex had used such timing similar in Of Fox and Hounds, but since the timing is becoming more slicker and faster: that it does stand out much better than in 'Hounds'.

As for the gag build ups that are expressed in the short, they are done to a great standard. You'd expect Tex to include a gag involving a skunk, such as the scene of the hunter attempting to plunger Bugs out of his hole, but Bugs replaces himself from the plunger with a skunk.

Prior to the scene, note the great characteristic cycle of Bugs hopping with a plunger stuck at his rear end. Some great timing on that as well as Carl Stalling's music synchronisation.

And so, after the skunk scene, Bugs dances way into the cave in, dancing to Shuffle off to Buffalo. The hunter runs inside the cave searching for Bugs, in which the cave darkens to the point where only eyes are seen. The hunter, believing he has caught Bugs, strangles "him" but discovers another set of eyes next to him, and is the real Bugs who asks "What's cookin' doc?". The hunter strikes the match open, finds it's a bear, and they zip out like a comet back into Bugs' hole. As they raise their heads up, sweating with relief, the bear does the same anticipation, though his notice causes Bugs and the hunter to escape.

Perhaps one of the bigger highlights of the short however, as well as the most memorable, would be the log sequence. Bugs and the hunter go through a simple cat-and-mouse routine of running in circles, by travelling inside a log along the way.

But, Bugs builds up the gag even further by pushing the log the other side, causing the hunter to run in mid-air, feeling like a "sucker", and double-take a couple of times. It's a great, inventive sequence which Tex uses every opportunity he could take in the sequence.

The running cycle during the log run shows a great synchronisation of The Umbrella Man synced to the hunter's run. The double-takes, as well as the symbolic 'sucker-lollopop' scene are great in emphasising the foolishness of the hunter. It would go on to be used again for Clampett's The Big Snooze.

So, as the hunter believes he's still on soul, by placing his hand on the ground, Bugs continues to dodge him even further. Just as the hunter runs in mid-air (the scene, and most of the scenes in the sequence done by Rod Scribner), the hunter comes to a halt, attempts to feel the ground, but double-takes once more as he falls to the ground. It's without doubt the highlight for the sequence as it's an original concept, the delivery is amusing, and what's more, Bugs' schemes are devilish but in a sympathetic kind of matter.

After the hunter's supposed demise from the log, he abruptly returns, though dangerous. With Bugs at gunpoint, and about to face death, Bugs has one last trick to fool the hunter. Dave Monahan takes the Fetchit stereotype by enticing the hunter into a game of dice, whilst he hears the sound of Bugs'"pair-o'-dice", due to a well-known stereotype of African-Americans' interest with gambling.

This is settled with a gambling competition between Bugs and the hunter. The gambling is unseen as the game is played under the bush, to make the winner unpredictable to the audience, as the Fetchit hunter would be the likely champion, due to his great interest in gambling.

After a couple of rounds, Bugs responds: "Ahh, sorry doc". Bugs walks out wearing the hunter's uniform, as well as mocking his stereotype, "I'm gonna catch me a rabbit" and mocks the dialect.

As he turns towards the hunter off-screen, he makes a take as the camera pan reveals he lost his clothes in a bet, leaving him bare all with only a leaf to cover his privates. He responds to the gambling loss, "Well call me Adam", of course; an obvious reference to the Biblical character. The cartoon doesn't quite finish yet, and Bugs' job isn't done as he breaks the forth wall by blocking the iris-out and stealing the leaf. Only Tex would have dared to violate such rules, as well as to keep the gag subtle from the censors that it certainly pays off the short with a great, humorous ending shot.

Compared to the past previous shorts directed by Tex Avery, this short appears to show Tex putting his foot driving fast on the accelerator. Tex appears to rapidly changing his own style of timing as well as approach to gags: the style which he found when he was a director at MGM. Tex's comic timing has become a lot more slicker, and the gag deliveries are becoming a lot more wilder. Tex, who as we all know, loved to violate the rules of animation, but this time he is violating it even further, to an extent that hasn't been experimented much before. The take made by Bugs Bunny at gunpoint is certainly edgy in terms of how restricted Warners appeared to be back then, in terms of animation looking almost realistic, like Tex's travelogue parodies. Whilst the sequence itself has some really groundbreaking sequences, like the log sequences, the short, admittedly is still hit-and-miss. I'd still say it's more heading towards the 'hit' level.

The weakness of the short is the Stephen Fetchit hunter, and I'm not going to accuse this as racism, as this is not the purpose of this review. Different period. Different culture. As I mentioned, the Fetchit stereotype isn't really much funny, as it seems more contempt than satirical. The stereotype appears to be lacking in taste in terms of approach to humour as well as satire. Of course, and especially amongst modern audiences, the character doesn't hold up too well. It just doesn't hold well for me, because I find the satire of the character rather weak. Though, it does pay off with the gambling ending at the end, which admittedly was also a great sequence. As we all know the short is a part of the infamous 'Censored 11', it was one of the very first Warner Bros. shorts I've ever seen when I was a kid, due to it being available on public domain tapes, and some of the gags I recall with Bugs, do hold up well. Overall, I'd give this short a pass, though it's nothing spectacular.

Rating: 3/5.

Warner cartoon no. 341.
Release date: September 20, 1941.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Porky Pig / Singing Alley Cat).
Story: Michael Maltese.
Animation: Manny Perez.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Porky's sleep is consistently disturbed by a loud alley cat who pesters Porky by singing joyfully to popular musical songs.

Many fans of the Warner Bros. shorts are at least familiar with the Friz Freleng masterpiece, Back Alley Oproar, released in 1948, starring Sylvester. It's a wonderful, hilarious short which had fast-pacing and musical numbers combined wonderfully, and it's a huge win.

A truly amazing short, there are those who aren't aware that the cartoon was merely an improved remake of this short: Notes to You, where the original story concept was conceived by Mike Maltese.

Instead of Elmer and Sylvester, Porky plays the role of the disturbed sleeper, and Sylvester's role is just a one-shot alley cat. For the time this short was released, it was a breakthrough in terms of Warner Bros. humour going as far as to the next level, thanks to the genius of Michael Maltese.

The storyline is merely simple: an alley-cat disturbs Porky's sleep. Only Maltese would go beyond a simple storyline by giving the cat an identity, such as his love for singing. Personally, I feel the short was the first time where Porky really had a three-dimensional personality, and not just the cute, straightforward stuttering character that he had been interpreted for the past six years at Schlesinger. Instead, Porky shows a much more darker side, he intents to kill the alley cat so long that he can no longer be disturbed. Porky is definitely cast perfectly as the disturbed sleeper, and Maltese certainly makes use of the character well, making him more prominent in the short, especially by taking Porky to a new level that no-one had attempted before.

From the start of the sequence, a typical Warners viewer will realise that the opening is almost identical towards the intro to Back-Alley Oproar. A lot of the alley cat's subtle bits of acting such as his cough, as well as gathering all the falling pieces of musical sheets, are all there in the remake.

The scenery, too, is identical, though the layout work here, compared to the Hawley Pratt layout contrast slightly. Though a lot of the animation is parallel, since the scene in the remake was animated by Virgil Ross, the latter short shows an improvement in terms of animation performance.

The cat warms up his vocal chords as he blows on the harmonica to prepare for his performance of Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville. Porky awakens and finds he is disturbed by the racket the cat is making, and starts to throw out pieces of items from his home. The cat manages to dodge the objects flying towards him, but one gag centers on an inanimate vase object which halts, and the cat struggles to dodge past it. Its a great little gag that never made it in Back-Alley. As the cat breaks down into finale, the vase flies past hitting him, from the other side.

One of the funnier gags in the short that doesn't rely on animation timing is the book-tossing sequence, at least if you read the titles from the book cover. The alley-cat still continues singing after being hit by the vase, and this time he sings Irish Eyes are Smiling. Porky attempts to find another plan to get the cat out of the way. By the window is a book titled "Dr. Fu Manchu" which references the infamous book series of the master criminal, Fu Manchu.

As Porky tosses the book outside, supposedly hitting the alley-cat off-screen, Porky turns to walk back to his head, muttering "Take that you old cat!". Just as he walks back, the alley cat throws the book back but this time with a different title: "The Return of Fu Manchu". It's a wonderful gag delivery, as the latter book title is accurate. Maltese's approach to the gag also makes it a lot more comical, for the gag feels like a homage towards the 1930s shorts of book characters coming to life, but in this short it is accomplished well in this bizarre twist.

And so, after a series of musical numbers; Maltese takes a little break from musical sequences, and gives Porky the chance to shine by his attempt to dispose the cat. He pours a bowl of cream by his porch to entice the alley cat, and if Porky's plan succeeds, he'd shoot the cat at the spot with his shotgun.

But, Porky is sleepy, and ends up snoozing while the alley cat slurps up the bowl of cream. Afterwards he clashes on a cymbal waking up Porky, and ends up on the run as Porky attempts to locate him outdoors with his shotgun.

The following scene is typical of Friz, when you watch a scene which requires some comical timing, as well as Carl Stalling's little music cliches to match the action of the animation, and without any popular song reference, in a short which is full of them.

Porky is looking out for the alley cat, and he tiptoes by a fence, looking for the alley cat. As he walks through an empty space from the fence, the alley cat mimics his movements. Carl Stalling does a steady job by defying Porky and the alley's cat's personalities with little musical themes. For Porky's tiptoe, Stalling orchestrates suspenseful music to emphasise the careful and sturdy pace he is going at. For the mimic scene, Stalling uses the xylophone touch to add a comical touch to the alley cat. It's a wonderful scene with great characterisation.

Note the three screenshots I've took for a small scene, which grabbed my attention in terms of animation, as well as Friz's timing. The whole scene is done by perspective animation, and the alley cat turning from one side of the fence to the other, is very cleverly animated.

As he makes a turn, the fence turning in perspective is done rather rapidly to add depth to the scene as the alley cat is at gun point. The perspective animation takes at least 9 single drawings to move the fence in order to make the suspense look more dramatic. Not only does the timing have to be dead on, but the perspective turn is also very complex to do, and to combine the timing altogether is a pretty gutsy thing to do for Freleng, who proved ambitious when tackling a scene, and the results are rather rewarding.

A gag which is also notable for appearing in Back Alley Oproar is the sequence where the alley cat sings a lullaby to Porky to nod him off. At that point, Porky had caught the alley cat at gunpoint, and the cat quickly improvised at the spot by singing him a lullaby for him. Porky, looking shattered, mutters, "Now s-stop it N-n-n-n-n-ow, stop. Quit that". This is a deliberate gag set-up by Mike Maltese who lifts the energetic mood from the short into a peaceful, calm piece of character animation. The alley cat carries Porky all the way towards his bed, and lays him quietly. Until moments later, the alley cat turns on the radio where the alley cat acts out the conduction to the music of Frat. It's a hilariously-executed sequence, where Maltese cons the audience into believing that the alley cat has a change of heart, but instead makes a very ass move on Porky.

After a while of singing mostly classical or traditional piece of music, the cat begins to sing classic popular tunes, starting with The Umbrella Man. Friz Freleng stages the scene wonderfully and the alley cat's dance is entertaining, as it matches the spirit of the song. Not to mention, the song is quite possibly one of the most catchiest tunes ever written from that time period.

The next little scene, is rather comical and cleverly combined by Mike Maltese when it comes to a popular song and blending it in a gag in the right place. The cat opens the front door singing the very popular song of its time, and still popular today: Jeepers Creepers.

Porky rushes to the door to slam the door, but the door slams back open when the alley cat finishes off his song. Noticing Porky's black-eyes, the cat sings out one of the song's lyrics "Where d'ya get those eyes?". This is an amusing little visual gag based from the song's lyrics, that is rewarding itself.

And so, as the alley cat once again begins to sing a different tune (Make Love to a Guitar), Porky believes he'll never hear the end of the alley cat unless he takes drastic action. Looking out the window, he pulls out his shotgun and fires at the alley cat off-screen. The ending sequence is constructed and paced rather clumsily.

The scene with the alley cat dying didn't feel it needed to be there, for it made the climax of the shooting scene look anti-climatic, and thus it slowed down the ending slightly.

The alley cat sings Aloha Oe, though parodied as Farewell to Thee as he chokes during the death scene. Porky walks away from the scene, feeling slightly guilty for shooting the cat: "I didn't wanna do it, but I had to.

He was driving me n-n-n-n", and at the point of the stutter: Porky discovers that the cat's nine lives still live on as spirits as they sing Sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor. It's an entertaining way to conclude the short, as it raises even more problems for Porky, and it's certainly as inventive as how Maltese would have concluded a short, but I can't help but believe that the ending to Back Alley Oproar was more superior than this short. Possibly due to the dark comedic ending, where Elmer Fudd accidentally kills himself, but still finds himself disturbed in the after life, making the dilemma more hilariously executed. For this short, it would definitely not be fitting to have Porky Pig die accidentally, as it would seem out of character to do so, if that was how the cartoon was going to originally end.

To get this over and done with, Back Alley Oproar was indeed the better short, but with that aside: this is also a rather groundbreaking short in terms of the wacky humour the Warner Bros were known for. Who'd on earth, other than Mike Maltese would create a story idea of an alley cat singing music in the middle of the night, disturbing Porky? A very bizarre concept but it's what makes the Warner shorts truly special. Porky certainly shines in the shorts and Mike Maltese explores a lot more further towards the character, in a way, refreshing the character by making the character still appealing amongst audiences, whereas beforehand he was underplayed in almost every cartoon since 1939. This is one of the highlights of this year, and Friz Freleng is proving he is capable of producing cartoons at Tex Avery's standards, or perhaps beyond his standard, when it comes to characterisations. Overall, it is a very entertaining short with some very slick timing, music and an original concept so nice, it was used twice.

Rating: 4/5.

Warner cartoon no. 342.
Release date: September 27, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Chuck Jones.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Margaret Hill-Tabot (Sniffles), Marjorie Tarlton (Batty).
Story: Rich Hogan.
Animation: Rudy Larriva.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Sniffles' car breaks down in the middle of the country, and he is left stranded. Sheltering beside a mill, he encounters a little bat, who is by the name of "Batty".

The last of what was likely the original run of the cutesy, Sniffles cartoons, before the character ended up appearing sporadically until 1946. Just as Chuck Jones is very gradually attempting to keep up with the style and humour of the Warner Bros. shorts, as well as blending him his own style of agenda, the results don't meet well.

It appears this time he is inspired by the blabbermouth characters which were used on several occasions by all the directors: mostly Ben Hardaway and Bob Clampett, but also Tex and Friz had their share. Chuck attempts to have a blabbermouth character appealing and entertaining, but it proves to not work, as blabbermouth characters are more annoying than likeable, as they slow down almost the entire cartoon.

The "blabbermouth" characters never fully died down after about 1940, and Chuck Jones at least attempted to chatterbox persona even as far as 1946, by turning Sniffles into an obnoxious, blabbermouth character. It is rather ironic for Sniffles, who is encountering a chatterbox bat-like character, and yet Sniffles would become of that personality in his last few cartoons (The Unbearable Bear, Hush My Mouse), and suffice to say: Marjorie Tarlton voiced Sniffles in the last two cartoons.

Watching the start of the cartoon, Sniffles is seen driving in his little motorcar, singing In a Little Dutch Kindergarden. The following scene shows Chuck Jones' attempt at comic timing, but it really doesn't hold up well in this cartoon, and it feels somewhat uncanny and not well executed.

Sniffles' car breaks down in the middle of the countryside, which is presentable in terms of opening up a cartoon plot, but the gag execution wasn't well conceived, and plus slowing the scene down, too.

Sniffles' car wobbles vigorously several times, until Sniffles loses control of the car. It feels like there is an unnecessary number of filler for that gag, that it would have been more coherent if Chuck made the comic timing for a single motorcar explosion to work. Instead, the small car just breaks down into single pieces. The engine springs out, the body and wheels of the car also break down, and the car seat itself even breaks down, leaving Sniffles in a swirling effect. In all, it wasn't a well delivered gag as it didn't flow so smoothly and, it goes to show how Jones wasn't quite as ready to leave the slow timing from his cartoons behind.

The following scenes afterwards do make up for the poor gag delivery as Jones presents an intriguing atmosphere in the short. Already from the start of the short, there is a rather mystic atmosphere in the backgrounds that makes the countryside look rich in the sunset view.

The overlay of the clouds joining together is also a glamorous effect, right down to the frame. The clouds part together, and it rains throughout the countryside. Sniffles covers himself slightly, and attempts to seek for some shelter, "I better get out of this".

From Sniffles' point of view, he spots a remote-looking mill, which to Sniffles' advantage is the right place for shelter and comfort. From the Jones unit, the effects animation which, to an extent competes with the rich effects animation which was being experimented at Disney, precisely at this era.

Sniffles wriggling some of the rain off his hat and his clothes is rich in texture and painstaking realism. The interior scenes of the mill are well-established layouts, and the use of colour is in the right place to emphasise on the darkness of an isolated mill. Sniffles also lighting the match expresses a decent piece of decent fire effects animation, which in terms of texture is no easy feat.

The main problems with the short all appear during Sniffles' confrontation with the bat character. From the ambiguous introductory scene of the character, the bat character looks somewhat daring in his mannerisms. The darkness overshadows the character to hide his identity for the sake of ambiguity and suspense. After the established silhouette of the bat, the outcome is a little disappointing. As I expressed, the bat character, "Batty", who has a striking resemblance to Sniffles, is just another blabbermouth character who lacks appeal and taste.

The whole sequence merely are shots cutting back and forth of the meeting of Sniffles and Batty. The blabbermouth is merely just annoying, and the character does anything his way to make the cartoon unwatchable. He slows down the whole short, and the obnoxious, chatterbox dialogue just refuses to let a scene play, or just useless filler.

Useless pieces of dialogue centers when Batty exclaims about Sniffles' appearance and name, "That's a funny name. Why is your name Sniffles? What's a mouse? I'm not a mouse, am I? I'm a bat, aren't I?, etc., etc." It just gets ridiculous to the point where the character will ruin the rest of the short with just nonsense. Despite such nonsense, the sequence sort of pays off with a wonderful, suspenseful piece of timing from when a suspecting cat enters its cue, and almost catches Sniffles and the bat. The timing for the cat's arrival was right on the beam, and thus emphasises on the cat's dangerous instinct.

Despite the problems with the blabbermouth characterisations centred on the bat character, there is some great contrast expressed in subtle ways that contradict Sniffles and Batty. It mostly appears in the scenes of Sniffles and Batty on top of the rafter. There is some great differences in identifying their instants that the characterisation works well in those scenes. Batty on the other hand, has no trouble on top of the rafters, and he walks freely. Sniffles, however, struggles.

Another great use of subtle character animation in contrasting the two characters appear in another where they reach an end of the rafter, and they have to cross towards another. Batty expresses no trouble and flies smoothly over to the edge. Sniffles, on the other hand, is crawling and holding onto the rafter, and has to struggle his way to cross the rafter. If there were more charming moments in the shorts, by cutting out the blabber mouse material, I would have considered the cartoon passable.

And so, a plot device which Chuck Jones used frequently in his early days, was a device involving vulnerable characters standing on top of danger, before going onto a double take. Just as Sniffles and Batty are about to jump down to another edge of the rafter, the cat manages to climb on top of the rafter, and corners the vulnerable Sniffles.

Batty, steps down on the cat's head without realising, but goes into a double take before discovering that he is dealing with a dangerous cat, and therefore steps back meekly. Sniffles, on the other hand is more naive and foolish, and the cat makes the situation more perilous for him.

By opening with mouth, with teeth and other textures looking powerful and striking, Sniffles is still oblivious to learning he is confronting a cat. Upon realising he is dealing with a cat, he looks at Batty for help, who ends up walking back hesitantly. The beautiful, POV angle shot of Batty walking back is wonderfully staged and it surely has a "cornered" atmosphere towards it. Batty makes up excuses such as, "Well, goodbye Sniff. I gotta be going now. I got a very important engagement at the dentist." He meekly laughs before flying away, not giving any thought in sparing Sniffles.

Just as Sniffles tries to escape for his life, the suspense becomes more lethal for Sniffles, as the cat lifts up the piece of plank Sniffles is standing on. The bat character, realising Sniffles is in trouble, has a change of heart and saves his friend from the cat.

Though, the suspense still ticks as the cat inspects the piece of plank by tuning it on its axis, in finding more intriguing ways of eating Sniffles, thus giving the cat some personality.

The action scenes that follow feature some frantic pacing where the shots go back and forth between the cat, who is at the edge of eating the mouse, and Batty who is flying for Sniffles' life. Saving Sniffles, who was just spared, they rush back on top of Batty's small home, as they watch the cat's fate. The cat walks away from the mice and falls off the rafters clumsily. The camera pans vertically downwards, where the cat is caught stuck on a piece of glass, and thus this finishes the cartoon. The eery expression on the cat's face, is as rich and striking an expression as Chuck could have created anywhere.

Chuck's slow pacing didn't exactly help out the cartoon, and Sniffles' misadventures was still all-round consistent as like his other cartoons. Attempting to perhaps blend in humour with blabbermouth characters? This is no exception. The blabbermouth personality just ruins the cartoon, and deliberately created to assault the audience's patience. The dialogue sequence with Sniffles and Batty communicating back-and-forth really sidetracked the short, that this ruins perhaps more opportunities that weren't included because of running time, and thus not creating more charming little subtle characteristics of the bat character, such as in the scenes with the pair on top of the rafter.

Being the last of the Sniffles in its original run (not the LAST Sniffles short, mind you), before appearing sporadically, as well as an altered personality, my overall thoughts on the character mostly ranges from hit-and-miss. The character was a tad too cutesy for me, though admittedly the shorts themselves appear to have an indescribable effect towards me, and I don't believe they're as bad as how they're interpreted. Despite being slow and cutesy, they have a divine, subtle quality towards them that make the shorts special. A short that I find striking and attractive would be Sniffles Takes a Trip, as it has a quality that feels unlike a Warners short or even Chuck Jones, in terms of scenery, atmosphere and its nature. Indeed, they're worth watching for Chuck's work was personified differently compared to his greater works.
However, I find that the Sniffles cartoons were rather much Jones' style personally, despite having lengthy filler sequences. Comparing them to years later where he only directed very great cartoons, but Jones had writers like Mike Maltese or Ted Pierce, who provided the Warner Bros. humour for him, and thus Jones kept up the pace. Those shorts, I felt, expressed Chuck's personal side of animation.

Rating: 2/5.

Warner cartoon no. 343.
Release date: October 11, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Tex Avery (uncredited).
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Insects), Bill Bletcher (Spider), Bob Bruce (Narrator).
Story: Dave Monahan.
Animation: Rod Scribner.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: A spot-gag parody which is centred on the instinct of bugs and insect life.

From watching Tex's previous cartoon, All This and Rabbit Stew, shows how Tex Avery was taking his own animation timing to another level, and quite rapidly too. You'd get the impression Tex was really right down the frame in finding his own skill at crafting comic animation timing as well as gag deliveries. For the following cartoon, Tex goes right back to producing more uninteresting spot-gag cartoons. Though, I don't know if either short was produced earlier, but for the sake of consistency, I'm going by it through release date.

This short is more of a straightforward gag-to-gag short, without any recurring gags featured that could make the spot-gag at least watchable. Anyhow, let's see what gags Tex has to offer in satirising the life of different insects and species.

As much as what Tex's spot-gag cartoons have to offer, he definitely lets in a couple of flawed, and corny gags in every couple of scenes. In one little scene, the narrator identifies two different types of ant species: simply, the red ant and the black ant.

The gag is they stop facing each other as they greet, "Hello red", and the other replying, "Hello blackie". I'm not too sure if this a dated reference (as the gag has been used several time), but the punchline is just way too lame for a gag, as well as the joke itself being in bad taste.

Another gag which shows Tex at his most juvenile moments, would be a scene almost parallel towards the dog in Cross Country Detours. The narrator identifies a flea character, known in the common tongue as the "common cootie" shows the bug character who is walking with his bindle, until he finds to his amazement the entrance to an army training camp. The bug exclaims, "Millions and millions of soldiers! And they're mine, all mine!". The corniness of the gag, shows how he intends to bite on all the soldiers' skins, rather than more juvenile gags such as a dog who desires to live in a forest full of trees.

Instances where Tex needs trick camera shots in order to make the gag expressed clearly to the audience, would fall to the skills of Smokey Garner. Occurring at the start of the cartoon, the narrator takes a look at a mere housefly who is crawling on top of, how the camera angle interprets it: the floor.

Upon the point where the camera pans towards an oddly-positioned celling lamp, the narrator remarks, "Wait a minute, there's something wrong here!". The camera flips 90 degrees to the correct angle of the fly on top of the ceiling.

It's a great trick camera shot, which is no easy feat when it comes to staging. Areas where Tex shows some lovely pieces of effects animation occur during the firefly sequence. The effects animation, likely done by Ace Gamer, is a charming piece of effects where the colours of the firefly lights are identified in contrast towards the darkness in the background. And so, the gag that follow in the following shot is a nice piece of corniness where one firefly has no light, with the firefly's excuse as "I didn't pay my light bill last month!". Mel's comic delivery on the voice adds to the entertainment and sourness of the firefly to a decent touch.

Areas where Tex shows he is full of surprises, especially when it comes to punchlines (a really great one is at the concluding scene, which I'll get to later). From watching the horsefly sequence, the narrator dictates the remarkable speed the horsefly specie travels at, and it is animated with painstaking realism to capture its instincts.

One horsefly, however, travels at a remarkably slow speed for the specie, with the horsefly looking frail. From the many gags Tex has conceived involving an 'odd-one-out' specie, you'd expect the cliched punchline to be, "Well, I've been sick".

That isn't the case with this gag. Dave Monahan takes emphasis on the "horsefly" specie where the punchline is: "I've been hanging out Bing Crosby's horses too long", which is a passable pun in this gag. Other cases where Tex's gags turn into a surprising punchline would occur in the spiderweb sequence. The narrator explains how the spiderweb can trap the most victims "many times his own size". The victim, however, turns out to be a cow who is caught trapped on top of the spiderweb. This is a wonderful gag which is well executed, as Tex creates a hyperbole to the "many times his own size" line of a cow being the most bizarre victim. The cow, as he squirms and wriggles, breaks into a forth wall one-liner, "This is hard to believe isn't it", before making more squirming noises.

The grasshopper gag, however, expresses how cynical as well as a dark turn a gag Tex Avery could turn out for a Warner Bros. short. The grasshopper, who is known for jumping at high measures. The grasshopper demonstrates the hopping towards the audience. The first few hops are pretty consistent, as the grasshopper's hops to a minimum height in unison, as well as each hop being an animation cycle. At one hop, however, the grasshopper doesn't return. The camera pans upwards towards a tree, where a suspicious, but casual bird is seen loitering on top of the limb.

The narrator asks, "You haven't seen a grasshopper, have you?". The bird responds, speaking smugly by impersonating Jerry Colonna, "It's a possibility". The gag is extended where the grasshopper hops inside the bird's stomach, which is well executed because of its beautiful animation timing on the hopping. Though a tad dark a gag, the hopping gag makes the overall sequence expressed more lighthearted.

Caterpillar related gags appear more than once in this spot-gag short, as Tex felt he had a couple of advantages of executing some gags that they both appear in the cartoon anyhow. One gag features Tex making an unrealistic gag appear believable, whereas the other gag is more of a corny, dialogue-related gag.

The gag where Tex explores further of the "impossible things" in animation is of a caterpillar, whose body metaphorically marches in position of the caterpillar's front body, emphasising he is the leader of the pack.

Of course, one leg that isn't in match of the "perfect marching unison" is the bottom pair of legs. So, the caterpillar grounds to a halt where his upper body marches out of his own body, and kicks his own behind, and dismisses the body from the march.

It's a charming little wacky gag that is pulled off well in a believable sense. The other caterpillar gag, however is a little more mundane than the previous gag, though it does pay off with some jocular character animation. Two green caterpillars greet one another as they are both each crossing at different directions. The gag situations occurs they greet each other several times, with each pair of hands shaking a pair each at a time. It's an amusing little scene which in terms of animating is no straightforward piece of animation.

Great gag sequences where Tex merely mocks the instincts as well as the appearances of certain insects is evident in the wasp sequence. From the realism of the walk cycle, the narrator points out the slender appearance of the wasp as well as the attractive figure. This is metaphorically turned into a corny pun where the wasp does a catwalk posing as a young model.

The catwalk pose is animated with some serene realism, until the figure falls flat on the wasp's body, revealing an overweight figure of the wasp which its exaggerated transformation was done wonderfully by Rod Scribner.

Another scene in a similar texture, of Tex satirising what would be opposite personalities for specific insects. As we all know, it is accustomed for moths to be attracted to flames and light, in this sequence: a sour moth despises flame. The moth jumps into the scene, stomping out the fire and complaining to the narrator: "Hey stupid! What'ya trying to do, start a fire?". Wonderfully expressed by the genius of Mel Blanc, this is wonderful satire which suggests perhaps not all moths are attracted to the sight of flames, and thus making the moth appear human. The flame effect features some nice dry brushing effects, which can't be done today's standards.

As I promised earlier, here is a sequence which perfectly explains how Tex Avery is full of surprises when you look at gag deliveries as well as execution. From how the gag is staged, it's another old gag device from Tex Avery where he mocks suspense setups, involving a villainous, dangerous creature overpowering more vulnerable creatures.

In this situation, a giant spider, who has the villainous archetype with the twirled moustache. The spider, animated mainly by Scribner as well, crawls down carefully towards a meek, cute little fly. The spider crawls down with a menacingly attitude. The spider speaks and cackles metaphorically: "I just LOVE little flies", suggesting he loves to eat insects.

However, the punchline ends with a pleasant surprising as the spider embraces the fly with a romantic gesture. He double-assures towards the audience, "I told you that I love flies", before the cartoon iris out. A gag which is as corny as Tex could get, but it's just wonderfully executed that it easily beats the other gags in the cartoon alone.

Though, this may have been just another spot gag cartoon Tex Avery made which didn't really have to much to offer except a string of gags, this short showed some truty special moments. Moments which showed Tex Avery nailing it. The spider gag in the concluding sequence of the cartoon is a fine example of how Tex could still make his gags unpredictable, even if most of his gags in many spot-gags were predictable, depending on how many times he repeated them. Dave Monahan also played his part too by helping Tex conceive some new gag material which hadn't been experimented before, such as the caterpillar marching sequence. In all fairness, there isn't too much to discuss about the short, except it has a couple of charming moments, and it is one of the more passable spot-gag cartoons.

Rating: 2.5/5.

Warner cartoon no. 344.
Release date: October 25, 1941.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Norm McCabe.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Bob C. Bruce (Unseen voice) (?) / Mel Blanc (Porky Pig/Friday/Parrot/Mouse).
Story: Melvin Millar.
Animation: Vive Risto.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: A satirical take on the Robinson Crusoe take, who is being portrayed by Porky, as he shares his experiences in an unknown island.

Norm McCabe's first cartoon where he is the sole director. Previously, for unknown reasons, McCabe has a co-director credit with Clampett on two cartoons: The Timid Toreador and Porky's Snooze Reel. Both cartoons add up to a Clampett product, this cartoon feels, but mostly looks like a Clampett cartoon.

In all fairness, this is McCabe's first supervision, and not to mention McCabe inherited Clampett's unit alongside his animators and storymen, excluding Warren Foster.

NORM McCABE

There are elements in this cartoon where you'd get the impression in certain scenes or gags, you'd think Clampett would have interpreted, as well as sequences which don't look like Clampett's work, which will be analysed further in the review. Perhaps it's plausible Clampett started work on the cartoon, but McCabe took over once Clampett moved over to Tex Avery's unit?

Describing McCabe's directorial style is a little complex, as his cartoons did show parallels as well as an influence of some of Clampett's wackier gags, but with McCabe's own gags of charm. He's mostly remembered, however, for being a victim of being given black-and-white cartoons, that are heavily ignored or overlooked by the public today, despite turning out some decent cartoons, and he was without doubt: a competent director. To say in fairness, his shorts mostly focused on propaganda material for WWII, which makes it dated in today's standards, as well as politically incorrect, if you're looking at Tokio Jokio. Nevertheless, hopefully this blog will help reflect the work of Norm McCabe as well as gain some recognition and respect for him.

Much like how Clampett satirised the infamous voyage of Christopher Columbus two years previously with Kristopher Kolumbus, Jr., McCabe's take is satirising the infamous fictional story of Robinson Crusoe, who was based on a famous novel by Daniel Defoe, and about a traveller who lived as a castaway on an unknown island.

Porky takes the lead as Crusoe, and we'll see how McCabe takes it from there. The way McCabe, or Melvin Millar appears to tell their own story of Crusoe's adventures on an unknown island is through title cards narrative as a plot device, as you you can see for yourself in the screen shot provided to you on the right.

Like many cartoons, this doesn't appear at the beginning, but a couple more times throughout the cartoon, to emphasise as well as explore Crusoe's adventures on the mysterious island. It's a unique device to be featured throughout an entire cartoon, and I believe that it has been interpreted well, especially when you're satirising an adventure story.

Some areas of animation timing which caught to my attention, as it's the sort of timing you'd not expect from a Clampett cartoon. The timing may not be edgy or slick, you'll see as it occurs during the short storm scene. Porky is on the ship as he is sailing, but like how the story goes, a storm breaks out, leaving Crusoe shipwrecked and cast out in an unknown island.

It's hard to say how Clampett would have interpreted it, but it's plausible he would have added storm-related gags, but again: who knows? Here, Norm McCabe and Tubby Millar waste no time with Porky on the top.

The scene rapidly dissolves to Porky lying stranded on the coast of an unknown island. The storm itself is also presented with a rapid atmosphere as well as heavy effects animation, which cleverly covers up the scenery in order for the next shot to feature Porky stranded.

This is some great pacing by McCabe, who rightly so makes the storm sequence look believable as well as brief to the point where Porky gets on the island as quickly as possible to make up for a limited running time, and this was a rather gutsy piece of timing to achieve which McCabe did great. And so, Porky is left stranded on the island, as he scoops a piece of sand in his hand, muttering "I had to open my big mouth". But, Porky finds he is greeted (as in the book) by a local tribe, Friday, who greets him with a sign, and says: "Hello boss, what kept ya?".

The following sequence is a more entertaining, fun sequence. Admittedly, a lot of cartoon sequences with pointless song numbers I find rather unwatchable and as well as unentertaining. This sequence, is an exception, and McCabe does a decent job at an upbeat version of the popular song Jiva Jive.

Porky and Friday have arranged for a new settlement in the island (it was approved by the F.H.A. after all), and Friday celebrates while he sings the Java Jive number.

Fairly new upon the time the short was released, Stalling's musical arrangement on the number is very peppy and upbeat, compared to the original recording by The Ink Spots. Mel Blanc, himself also adds to the touch with his brilliant singing vocals, and thus the animated choreography is also enjoyable, too. A singing turtle joins in the sequence, too, as Friday and the turtle both sing as a duet. The curtain gag at the concluding part of the song sequence, is a rather fitting touch to the song number. Also, the song number is at the right place, for it shows how Crusoe has settled at the mysterious island, with the number being good satire.

Sidetracking only slightly from where we got to in the short, like a McCabe cartoon, its clear from a historian/enthusiast's perspective there's bound to be a lot of dated material featured there. Perhaps it's not a fair observation, as all the Warners directors used dated material, but McCabe, however, is more notable for using them.

For the celebrity or radio references, one example striking to mind occurs at the opening shot of the group of mice boarding off the liner. A father mouse and his child step off with the child mouse, "Come on, Snucks, we got to get off this boat".

The child mouse asks, "Why daddy", and so the father responds satirising a popular catchphrase by Mischa Auer, "Confidentially, it sinks". Get it? A tad lame pun, but you could say it was suitable for its then audience who were familiar with the phrase.

Another reference, slightly more obscene, though its been parodied in several cartoons, is evident in the sequence where Porky spots a parrot. Porky walks over to the parrot, asking: "Hello Polly, want a cracker?" After no answer, he repeats the same question before asking, "Why don't you answer?". The parrot simply responds, "I'm waiting for the $64 question". For those unfamiliar with the term, this references a relatively new game show hosted by Phil Baker in the game show Take It or Leave It.

Another sequences which show some corniness that maybe, perhaps, could have been done from Clampett, is presented in the sequence where Porky is on the lookout for wild animals that reside in the forest. As he grabs out his binoculars, we see from a POV shot of the animal's activity. The layout work, on the other hand, is beautiful, it captures a jungle feel towards it. Who was doing layouts for Norm McCabe around this time, before Dave Hilberman did the last few shorts for McCabe?

Anyhow, during the binoculars pan, we watch a group of gorillas engaging in a game of poker, and from down under, there is old gorilla is seen cheating at the game. The other is of a money who attempts to join up the top of a tree, but struggles to take it to the pun. We learn, as the camera pans vertically upwards that a sign identifies the tree as a "slippery elm". A really poorly executed pun, as it is really making a pun out of another form of leaf, and thus: leaves come from trees; making the pun flawed to that effect.

Moving forward towards the finale of the cartoon, Porky reports in a single title card how one day he happened to encounter man footprints. The scene, animated by John Carey, features Porky holding his rifle and he is tracking down the footprints which leads him towards a cave. It helps adds suspense to the sequence, already suggesting the island is inhabited.

And so, Porky ponders, "What would Dick Tracy do in a spot like this?" He walks into the cave, and immediately intrudes a group of hungry cannibals who reside the cave. This leads to an action sequence with Porky sprinting for his life from the cannibals.

A couple of scenes from the chase actually do benefit when watching. The emphasis of speed is well executed in a long shot of a panic-stricken Porky who rushes through the scene in a zip, but following afterwards with the footprints of Porky which only appear afterwards, which adds depth as well as a great emphasis on timing.

Friday, however, spots the commotion, and before running for his life he places his own hut for sale. Porky finds an axe attached to a log, and to that effect: frantically produces a little motorboat, a gag which seems a little bit out of place, but hey. The pugnacious tribe arrive at shore once Porky and Friday evacuate the island. They aim their spears towards the boat, but Friday saves their lives by chasing a symbolic American flag which prevents the spears from firing at them. I'm not too sure of the purpose of that gag, but it's most likely a wartime reference, as afterwards Friday, places the "V for Victory" sign, as the cartoon irises out.

Watching Norm McCabe's official directorial debut, the cartoon really doesn't feel too much from a Clampett cartoon, evidently because of the look of the cartoon, and to an extent the nature of the short. Nevertheless, it was a pretty decent effort from McCabe's first short, and there are elements showing McCabe's potential, as he would turn out some underrated classics quite quickly. He manages to take advantage of Porky Pig, even though Clampett no longer had to produce Porky Pig cartoons mandatorily. He stretched his appearance throughout the short, and thus made Porky a likeable character in the short. The friendship between Friday and Crusoe in the book is known for being believable, and here in the short, their friendship is engaging too, as well as being well satirised. Overall, this was a rather decent effort with Porky Pig and McCabe, even if nothing much spectacular.

Rating: 3/5.

Warner cartoon no. 345.
Release date: October 25, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Various voices), Reid Kilpatrick (Narrator), Billy Bletcher (General).
Story: Dave Monahan.
Animation: Richard Bickenbach.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Blackout gag short which centers on the everyday life of a military trainee.

Sports Chumpions turned out to be a passable spot-gag cartoon Friz Freleng, which had a neat combination of charming animation timing, as well as some great satire on sporting events. Perhaps confident, Freleng attempts another spot-gag short: this time its theme is set in an army training camp.

For a spot-gag cartoon, this short is full of passable gags, either with Friz's brilliant timing or just how well Monahan anticipated the gag, but the majority of the gags blended in together outcomes into a mess.

The opening scenes of the short, are at least passable and occasionally humorous when comparing the nature of the gag, as well as how well executed it was, and to an extent the short isn't interpreted as a spot-gag cartoon. The latter half of the cartoon, acts more like a typical spot-gag cartoon, with more hit-and-miss material blended in together.

Let's start with the positivity of the cartoon, from what the opening of the short has to offer: the first few minutes of the cartoon feels unlike a spot-gag. It doesn't rely on fade-outs, or just simple sequences each gag. From hearing the Reveille call, as well as the roll-call sequence: you'd get the impression it's a one-shot cartoon themed on military life, much like how Bars and Stripes Forever centred on prison life, with a main character.

From the start of the cartoon, the narrator gives the audience a taster of military life in army training camps. The opening establishing shot of the army barracks is a great scene when watching Friz's humorous nature, as well as an alternate piece of comic timing that relies on no animation, a very unusual approach to a gag. The horizontal pan scene features rows of tents of off-screen sleeping soldiers who all snore in synchronisation to You're in the Army Now.

However, was responsible for supplying the snores for the gag, (probably Treg Brown); produces the snoring effects to an amusing standard, as well as the timing to synchronisation to the traditional army song. The pan ends with the
tent identified as "BUGLER".

Another great sequence which is complex when planning the gag, but also meets with a great outcome would be the opening scene of the roll call sequence.

The scene begins with the camera focused on the soldier's legs marching, and the scene suggests they're busy training for the day. The camera pans upwards to find the sleepy soldier's resting their heads on each other's soldier, whilst marching at the same time.

It's a cleverly produced gag, showing how it was no easy picnic when laying out the scene. The march cycle of the men marching looked torturous to animate, as the scene had to be animated with the legs facing the camera, rather than the standard, and less challenging angle of a character walking sideways. The gag works in every justified way. And so, the sergeant orders "Attention!", and this builds up to another wonderful, comical scene of the character's head waking up, but hitting each other's heads one at a time like a pair of dominos. The sergeant's reaction to the bashing effects is also wonderful, as well as Treg Brown's sounds to go with it. The sour sound effect of the last head being bashed is also very funny, just because of how subtle it is. It possibly suggests the last soldier got hit in the head by an object that wasn't a human head.

Perhaps the sequence that sounds out throughout the entire cartoon would be the mess hall sequence, which occurs after the roll call scene. As the scene is established, each recruiter are positioned in a table to the ranking they're assigned to: such as "infantry", "machine gunners", etc. The gag is, that based on the army occupations they're assigned to; their position would match their alternate ways of eating.

To start off with, the "infantry" table are at first seen eating sloppily, but until they're caught on camera (great subtle scene too), they begin to eat more well-postered and eating their food politely, which again is a little lame pun but it feels somewhat suitable.

Note the men at the table are caricatures of the staff at Warners, Henry Binder is seated in the middle, Tubby Millar is a possible caricature seated on the left, and I think the caricature on the right might be animator Phil Monroe.

The next table, featuring a group of "Machine gunners" eat the meals on their plates with the action of their hands moving upwards very hastily, like the speed of a gun firing. The timing is very decent, and the double-hand effect has a great touch in terms of emphasis on the speed of their hands matching the firing gun effect. The next table, for the "bombers", comes the most cheesiest gag in the whole short, but the Treg Brown sound effect for the apple dumpling falling, as well as how it was executed, makes the gag amusing in its juvenile ways. It's a complex scene to stage, and Dick Bickenbach who animated the scene himself (its his animation style), twins a lot of the poses for each soldier on the table to make the gag consistent and straightforward, and he does a good job at doing so.

The following scene, however, is a very dark turn, compared to the previous lighthearted, soft gags. The table centers on the "suicide squad" table. The soldiers are sitting there with a melancholy expression of their faces, as they are eating hash on their plates. The atmosphere of the scene, such as Stalling's mood piece as well as the emphasis of hash being served to them.

Another cynical, dark gag occurs during the parachuting sequence, where at this point the short sort of moved into more gag-to-gag sequences. The gag itself is more subtle for the scene would need to fade-out in order to make it appropriate for viewing, especially for younger viewers, but the nature of the gag is just cold stuff.

During the parachuting sequence, a trainee jumps off the plane as he is trialling for diving. Just as he is falls from the sky, he releases the parachute, supposedly inside his bag. The bag unleashes a small banner reading "parachute" and the scene fades off-screen to the soldier supposedly falling to his death.

Sequences which feature some dated material, I'll go over some scenes. Following the great opening scene of the roll call, the sergeant orders for the group of men to count repeatedly and routinely "1, 2, 3, 4".

As the scene pans towards a dumb, looking soldier, he struggles to figure the next number following three, a soldier attempting to give him the answer, is prevented by the sergeant who responds "No coaching please".

The whole scene is mostly nonsense, as there is a little out-of-focus reference of the game show Take it or Leave It. Once the dumb soldier figures out the next number, the sergeant asks "Would you like to try for the $32 dollar question?".

The dumb soldier is hesitant, with a supposedly off-screen audience member responding, "YOU'LL BE SOR-REE!" which was also referenced from a show, where audience members would be allowed to shout out towards contestants. Overall, it seemed a pointless sequence as there was no satire when comparing it to military life, unless this is dated satire.

Another dated reference (at least the billboard), is this time more humorous and justified would be during the soldier's march sequence. The horizontal pan as well as the staging of the layout emphasises on the painstaking journey they have to face. As the pan reaches a stop, a group of fatigued soldiers walk past a billboard reading "Next time try the train" which was an infamous billboard for its time, and notably seen in the Hal Roach adaptation of Of Mice and Men. The billboard, in this scene is rather biased which is a personification when looking down towards military soldiers, but thats the purpose of the gag.

Gags which feel rather out-of-place when looking at how the gag was performed is centered at the calvary sequence. The narrator explains in this section, "One of the most colourful sights, is the well-trained calvary...".

The sergeant, off-screen makes a roll call for the calvary to get in position when ordered to, and as the sergeant orders "Forward march" the horses then begin their march.

What was the purpose of that gag? Was it that you'd expect the horses to gallop but instead their marching? Or was it that they're marching in an odd, human-like position? It isn't well explained in this sequence. Other instances of corny-developed gags would be the cannon testing sequence. The army are testing out one of their new pieces of artillery. As they place the bullet inside the cannon, the cannon fires but a giant fork pops out of the cannon. As corny as well as anticipated the gag was, it sort of pays off well in the scene, and you've got to appreciate the timing of the build-up and the firing.

On the positive side, some of the gags in the spot-gag sequence do benefit a little. The "camouflage" scene isn't too much of a gag, as its a tad lame a pun but watching it from an animated perspective is also mind-bottling. The horse hoofs itself looks very challenging, as well as subtle when you watch it on the screen. I won't overanalyse of how I believe the scene was likely animated.

Another great little scene, which is reliant on effects animation, but its a cute little gag. The sequence focuses on war planes practicing manoeuvres for combat, and this "manoeuvre" turns into a soft gag of the planes playing naughts and crosses, with the yellow game winning the game.

The final sequence, the finale, occurs at an army headquarters base. The narrator explains and shows the audience a huge piece of artillery, which as he explains must be delicately coordinated at the army headquarters, "many miles behind the lines". The entire sequence is led up to a buildup, in order to create a big punchline to pay off a minute of meticulous working.

The general, is seen in his army headquarters, and he is busy calculating the bearings of where the giant cannon should be correctly coordinated. He reads out the instructions through a technical jargon, as he reads out the following: "Elevation: 45 degrees. Direction: 30 degrees north-by-east".

A military operator reports the following information towards the original station where the giant machine gun is based. After a series of coordinatings given from the general, they are ready to fire the cannon, but the testing backfires as the cannon fires at the "army headquarters".

Freleng timing for the cannon firing towards the headquarters is incredibly odd in how it was executed, and somewhat mysterious. After the cannon fires, it cuts to a shot of just a blank shot of the sky, and then an explosion of the army headquarters. After the army headquarters collapses in ruins, the battered general pops up from the pile of bricks as he mocks the Abbot and Costello quote, "I'm a baaaad general".

And so, in conclusion to reviewing Rookie Revue, the short feels like two different themes of military life. From the first act of the cartoon: you'd get the impression this was a one-shot parody of army training, but the latter half is merely a string of gags that range mainly hit or miss, but mostly miss. There were a couple of gags that do benefit such as the gag at the mess hall, or the horizontal pan of the tents snoring. They're all passable stuff, but it seems a somewhat confusing short as it doesn't run entirely as a spot-gag short the entire time, or at least not to my impression. It was a pretty clumsy short in terms of how it was constructed, and it was a little out of focus, but all I personally have to say.

Rating: 2/5.

Warner cartoon no. 346.
Release date: November 08, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Chuck Jones.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Dispatcher / Express Rider).
Animation: Phil DeLara.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Trivia: The cartoon centers on a Pony Express rider who is assigned to fight his way through the Indian county in order to deliver mail across the area.

Perhaps from this point onwards in Chuck's directing career, you tend to notice that his cartoons are gradually beginning to build up at at a steadier, as well as edgier pace in terms of timing and speed his cartoons are travelling at. He finally made it with The Draft Horse, in terms of brilliant timing and humour executed together brilliantly.

At trying to achieve better comedy and timing, Chuck had attempted several times but the results were mainly hit-and-miss if you look at the likes of Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur or Elmer's Pet Rabbit.

At this stage of his career, Chuck has abandoned on directing several Sniffles or Curious dogs shorts, and at least shows attempts at pursuing better pacing to the standards of Clampett, Freleng and Tex Avery. This short, in terms of design and execution, shows the potential of being an all-round cartoon, but the down side is it contains a lot of Chuck's quirky tastes such as long-paced sequences that begin to drag, as well as gags that feel somewhat forced.

From watching the opening of the cartoon, the short shows some potential of a satisfying all-round cartoon. The gist of the entire plot centers on a Pony Express rider who is delivering a package to the next station. And so, you'd expect some great gags along the way. Maybe not great, but at least giving Chuck credit of trying to create some inventive gag ideas.

The opening sequence featuring the delivery boy who is taking a call to a radio transmitter features a charming little forth-wall gag that's passable.

With his cap covering his eyes and visibility, he records towards the transmission data information which would be received if he were on a plane, such as the "no visibility" comment. The dispatcher responds with a forth wall comment replying, "Put your hat off your eyes, you big jerk!", and the take following afterwards is a charming send off. After the delivery boy is arriving at a pony express station, the dispatcher dispatches another horse to continue his part of the journey.

As for Chuck's pacing going at a steadier pace, it is evident throughout the cartoon during the scenes of the Pony Express rider riding through the desert. Note the use of dry brush effects, which would become standard for a lot of the 1940s Warner shorts. Even though it had been experimented beforehand, it's fitting to see Chuck used the effect in order to get a more satisfactory pace to the speed of their journey, and thus this does outcome some comical situations, such as the force they are travelling with junk succumbed to the speed.

Another striking example of Chuck's wackier deliveries in animation standards, in other words, Chuck becoming more liberals with the animation rules: would be some of the climatical scenes of the Moe Hican (get it?) injun riding after the Pony Express rider. Watch the final scene of the injun as he skids his horse to a halt. The skid, which is as common as what you'd expect from Warners and other studios, grounds to a heavy halt that the horse ends up digging up a lot of soil from the ground to the point where his skid has stopped deep enough. Though the gag may be formulaic, watching the pacing as well as comical outcome: this is as worthy as how Clampett or Friz would've done it.

Instances where Chuck expresses a lot of animation potential, not only in timing but also for inattentive gag ideas too. As the Pony Express rider rides falls from the cliff rapidly, with no sense of coordination and focus, he drops down a river and the camera pans downwards from a large, canyon area.

The Express rider and his horse are pretty deep from their end, and the express rider shouts out from underwater, but the outcome shows only bubbles flowing out of his mouth.

The following shot, focusing on the surface shows the large bubbles from his mouth rising upwards which burst out with the Express rider's voice bellowing "GIDDYAP!". The first take on the bubble gag was inventive as well as amusing from the Blanc rant, as well as coming down to execution. The following scene shows the Express rider and his pony riding through the river underwater, but as they reach the surface, they fall at another edge, resulting in bigger bubbles which burst out with splash effects, and the execution of the bubble gag in that scene was a lot more incoherent and flimsy.

Other aspects where Chuck's sense of timing and climax build-up are in the right place also centers around the climax involving the injun Moe Hican who is on the run. The characteristic walk of the injun and the horse's gallop features some charming pieces of animation which makes the climax all-round mostly enjoyable.

It does drag, however, to avoid lack of criticism, though the scenes where it drags will be discussed shortly after. Cases where the climax itself is enjoyable is not only by the use of comic deliveries or timing, such as the exaggerated skid gag: but also Chuck's own comedic style adds to the bag.

Jones, infamous for his use of his exaggerated, expressions he gives to his characters that make him somewhat human, adds that great effect in a scene around the climax. After the Express rider attempts to hide behind the horse, both the rider and Moe Hican come staring at each other face-to-face.

The staging is dynamic, but it progresses further is a brilliant sheepish grin which Jones would've drawn from layouts. The sheepish grin may be another device used frequently by Warner directors, but Chuck without doubt was the master of such expressions that may seen uncharacteristic of a character, but the audience empathise with them. Scenes focused on the little Moe Hican character also express charming little personality traits such as his small height, and he has to use a stepladder to help climb up his horse.

As for scenes that do drag for several periods of time, unnecessary time speaking, the Disney-like timing you'd expect out of Pluto hasn't yet died away from a formula Chuck had used consistently for the past three years. One sequence of slow, unnecessary timing centers on the horse who rides outside from the pony express station, waiting to take over riding from the other pony.

As he waits outside, he starts off with a couple of stretches, to prepare himself for what would be a long journey. Treg Brown adds to the touch to make the back sound effects comical, but its the animation that centers between each stretches that really drags the sequences down, that it makes the stretches just seem like a pointless execution.

Other scenes which does drag on, is also the climatic chase with the injun rider. The Pony Express rider has found himself cornered as he is prevented by a WPA (Works Progress Association) sign from crossing the cliff, due to "warpath under construction". This, of course, would be another early reference of the U.S. preparing for World War II.

As he is blocked from crossing, he attempts to corner himself from behind the horse, and the horse unwilling to shield consistently exchanges positions with the rider boy that they quarrel over who is shielding. Not to mention, this is all done through pantomime, like the most of the entire cartoon, this makes the sequence drag for the sequence is barely amusing or comical enough to show for its purpose.

From other aspects of Chuck's artistic standpoints, he does allow the audience to have a taster of enjoying and believing the Western environment in order to make the cartoon appear more adventurous. The opening establishing shot of the rider crossing from cliff to cliff is a little formulaic from how it was executed, though the background and layout work by John McGrew makes the scenery stand out more than the animation.

The use of camera pans to show off the canyon work is also evident, too. Chuck doesn't experiment too much with the use of camera angles in the short, but the high angle shot of the Injun's back watching the express rider is a wonderful piece of staging, as well as a great staging of the scenery.

Last but not least to mention in the review would be the recurring gag that is also focused in scenes here and there in the cartoon. The scene features an isolated hitchhiker who is dressed fully in a coat, and hat and he attempts to hitchhike a ride from the Pony Express rider, directly.

Each recurring gag becomes more climatic than the other: first he starts off with the simple hitchhiker's thumb, to indicate he wants a lift. The rider zips past the hitchhiker unnoticeably.

The following gag, he holds a small sign attached to his coat reading: "How about a lift bud?". The signs are typical of Chuck Jones, and its the perfect excuse for written communication in a pantomime cartoon. The following gag features the same hitchhiker but attempts to deliver the message with a billboard. This all ends up in the final shot of the cartoon, where the hitchhiker making it to his destination, unknowingly discovers the hitchhiker made it into the rider's bag. He walks out with a sign reading: "Thanks for the ride, bud." This is a great way to pay-off the recurring gag as well as how each recurring gag would be presented: with every gag peaking higher than the other.

And so, concluding the review of Saddle Silly, this is more of a transition short, where you could say Chuck is on a "journey" of exploring and seeking further talents he hadn't yet recognised. A lot of his talents he's known for are combined in this short: such as the unique use of expressions for his characters or the use of signs for pantomiming purposes, this is all inventive ideas from Chuck and it works well in the short. The timing of the cartoon is a lot more slicker, as well the animation becoming more liberal and less tight from Chuck's layouts. Despite all the greatness that does appear in the short, Chuck hadn't yet got a writer or even the writing standards to produce an all-round great, comedic short. Rich Hogan, who was Chuck's regular writer in this period, left Warners for MGM in 1941, and for a couple of shorts afterwards Chuck was left with no writer, with the likely possibility that Chuck wrote the cartoons himself, hence why the shorts are still flat in terms of plot and gag consequences. Overall, the short still shows potential, as well as a good bracer for what's to come.

Rating: 2.5/5.

Warner cartoon no. 347.
Release date: November 22, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Tex Avery (uncredited).
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Canary Bird), Sara Berner (House Keeper).
Story: Michael Maltese.
Animation: Bob McKimson.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: A scheming cat attempts at every opportunity to capture the canary, under the peril of a canary who takes advantage of the cat, by whistling.

This has been debated by several enthusiasts and historians with contradictions clashing over whether this is a Tex Avery or Bob Clampett cartoon. I'm not going to nitpick over this theory, but the overall product feels more like Tex's standards than Clampett.

In all fairness, this is more of a Michael Maltese written-cartoon, with many gags and circumstances executed from his own ideas. Tex was likely more involved on the animation side, as by this point of his career he was focusing on making funnier cartoons with sharper animation timing.

Mike Maltese's story agenda is very straightforward for this cartoon: it's the simple cat-and-canary cliche, where the cat has been threatened to leave his house if anymore mischief takes out of out him, leaving the canary taking advantage of him. A straightforward cartoon idea, it allows Mike Maltese to create fresh, new gag ideas that could be improved upon earlier cartoons that have used the formula before.

The storyline is simple: once the housekeeper spots the cat attempting to capture the canary in its bird cage, the housekeeper encourages the canary to whistle if any more havoc happens, and thus kicking the cat out of the house, into the rain. The "whistle" advice from the housekeeper makes a great plot device, whenever dealing with a brain-over-brawn formula. Pre-dating the Sylvester & Tweety shorts, with the series somewhat inspired from the cartoon, it's a great start from what Maltese has to offer.

And so, after the warning given to the cat: the canary begins to use the whistle as bait to prevent the cat from further mischief. On the other hand, the cat will stop at nothing. Each time the cat attempts a scheme to capture the canary bird, the bird whistles in time to prevent the cat any further.

The gag is usually concluded consistently with the cat zipping speedily back to his rug, and mimicking his snoring effect. Tex manages to blend the gag well in by creating some great, frantic timing of the cat zipping back to position, which is fun when emphasising the fear of getting caught.

Note that the cartoon is another source of Tex setting his focus on creating all-round funny cartoons. His use of timing is looking slicker in action scenes, but it doesn't stop the cartoon from dragging a little, at least in the first couple of minutes, where you expect some sidetracking from going from one gag to another, as such slightly slow-paced scenes of the cat scheming in his rug, but it's only minor glitches.

After a couple of sequences which start off a tad slower, the sequence involving the fly begins to kick up the cartoon a couple of notches. The cat entices the canary to follow him through the corner of the wall, but only leading the canary to a trap, inside a pickle jar. Just as the cat is about to finish off the canary, a passing-by fly randomly flies at the moment, distracting the cat's focus on the canary. The fly buzzes and dances in synchronisation to Yankee Doodle, which is a decent collaboration from Carl Stalling and Tex Avery who executed that subtle gag to the dickens. The fly land on the cat's nose, causing the cat to wriggle his nose slightly, but only to have his other hand blocking the jar, cover his face. A chance for the canary, the bird whistles loudly for his life, and thus leaving him on a lucky escape.

Mike Maltese adds the fly to make a great plot device in sparing the canary from what would be moments from death. What also makes the scene truly well-executed is its character animation, animated by Rod Scribner. Scribner starts to slowly appear in full-form, with his loose, wriggly animation becoming more manifested. Not only is the cat very loosely handled, but the expressions are perfected by Rod, who really explored the character's inner emotions in his animation.

After the close call of the canary who was trapped inside his jar, now he turns to exploit the cat, and proving he is not vulnerable. Mike Maltese plots out another gag set-up, with its execution perfectly delivered, as its outcome is perennially funny in a lot of ways.

The canary catches the cat's attention by holding up a little piece of paper with an attractive woman illustrated inside. The cat, makes a lustful take as he answers to the picture with a wolf-whistle, but double-takes when he realises the set-up the canary created.

The expression of the cat covering his mouth is just priceless in how its drawn, and it perfectly captures the emotions and exploitation the character feels. And so, the cat hides under his rug as he shakes worriedly. The canary drops the piece of paper from his hands, only to land on the floor for a passing-by fly from previously, who is swooned over the picture.

After the canary's sneer scheme towards the cat, the jokes turn to him. After a series of gags, Mike decides to turn the gag a little more gripping than the previous gags. The cat sits himself on the floor casually eating a box of crackers, in order to seek attention from the canary--again.

The canary looks at the crackers with an awed expression, and watches over the cat eating crackers. The cat offers him a cracker, and the canary helps himself with delight, with his cheeks covered with pieces of crackers. At the hope of regaining a friendship, the canary offers to shake its hand, but the cat turns maliciously towards to the cornered canary.

The canary, attempting to whistle, struggles as crumbles of crackers spit of his mouth, making the whistle more difficult. This is perfectly conducted in tension, and buildup, as the struggle for the canary to whistle really looks believable, especially with the pieces of crackers flying out of his mouth.

As the cat stays cornered, the canary swallows his mouthful, and then proceeds to whistle: and succeeds. Scaring the cat once more, the cat friskily places the canary back to his cage and rushes back to his rug. Instead of mimicking his snore, the cat begins to grow more impatient, judging by his testy posing. Tex takes that pose to great advantages, and thus turning each frisky routine to the next build-up, and this expression alone suggests for drastic measures for the cat.

As the cat begins to call for drastic measures from a series of failures in capturing the canary: he turns to the housekeeper. The housekeeper, asleep and snoring, is seen as an advantage for the perilous cat. Note the snoring animation cycle is amusingly handled, thus making her characteristics spot on. Not to mention, she's snoring in rhythm to Pop Goes the Weasel, expressing Tex at his most subtle moments.

The earmuffs become a climax in the story mountain and its another healthy device from Maltese's plot, for it allows the canary to be in grave danger, making the rest of the cartoon appear more suspenseful, and gripping that way.

To test if the earmuffs are ear-proof, he bursts out into a giant whistle, as he leaps his entire body in the air and whistling loudly by the housekeeper's face. Tex's sharper timing is also evident in the scene, for after the cat's giant whistle, the cat simply vanishes from the scene, and appears by the edge of the wall outside her bedroom. This would have to be carefully laid out in order to meet the timing to Tex's standards, such as having his body appear in mid-air in order to make the timing appear somewhat obvious.

As the canary realises he is in grave danger from the casual, smug look from the cat and hearing no calls or responses from the housekeeper, the canary frantically rushes for his life around the house, attempting to create more noise and havoc in order to awaken and alert the housekeeper. To make the frisky scenes appear more tangible, the canary flies around various objects of the house, such as turning on the stove for the kettle to boil, or the alertness of a cuckoo clock, or even a simple alarm clocks. Those are great devices to help emphasise the panic represented in these scenes. Maltese would use those devices for a similar sort of sequence in later cartoons like Kit for Cat.

Tex Avery stages the majority of the action-chase sequence to capture the frantic chase surrounded in a domestic matter. The angle is staged at an extreme down-shot of the cat and the canary chasing, who in design from the angle look more dynamic from previously. It's a great piece of staging that adds to the rather claustrophobic look of the house, and making the chase appear more frantic.

Just as the cat is chances away from capturing the canary, his luck all collapses once he skids with a frantic take, from off-screen which from an audience's perspective is a negative connotation. The camera pans to reveal the canary has removed the earmuffs from the housekeeper's ears, and thus leaving the cat in the high jump.

The cat quickly zips out of the door,l leaving his mark through the front door before the housekeeper can punish him. The canary, sweeping with hands with a sorted relief, finds however he is no longer wanted from the housekeeper, who from her ankles taps her foot consistently with disgust.

Feeling afraid, the canary zips through the house leaving another mark from the front door. Outside in the pouring rain, the cat and the canary both shelter inside a barrel. Feeling rejected, the canary walls out of the barrel, advertising to the audience in a forth-wall crack, "Ladies and gentleman, would any of you in the audience be interested in a homeless cat and canary?". It's a great send-off to the entire cartoon, and plus Mel Blanc adds to the charm of that forth-wall making the canary's voice more masculine compared to his appearance.

Though this is considered to be a Tex/Clampett short, I'd like to give this cartoon to Mike Maltese whose brilliant gag sensibilities and unique plot devices, dominate the entire short. I'd still consider the short to be Tex Avery, when you're looking at it from an animated perspective, but its plausible Clampett finished off whatever was leftover for him. Maltese has the knack of centring on a straightforward formula idea, and yet combing that into an all-round excellent cartoon. The formula would go on to become several series of various characters, most notably Sylvester & Tweety, which showed the cartoon short met with great expectations. It's an all-round delightful cartoon which is very well executed in term of its story and climax, as well as for the inventive gags Maltese conceived himself. The only small problems with the short, are that it drags slightly in some sequences, but the brilliant sequences pay off those minor flaws.

Rating: 4/5.

Warner cartoon no. 348.
Release date: November 22, 1941.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Chuck Jones.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Porky Pig).
No story credit.
Animation: Bobe Cannon.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: A followup to Porky's Ant Porky discovers the trained African pgymy ant, inside a local theatre, and attempts to retrieve the ant back in his cage.

For the reviewer: this is going to be another torturous review to write up. The cartoon is, as explained in the summary, a follow-up to the truly appalling cartoon Chuck Jones turned out earlier this year, Porky's Ant. Porky was poorly casted as a pantomime character, and this was just the wrong characteristics given to him.

The ant, on the other hand, has nothing more interesting to offer in the cartoon other than make Porky Pig vulnerable, with uninventive sequences and tricks towards the pig. The title of the short alone is a joke, for you'd be under the impression you'd be watching a spot-gag reel from Porky's matinee.

Under the title of various directors like Bob Clampett or Friz Freleng: you'd expect something from that concept out of that. With Chuck Jones, on the other hand, not. The cartoon begins with Porky who works as a stagehand singing You Oughta be in Pictures, as he appears to be switching off the devices in a projector room, supposedly finishing for the night.

As he is about to walk out of the room, he is distracted by a "pssst" sound, coming from none other than the African pygmy ant. After Porky foolishly allows the ant to escape from his ant cage: Porky notices the label, like the previous cartoon, that shows the priceless value of the ant. The value range is a tad higher from the previous cartoon, and thus giving an exact amount. After Porky discovers how value the ant is, he gulps "Yipe!".

Upon discovering how fortunate the pygmy ant is, Porky attempts to retrieve it: either to keep it secure in its own cage, or an attempt to gain some fortune out of the ant himself. The ant climbs on top of the rope leaving up towards one of the rafters on top of the ceiling, to conceal himself from Porky. Porky, finds that the ant is hiding on top of the rafter, either he has excellent eye sight or watched his trail.

Porky rushes after the pygmy ant, but runs into an open box which traps him momentarily as it flips around until it comes to a stop. It's a lame concept to have Porky just run towards the box, as it just sidetracks Porky's attempts to capture the ant, and slowing down the cartoon, too. Porky appears out of the box, and finds he is wearing a magician's top hat with a white rabbit sitting on top of his head. Might be a charming, cutesy little gag to some people, but it just doesn't seem to have any charming elements towards it. Not to my taste.

To make Porky's attempts at capturing the ant to appear even more impossible, the pygmy ant shows off how "trained" he is by swimming across from one rope to the next, landing on another rigger set.

This doesn't stop Porky from giving up, and he tenaciously begins to climb up the rigger set, in what would be Chuck's intriguing piece of staging showing Porky stouts to emphasise on the height and how narrow and small the set appears to be.

None of this however, changes for anything better, either in comedic terms or whether the sequence was climatic in any sense. Porky walks over to the single wire and makes an attempt at keeping himself in balance in order to cross to the other set to capture the pygmy ant to safety.

The pygmy ant, though, takes advantage of Porky's careful crossing by shaking the wire into a wobble, and thus making the crossing for Porky extremely difficult. The reaction to Porky shaking on the wire merits no comedic timing or delivery, and it is lacking in comedy itself.

The comic timing of Porky's shake isn't amusing in its own sense, and plus it goes on for a couple of more seconds than it naturally should be, making what would be intended as a comedic scene into a drag. After a while of shaking the wire, the ant has his fun by sliding down the rope and back to the floor, winning a victory against Porky.

Following forward would be the table sequence, which is a somewhat weird different scenario to take place in a theatre matinee (unless this is food for the staff, but it seems somewhat unlikely). The ant goes ahead to invade the food from the table, starting off with the sandwich.

Admittedly, and perhaps the only little instant where I thought anything in the short was charming; it would be the part where the ant jumps on top of the sandwich and the sandwich floats like waves. And so, the ant begins to eat pieces from the sandwich only to find he is caught by Porky, the next thing.

After Porky slams his hand on the sandwich, attempting to squash the ant (would he REALLY be nuts to squash the priceless ant, or has the ant driven him to insanity?). The ant, hides inside a mustard jar, which Porky attempts to catch the ant inside but only to find his hand caught inside the jar.

This follows with some unnecessary communication between the ant and Porky, where the ant signals a hand slam on top of a Coke bottle, to emphasise that Porky needs to smash the jar which his hand is caught in. After a few attempts and freeing his own hand, he hits his hand on the table hard, and sucks his hand in pain.

The rest of the sequence is somewhat slightly cynical, at least for Porky who experience even more bad luck. The expression of Porky's eyes feeling watery from his mouth sucking on the mustard is wonderfully expressed. The ant walks over to hand over what would be initially interpreted as water, which Porky guzzles. It so happens that he realises that he is drinking a bottle of turpentine. Gross.

Leading up to the last sequence in the cartoon, Porky unexpectedly returns with dialogue, though it's nothing more than Porky calling "Here, antie, antie", as he attempts to entice the ant with a piece of candy. The ant walks into the scene, replacing the piece of candy with a firecracker to represent the similar shape. The ant steals the candy anyway, making another sadistic turn for Porky.

With firecrackers and all, you'd expect a comedic sendoff for Porky, perhaps a gag to pay off the many flaws the cartoon suffers. The cartoon had many problems, but it couldn't hurt too much if it had some comedic advantages relating to the classic firecracker gag.

Porky attempts to entice the ant as he responds, "Look at the little candy I got for ya, etc", at that point you'd expect the firecracker to go off, which would have been perfect timing.

That isn't the case, however. For Chuck hadn't yet found his real comedic talents, he has Porky toss the firecracker away from him, and thus replacing the piece of candy the ant is eating, with the firecracker sitting behind him. Nothing comedic happens out of that, whatsoever, instead Porky whispers to the little ant attempting to save him. After the shit the pygmy ant has given him, you'd least expect Porky to help the guy. Well, this was before Porky fully became a vulnerable, intolerant character, which made him funny. The ant, unaware of the firecracker ignores Porky's warnings and lets the firecracker explode. Porky reacts to the explosion but to his joy, finds the explosion has landed the ant back inside his ant cage, but from the effect: in blackface. Making it a stereotype within a stereotype, for having a "pygmy ant" appear in blackface seems somewhat incoherent.

Compared to my other reviews, this one feels a lot shorter than how I usually write my reviewed, but in all fairness: there isn't really much to go on in this cartoon. What's to add? All the sequences are just long and uninventive, there is nothing intriguing or fulfilling that Chuck could've offered. It's just a waste of a cartoon. This is a lot to add, but this is one of the worst Warner cartoons I've ever had to review, and one of the worst I've ever seen, which is saying an awful lot. It's completely unwatchable, it's an entirely lame concept, as well as a poor followup from a very lousy cartoon. Porky is just as bland as how Chuck made him to be when he produced earlier cartoons, making him a silent character. Probably the worst part of the cartoon, is how there is no comedic or charming moments that were wasted. Usually, in a Chuck Jones in that slow, cutesy style, there are at least little pieces of charming moments that make it in the cartoon and yet I don't see any of that here. The firecracker sequences showed a lot of wasted gag opportunities, being an example. Overall, this is a short I'd definitely skip, and I'll caution any readers with my word who are intrigued of watching it. Nevertheless, I'll be expecting contradictions to my comments.

Rating: 0/5.

Warner cartoon no. 349.
Release date: December 6, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
No cast.
Story: Michael Maltese.
Animation: Gil Turner.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (sound).
Synopsis: Set at a construction site, the workers spend the entire day hard at work, whilst routinely working in synchronisation to Franz Lists's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.

As most cartoon fans know, Franz Liszt's popular Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, has become a popular association when combining classical music and animation together. Numerous cartoons have used the piece to carry out an entire short, as well as using parts of it. Friz Freleng, not to mention uses much of the key aspects of the piece into the cartoon, where for the first time in a Warners cartoon, they turned out an entire cartoon featuring the Listz rhapsody.

This is evidently not the first use of the music, despite being a popular association with the Warner cartoons. Walt Disney used it first, though only partly in the Mickey Mouse cartoon, The Opry House, and the first cartoon to feature the music in an entire cartoon would go to Fleischer's A Car-Tune Portrait, released in 1937.

Both cartoons were featured in its standard opera house setting, whereas this cartoon takes a different turn. Taking place at a construction site, the entire cartoon relies on the use of music for their gags, even though there is no musical instruments played by the characters.

Instead, Freleng tells a story of a foreman "conducting" the skyscrapers constructing large buildings, and all to be synchronised to the Listz number. Freleng recalled in an interview featured in Leonard Maltin's Of Mice and Magic: "I love music. I can't read it, but I can feel it. When I hear it, I see things in my mind. Music inspires my visual thinking. I time my cartoons to music, and I find it helps me. Everything is done rhythmically." Musical cartoons had been a long-time association with the Warner shorts, not to mention that was how the cartoons essentially started off, by promoting popular music. This cartoon, however, is a totally different interpretation: and all for comedic and timing purposes, with Freleng taking his timing to another level, and proving he can master it.

For a cartoon which relies on no dialogue, the opening scenario begins just how it should. The foreman walks towards the sight, with pride and dignity much like how a music conductor would walk through a stage.

The foreman opens up his blue print much like a music sheet, and therefore "conducts" his co-workers with the project, and all blending in beautifully with the start of Hungarian Rhapsody, which to a lot of the public, is also very recognisable and key throughout the entire number.

Thanks to Mike Maltese's establishment of the cartoon, and Freleng's masterful timing: they create a wonderfully imaginative connection between music conducting and construction conducting. In reality, the foreman at a construction site would generally be ordering his workers in a meticulous order to keep production on a skyscraper development on schedule. Here, Maltese metaphorically uses the "conducting" in a musical perspective, and thus vividly putting it altogether into animation.

After conducting the first notes of the rhapsody, the music and conducting synchronised go mostly as planned throughout the first half of the cartoon. There follows a string of gags that combine beautifully to the Listz number, and thus making the opening of the cartoon as vivid as well as entertaining as what Friz Freleng has to offer.

Most of the gags centered around the long opening number and sequence will be further analysed later in the cartoon, but the most part lets look at scenes where the entire cartoon feels almost human. We get delays from the conducting and musical synchronisation.

The music, in one scene, suggests a riveter's cue, who is snoozing and causing delays to the time and music the construction site has. The music repeats the notes to capture the riveter's alertness and attention, until the foreman tosses a brick to wake him up, and to get back on cue.

After the many string of gags that follow, (like the charming gag with a concrete mixer with the cork inside), the foreman notices a mistake in terms of production consistency as well as supposedly a piece of action combined in music. He holds out a "STOP" sign to permit any further production from his workers. Once a great, unpredictable gag to suggest that the schedule can't go as perfect. The foreman, starts the conducting the music from scratch, as well as once more, reminding the sleeping riveter from being hit with the brick again.

Areas where Freleng perfectly nails pieces of music from the rhapsody number and into animation are all over the entire cartoon, making it difficult to pick his true highlighted moments. Perhaps one that sticks to mind would be the construction scraper sequence.

If you listen to the piece of music carefully, watch how each piece of movement hits every beat and note animation wise: especially the anticipation on the extended foot pressing on the metal part of the spade. It's all timed and animated brilliantly, making the gag a success, as well as beautiful in integrity.

Another scene that works almost as well as most of the gags placed together, would be the hammer and mallet comparison of a trio hammering a stake further to the ground, but with not much effort. Two dog workers begin with a gentle tap from their hammers to hit the music beats, and a tiny mouse pounds at the stake with his mallet in tempo. This is a clever scenario by Friz and Maltese where both the dog and mouse are a contrast in terms of beat and tempo, and the contrast is perfect in delivery and combining different rhythm. Comparing both scenes, the scraper gag is a more sophisticated gag, whereas the mallet gag is more wacky.

Several characters are given leitmotifs or an instrumental to give the character a musical theme/identity. One that comes in mind is the small Droopy-like worker whose appearance is mostly seen during scenes that require a woodwind instrument. From the start of the scene, be appears almost late for work and begins right away hammering on the construction site while an elevator takes him up.

The character is used for comedic purposes, relating to a character who almost causes collisions such as a scene involving the dog almost being crushed by an elevator, but ends up spared bizarrely. In the concluding scene, the dog character actually does cause a collision. Though, his scenes will be further more discussed as he mostly appears under different gag situations.

Another sequence or character that is created as a leitmotif would be another small dog character, who distinctly has red sideburns on his face, and supposedly with an Irish stereotype, even if only hinted in design. From a notable key element from the rhapsody number combined to animation, the dog character is seen attempting to climb up a ladder to the next floor.

This proves to be a struggle for him, as a larger dog worker is seen crawling down the ladder, and preventing the smaller dog from climbing. This is also a great showcase for Friz's timing which is looped, but beautifully staged, as well as very complex.

It could easily have been flawed, music-wise and timing-wise--the sort of complexity that is only in Friz's meticulous instinct. The gag repeats a couple of times, so the audience feel sympathy as well as in on the gag of the small dog trying to climb the ladder.

After several more attempts, the frustrated dog becomes more assertive by forcing his way up the ladders knocking out anyone bigger than him attempting to climb down the ladder, blocking him. After making it to the top of the skyscraper site, he lands on top of an elevator which ultimately takes him back to the first floor. It's another gag that Freleng and Maltese planned through carefully and wonderfully: this could have easily been flawed hadn't it been for both their careful approach to timing and music scenario to fit the scenes.

Scenes which require a lot of thought and mechanical planning to make the gags functional and in the right place are also all over the entire cartoon. Watch the scene of a group of riveters who are not only hammering nails from different story levels in sync to the music, but watch how complex the layout is.

Each worker hammering a nail, are all positioned in the wrong spot, involving a nail in the position they're hammering to jab them easily, and after a series of hammering: they all feel the jab.

It's a subtle scene from layout and from a mainstream perspective, it's a pretty childish gag. Youthful? Maybe. But there's no denying that the gag alone was a lot of work, as it had to be animated on separate levels, and it was a very complex scene to time and stage.

Another scene which features mechanical planning, as well as expressing Friz's confidence in a ambitious cartoon would be the elevator gag centering on the Droopy-like character. The gag is the Droopy character is standing at a dangerous spot that could leave him seriously injured or killed by the elevator coming through. With a comedic touch, the elevator slides along the side, sparing the dog's fate.

What captures me the most relating to the scene, is an extreme down shot and an extreme up shot of the elevator lowering in perspective covering the camera. For a cartoon, that almost the entire time requires a lot of animation timing to the music, thus having to be very careful with what angles they use. Friz clearly shows he's not afraid to pull off such shots like this, but they appear quite rapidly, and thus the timing pays off. It's a very gutsy thing for Friz to do, especially in a climatic scene that requires the mood of the music to be combined appropriately.

Scenes which would require a lot of typical gags that could blend in perfectly to music occur in other cases, too. Another stake scene involving a big and smaller dog both hammering at the stake is a greatly interpreted to music. The bigger dog, unnoticeably slams the "stake" to the ground, but finds he has slammed the smaller man's bowler hat right down to his legs, leaving him moving his feet around. A popular Warner gag, which Friz used again in another musical short, Holiday for Shoestrings, and other uses of the gag appear offhand in shorts like Little Red Walking Hood.

Instances of the typical Warners humour blend in the scenes that build up to the climax. As the climax gets more frantic and build-up in the rhapsody, so does production on the construction work, from a bigger demand from the foreman's conducting. A scene shows a dog laying as much bricks as possible, but in between rows he would occasionally break out with a fatigued pant before proceeding with rapid development.

Just as the production and conducting is becoming more climatic, builders are beginning to lose control with the sculpture of the building, leading to a wacky, charming gag of a tall building being constructed, but turning at corners and not being built at a complete straight line.

And so, leading to the climax of the music and the cartoon: the foreman halts everyone working as he gets prepared, for he hopes to have the building completed before its deadline closes. After settling down all the workers, he begins to conduct rapidly combined to the rapid finale of the rhapsody number.

The builders then begins to complete its construction rapidly in synchronisation to the finale. As it finishes, one last builder jumps up to finish off the rest of the music by placing the flag on top. The foreman celebrates as the crowd cheer on the completed building. The Droopy-like character, standing on top closes the food violently to the point where the entire building rattles: ending in how a Warners cartoon would typically again, leaving the entire building in ruins. The foreman, discovering the small dog was the culprit turns sternly cold towards him, but three bricks fall on his, ending with the three last notes of the rhapsody number, as the cartoon ends.

Friz Freleng was without doubt ahead of his game directing this very ambitious cartoon. It's an entirely original concept, which hadn't dared been attempted by anybody at Warners, and while the technique had been experimented by other directors like Bob Clampett on A Corny Concerto, none it met to the brilliant standard and quality Friz Freleng could produce. It shows how a lot of effort is combined in this cartoon, and Friz knew how to get the best out of his unit in making it an all-round entertaining and successful cartoon gag-wise and music-wise. A lot of scenes blend in wonderfully from Friz's timing, and they're all in the right place. Perhaps what makes the cartoon astounding would be Friz and Maltese's collaboration with story and scenery, for they had the ability to tell a comedic, cartoon story all through the synchronisation of music, and the results meet greatly.

Not to mention, this is all without dialogue, and to pull it off in this cartoon is a toughie. This is the one of the first of Friz's several musical shorts he would go on to make, such as the likes of Pigs in a Polka, Holiday for Shoestrings. From a personal opinion, this cartoon is more worthy of an Academy Award, though in 1942 it was beaten by Disney's Lend A Paw. The Warner cartoons receiving Oscar nominations, is also a sign on how they're improving for the better. Overall, this was an all-round, ambitious entertaining cartoon that deserves the praise it has received, from all the hard work combined into it.

Rating: 4.5/5.

Warner cartoon no. 350.
Release date: December 20, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Bob Clampett. (Tex Avery uncredited).
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny / Bear), Arthur Q. Bryan (Elmer Fudd).
Story: Dave Monahan.
Animation: Sid Sutherland.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Elmer Fudd goes off to Jellostone National Park for "peace and wewexation", but finds he'll finds he'll not get any, not when Bugs Bunny's on the loose.

A great Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by none other than Bob Clampett. Oooh, no, Tex Avery-errr...no, it was both, er..there's no easy answers. As the credits suggest, a lot of people would accept that the cartoon was directed by Clampett. Enthusiasts and historians would suggest otherwise. Based with some historical evidence, as well as the cartoon itself, you can't deny but believe that Tex Avery himself had some involvement in the cartoon.

According to Bob Clampett, as well as Tim Cohea (a.k.a. Sogturtle), it was Tex Avery himself who redesigned Elmer Fudd as fat to make him a more accurate caricature of his voice actor: Arthur Q. Bryan.

The animation and look of the cartoon LOOKS like it was directed by Tex Avery, but some sequences or scenes suggest that Clampett directed portions of that, and in some cases both of the directors' styles clash in the entire cartoon. How much Tex worked on the cartoon before his departure of the studio, as well as how much did Clampett direct the cartoon, and who was the overall director of the short: we'll never know. On the other side, I'd thought I'd take a look at the cartoon to decide which scenes appear to represent which director, as well as reflect on the cartoon itself, and not just debates on who was the director.

As for what would appear to be Clampett's direction, I can take a theory. Though Tex's style does appear in pieces throughout the cartoon: I can't help but theorise that Clampett directed his interpretation of Bugs Bunny's characteristics in the cartoon.

He doesn't act much different compared to his previous cartoons, but the opening scene of Bugs at least appears to suggest so. Elmer Fudd has arrived at "Jellostone National Park" (as you know, the "Yellowstone" pun predates Yogi Bear, though with a slightly different spelling).

As soon as Bugs catches his eye on Elmer, he immediately chooses him as a victim for pranks and chaos. This sort of characteristics was very much what Clampett used for later Bugs Bunny cartoons, making him an even more rebellious character.

Though, compared to how Clampett's treatment of the character, Bugs is less cynical in the cartoon. I suppose its an unfair observation. For one, this is still an early Bugs Bunny cartoon, and Tex Avery only directed four Bugs Bunny cartoons: making this a difficult theory to accept, for Tex could have likely experimented with a characteristic like that, he definitely explored different personalities for Bugs: like in Tortoise Beats Hare. Not to mention, Tex's typical line-ups are all over the cartoon too, and in the scene of Bugs tricking Elmer from walking off the canyon in a close-up saying "I do this kind of stuff to him all through the picture", is pure Tex.

This will be the last time I will reflect on a sequence or scene, that I feel was possibly directed in Clampett's style. Most of the scenes that surround around Elmer and the bear feel a lot like Clampett's work: not just timing-wise, but gag-wise, too. When Elmer confronts the bear, he pulls out his survival guide book on how to survive face-to-face with a bear.

Following the rules, he lies flat on the ground, "remaining absowutewy motionless". The bear sniffs Elmer's body, but as soon as he sniffs Elmer's groin, he cringes away from his body and mutters "Pee-ew", and walks away.

Only Clampett would use such a suggestive gag, and thus making the gag feel innocent at the same time. Following forward, Elmer confronts the bear once more leading him in mortal danger.

This results in a little comedic chase scene where they hide from tree-to-tree in sync to William Tell. The scene that follows afterwards, feels also a lot like Clampett. Both Elmer and the bear, unknowingly are hiding at a single tree. The gag shows Elmer and the bear sticking out from different body parts, and popping out at different poses bizarrely. The timing and animation, by Rod Scribner is pretty rapid and it's at Clampett's level. It gets so when Elmer finds the bear chewing on his hat and he rushes out with the bear sitting on Elmer's shoulders, but gets knocked out by a tree branch.

Looking at the cartoon technically, you'll notice that the camera department do an effective job at giving the cartoon a breath of fresh air: the feeling that the canyon looks believable. The opening establishing shot from the title credits to Elmer driving his car in rhythm to the Conga is all done by overlays. The backgrounds by Johnny Johnsen, for the opening scene was painted at three separate levels, so: during the pan each level moves each at a different pace to give the opening shot an environmental look. It goes to show how the camera department filming the shot at separate levels, were not reliant on the device used at Disney: such as the Multiplane camera. The following scene in a close-up of Elmer shows the camera shaking in rhythm to the Conga, is one of the nicest, and most subtle touches to this short.

Another scene of Elmer washing his face (from a prank schemed by Bugs) also features a decent camera pan to give the national park a rich sense of scenery. As for the gag, Elmer has washed his face from "waking up". He reaches for the towel but doesn't realise Bugs has it attached to a long pole. This reaches him further from the edge of the canyon, and stands in mid-air, unknowingly. He looks at the scenic view, admiringly: "What a gwand view of the canyon from up here..Up here?!", and he rushes back to land realising he was conned by Bugs.

The opening scenes of Elmer and Bugs are a great piece of interaction as Bugs is immediately established as a trickster, and Elmer Fudd being a more vulnerable 'non-hunting' character...who is looking for a relaxing vacation. After Elmer begins to set up the tent and campsite, his tent happens to be planted on top of Bugs' home, after Bugs tricked Elmer with the "Camp here" sign.

This leads to a tug-of-war gag where Elmer attempts to tug his tent out of Bugs' hole, but after a struggle he pulls it out but finds Bugs tied the tent into knots. Bugs reaches out and puts on another persona by greeting him, "Welcome to Jellostone, doc...a restful retreat".

There is a great little subtle giveaway from Bugs who smirks to the audience, "Oh brother", which is a great way to establish what the entire cartoon will be (and plus the "all through the picture" line, too).

Then, Bugs compresses Elmer's bowler hat to his head. Elmer, seeking revenge, grabs his arms down the rabbit hole, but afterwards finds Bugs tied his hands in a knot, too, which is a great followup from the tent gag. And so, after fixing his hands, he blocks Bugs' door with a board and nails as he hammers it to the ground, "That'll hold him alright, (chuckles)". Bugs, opening the board open like an attic door steps out mocking Elmer's voice and transforming to his physical form. The gag of Bugs' transform to Elmer's body is very comical, surreal but somewhat very unsettling to watch, too.

For one of Bugs' schemes, and not so belonging to a specific directorial style, would be the sequence of Bugs' confusing Elmer's sense of time during his nap. As he is napping in his hammock, Bugs walks over to Elmer's hammock and begins to paint a pair of specs black. Virgil Ross animates some very decent axis movement on Bugs' heads in the scene. He places the glasses on Elmer, and sets the alarm clock to an earlier time.

As the alarm rings momentarily, Elmer looks up the sky and to his belief, "Night, alweady". Tex (or Bob) paces the scenes a little slower in order to build up the whole gag: e.g. we get a whole scene of Elmer undressing and getting ready to bed, and this is all paced slowly to make the next build-up unpredictable.

As soon as Elmer goes to sleep in his bed, Bugs removes the glasses off his face, and motions a morning rooster call. Elmer wakes up, once again fooled: "Well I'll be doggonned, morning alweady. How time fwies." As explained earlier, Elmer walks over to get ready for a morning wash, with Bugs tricking Elmer to almost fall off the canyon. Though this shows Bugs being a trickster to a vulnerable character, its a lot more tamer and innocent compared to the sadistic gags Bugs would pull, at least in cartoons directed by Clampett.

One of the highlights of the cartoon would be the scene of Bugs Bunny masquerading as the black bear Elmer previously encountered. As he is still lying down motionless, Bugs does his dirty work by pretending to be the bear bouncing on top of him. The sequence, animated mainly by Rod Scribner and Virgil Ross both show what character animation really is about, and its advantages.

The first half animated by Scribner, shows Bugs kissing Elmer on the lips, and Elmer blushes and grins. The animation and expression alone is perfectly well-executed in the foolishness of Elmer, and the expression alone is very human.

This leads to a piece of action of Bugs flicking Elmer's nose continuously like a speed ball. The scene afterwards, animated brilliantly by Virgil Ross, features Bugs Bunny's performance as a grizzly bear which is very well humanly animated, and the accents are spot on.

He impersonates the bear's mannerisms to a tee, and thus makes the gag enjoyable that way: such as chewing on Elmer's shoe, as well as his hand motions. In between his performance, he turns to the audience momentarily commentating: "Funny situation, ain't it?" which is a typical line-up of Tex Avery. This plan finishes when Elmer finds Bugs is the culprit, but at the wrong time slams his gun at the bear; off-screen: and hence more havoc for Elmer.

The last few scenes of the cartoon, Elmer begins to frantically pack his belongings from the camp site, and at one point accidentally taking a giant tree with him. He jumps back onto his car and rushes for his life, but just before he departs: he spots the sign to the national park, which he considers to be false advertising.

Elmer scoffs, "Bawoney!", and begins to damage the sign from the national park furiously, until he is caught by a sturdy, intimidating ranger who is tapping his foot looking at Elmer coldly. Just as Elmer begins to cool his temper, he realises he has been caught by the park's ranger and begins to realise his crime for damaging properly. He sheepishly responds, "Hewwo" and chuckles nervously.

The following scene after, Elmer ends up in prison, but looks on the brighter side: "Well, anyway: I've wid of that gwizzly bear and scwewy wabbit. West and wewaxation at wast!". That is, until the cartoon's last shot where Elmer discovers that isn't the case. For his cellmate happens to be Bugs Bunny who responds: "Ahh, pardon me but, uh, how long you in for doc?" and chews on his carrot. On top of the bunk is the same grizzly bear who responds in his dumb voice, "Uh, uh yeah yeah, pardon me doc, but uh, how long you in for doc?" and chews his carrot sloppily. A great conclusion for the cartoon, for this is a another dilemma for Elmer, but closes at the right moment.

Despite the controversy over who the real director of this cartoon was, Wabbit Twouble still holds up as an all-round entertaining cartoon. The carton wonderfully establishes the duelling duets of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, and thus it would make a prime example of what a Bugs/Elmer cartoon is. The title card credits which is meant to be spelt in representing Elmer's speech impediment is some really good satire on Elmer, and thus making it a rare gag on the title credits themselves. The Fat Elmer design is a little unsettling, especially if you're used to watching a thinner Elmer Fudd. Personally, I don't mind the redesign; as I still think Elmer Fudd when I watch the character: even if he put on a few pounds. Overall, the cartoon has a lot of entertaining, charming moments: the gags are inventive, and the characterisations of Bugs Bunny is still as insightful as ever, with the cartoons becoming funnier from each new cartoon.

Rating: 4/5.

Warner cartoon no. 351.
Release date: December 27, 1941.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Bob Clampett.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Porky Pig / Rover / Scotty Dog).
Story: Warren Foster.
Animation: Izzy Ellis.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Rover, explains to a "down-on-his-luck" Scotty dog, on how he managed to successfully find a master, which happened to be by manipulating Porky Pig.

When you are thinking of a Warner Bros. character Chuck Jones is associated for...many people would associate Charlie Dog with Chuck. True, Chuck directed funnier cartoons of the character, and did a great interpretation: but not so many people realise that Clampett actually created the personality, but with a different one-shot character.

For a long time, at least in his later life, Chuck Jones would accuse Bob Clampett for stealing a lot of his material: as well as the other directors at Warner Bros.

The accusations which were somewhat meaningless--the cartoon itself contradicts Chuck's accusations. It's likely the personality was conceived by Warren Foster, but it has Clampett's fingerprints over the character. Bear in mind, the persona may be Charlie Dog, but its a different character under the name of Rover.

It seems somewhat baffling that Jones would later use that character into his own creation, despite despising Clampett as a person as well as the material he put out. The entire cartoon story, being conceived by Foster, is a great establishment for Porky Pig, and a plot which hadn't been done before: a homeless dog attempts to find a master and will stop at nothing to be granted one. Though, this started off by Clampett: Chuck Jones would later use the formula, and improve on it.

What makes the cartoon stand out, not only the character itself, would be the use of backgrounds Clampett uses for the cartoon. You can't ignore this when reviewing this short, for you all know it. Clampett uses a majority of the backgrounds of the short still photographs.

Whether this was used for budget purposes or if Clampett was attempting to try out something creative, it works well in the cartoon for the scenery for the short is set downtown, and henceforth: it seems somewhat logical to use still photographs for the scenes.

However, there are several photographic shots where the backgrounds are partly painted over a still photograph. You mostly see this in the exterior shots of the short, to try and give the cartoon a city atmosphere to it, and plus: for scenes that would require backgrounds like the opening scene of the baker flipping pancakes. Note in the screenshot at the top right, you'll find the name of Porky's apartment is "Termite Terrace" which itself is a decent little in-joke, but I'm speculating whether this was really an exterior view of what Termite Terrace looked like (and not the main animation studio on Sunset Boulevard). Who knows..

The opening scenes, which would later be reworked into Chuck Jones'Little Orphan Airedale is a great establishing opening for Porky's now-dog: Rover. The scene starts with a homeless Scotty dog, Sandy, who watches the baker flipping pancakes, and finds his stomach is almost empty (hence the belt gag).

Walking over to the cab, he spots his then-homeless friend, Rover, who is seen seated inside Porky's car. The Scotty dog, explains to Rover he is in a "hard bit of luck", and asks him what he's doing in the "grand car".

Rover explains about he lives a life under a master, and has moved on from the days of being homeless. This is a great establishing scene for the shot is set at its then present day, but as he explains his story: the entire cartoon is presented in its past tense. It's been used several times in cartoons, but the opening itself works well in that sense.

Mel Blanc does a great performance on the Scotty dog (as well as his other voices), who gives the character only such charm that no-one else could give it. Here, he makes the character trill his 'rs and 'ls', parallel to the von Hamburger character in Daffy Duck in Hollywood, but voiced by Rolfe Sedan.

Moving forward to Rover and Porky's first meeting in Porky's apartment, Warren Foster establishes the entire purpose of the short all through Rover's dialogue, and doesn't waste a moment with it. For a typical Warner Bros. fan, you will expect to hear familiar lines such as: "You ain't got no home, and I ain't got no master!".

The scenes that follow afterwards like Rover attempting to impress Porky with his tricks, are also parallel to the later Charlie Dog cartoons: such as the "And I'm loveable" scene. It's a great establishment, as the dog character really feels human in that sense, making him more worthy to have a master, even if a little obnoxious.

Scenes involving Rover making his tempts to win Porky over, such as the cliched "play dead" trick. Rover takes this a little further as he says, "Watch me make like rigor mortis?" and he stiffens into that pose. Some great timing on that scene, and also a funny line by Foster that has a taste of his wit.

It's an overall great scene that establishes not only the cartoon but also Rover's desire of choosing Porky as his new master. This doesn't impress Porky as much, and rejects Rover politely by pushing out of the door. But Rover doesn't give up, Porky later attempts to dispose him by throwing him off the balcony from his apartment. What a rather dark turn for Porky, don't you think? And so, this carries on through much of the cartoon.

For what would be a great way to introduce Rover and Porky, there is some comical elements which are missing in this cartoon, compared to how funnier it was in Chuck Jones' cartoons. That element would be Porky Pig himself. Though he does play a more prominent role than what Clampett would give him, he doesn't have much of an assertive personality compared to the Charlie Dog shorts.

Though he does stand up for himself in front of Rover, and tries to go through all his ways of disposing him: it doesn't seem as funny enough. For example, when Porky attempts to toss him off the apartment balcony, it isn't as funny, for it's more sadistic of Porky to do so.

What saved the character later on in the Charlie Dog shorts was how sardonic he would be, and thus his witty dialogue, which is lacking in this cartoon. He is presented as an even more vulnerable character with a less assertive persona. To be fair, Porky was still a developing character at this point, and it was only just about this time where Porky really began to improve upon his personality: becoming more cynical and assertive, saving the character.

Following up after Rover's performance as Carmen Miranda, Porky once again boots him out of his apartment room, rejecting him once more. This follows with another well executed sequence by Warren Foster, with some great dramatisation and satire from Clampett.

Rover acts to Porky in a melancholic, dramatised performance of how low his life is. Rover shouts to Porky, "I can take a hint. You don't want me!", and goes far to express his inner self: "Nobody wants me. I'm a dog without a country, that's what, I'm a refugee, etc."

Then, Rover walks over to the side of the window where he jumps on the window sill in a melodramatic pose, on wishing to end his own life. The window sill is also suspenseful and stagy in how its written and animated.

The way he jumps out the window appears to suggest so, even though it is mostly satire.

Porky, feeling empathy for Rover walks over to window expressing guilt and concern. This changes, however when Porky finds Rover is seated under the window of the feeling, tricking Porky once more. It's a sequence that works well in satire and execution, Jones would use it again for The Awful Orphan.

As for cases including Clampett's subtle humour: that is still over even if the story may be Foster all over. Notice how Clampett appears to be teasing the censors by having Porky nude with a towel covering him, all throughout the cartoon. Since the audience are used to associating Porky who usually only wears a waistcoat, and thus being a pig character: the idea of Porky wearing a towel all through the short would be more forgiving. Though it may be a useless analysis, but I can't imagine anyone other than Clampett who would feature Porky in a towel.

The sequence with Rover standing behind Porky's window closing up to the cartoon's closure is another cases of how subtle and yet edgy Clampett could get. Watch how Clampett appears to mouth at Porky through the window, but from Porky's perspective; you can't hear Rover. Watch carefully at the scene where he mouths "Goddamn son of a bitch!". Being used previously in Freleng's The Hardship of Miles Standish, the gag works a lot better in this cartoon: for the gag is well executed that way.

And so, as Rover begins to balance from the edge of the building, he starts to lose his balance. Resulting in some intriguing photography angles of Rover balancing: it helps capture the atmosphere of the scene, and the plea for help. Porky opens the window, in an attempt to keep Rover's balance, but it's too late. The suspense is killing as Rover falls from what would be his death.

Porky runs down the stairs from his apartment building in an attempt to catch the dog from falling. Though, to make the scenes lighthearted, Rover halts himself from falling and prays to himself before continuing his fall. Just as Porky rushes outside his apartment building to hopefully catch Rover, he fails finding that Rover has hit the ground hard.

From a pose that assures Rover is dead, Porky begins to express guilt upon himself and mourns Rover. After hugging and crying over Rover's body, he immediately perks back to life, cheerfully and remarks: "Gosh, I didn't know you cared", and much to Porky's surprise. The short ends with Rover kissing Porky all over, and quoting Abbott and Costello, "I'm a bad boy".

Though Clampett and Foster both created the obnoxious homeless dog persona, Chuck without doubt would master it later on. Anyhow, this is not a bad, overall cartoon and the conflict between Porky and Rover is delivered well. Despite the idea that Porky isn't assertive or as funny enough, at least he is given a more prominent role for the short, and a role which is best suited to him. This is a very artistic turn for Clampett for his artistic ego is evident in the cartoon. The use of still photographs for scenery is enough to suggest so, as Clampett shows he wants to be different compared to the other directors at Warners. Overall, it was a decent attempt with the persona, and this is one of Clampett's more fulfilling cartoons of the year.

With 1941 all wrapped up, it is an improvement upon 1940: and at least every director are showing signs of improvement. One major factor at the studio occurred is the departure of Tex Avery (with two more cartoons he did in 1942 that were finished up), but the other Warner directors (Freleng and Clampett especially) have caught up and carried on to the point where they no longer need to rely on him when making funny cartoons. Theirs no denying Tex Avery inspired them to refresh ideas and create humorous, inventive cartoons. Though this may be a little of an "off" year in terms of Warners outputs, it is certainly an improvement compared to the previous year. Clampett no longer has to direct black-and-white Looney Tunes, Chuck Jones is gradually finding his own true style, Tex Avery isn't as reliant on spot-gag cartoons and Friz Freleng is producing more inventive and funnier shorts. The following year will be an even bigger improvement for everyone (Clampett and Jones especially), and 1942 will be a fulfilling year of reviews..

Rating: 3/5.

Warner cartoon no. 352.
Release date: January 3, 1942.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Grasshopper / Laurel and Hardy Crows).
Story: Michael Maltese.
Animation: Cal Dalton.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: The grasshopper, "Hopalong Casserole", once again outwits his long time nemesis: consisting of a pair of Laurel and Hardy crows.

Compared to what he had written previously, such as The Cagey Canary, Maltese goes ahead with the same formula: but consisting on a grasshopper and a pair of crows, but all intended as a one-shot purpose. The grasshopper here is named, "Hopalong Casserole", which is a lame pun on the fictional cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy. The crows, being his nemeses are a Laurel and Hardy caricature, with the theatrical personalities matching the birds.

The opening sequence introducing Hopalong is well established, thanks to the witty dialogue by Michael Maltese. He establishes the character with a bit of an ego, calling him the "hoppinest, skippenist, jumpenist grasshopper in this here cornbread."

This is a great use of play-on words which Maltese would use more infamously when creating Yosemite Sam. After the grasshopper introduces himself, Maltese once again teases the censors, with forth-wall material, such as the grasshopper turning from the audience and spitting no the censors cannot see.

The grasshopper there more explains, "Expectorating is censored, ya know". It's a great, charming little line-up from Maltese who makes the grasshopper appear much more humour. Thus, it also emphasises how much cartoons have changed since the Pre-Code days, where characters would spit out tobacco juice. Though, it had been used several times in the Production Code, it was still frowned upon. Maltese also establishes the grasshopper with a more human personality, making him very interactive with the audience with the use of forth-wall gags, such the camera trucking in closer, when he calls for the audience's attention. Then, he goes into a bit of exposition about the birds watching him: "The jerks have been trying to catch me for years. But I'm too fast for 'em. I just think I'll have a lil' fun with 'em".

So, following after the grasshopper's introduction come the two crows. The Hardy crow explains to the Laurel bird of the scene, and orders him to do the physical task of knocking the grasshopper with his club.

As the sequence establishes the two crows: it's evident on how their personalities are, for the characters are satirising the Laurel and Hardy characters, with Laurel being the clumsy character, and Hardy being the schemer.

The Laurel crow stands behind the tree looking out for the grasshopper. Hopalong stands behind him casually. The Laurel bird turns towards him as he speaks in a cretinous, slow voice: "We're going to catch a grass-hopper". Hopalong, who has the Laurel crow on the gag, responds "Yeah?". Believing foolishly he has caught the grasshopper he hits the Hardy bird who he mistakened as Hopalong. Removing the club off the Laurel crow's hands and looking at him sternly, he speaks to him directly: "That - was a grasshopper!".

Following the first failure the crows made in the cartoon, the Hardy crow orders the Laurel crow to capture Hopalong in a bag, and is ordered to "not let him get away". In the following scene where it is suggested that the Laurel crow has captured Hopalong, from all the rustling and all, the Laurel crow returns with the bag claiming, "Got him".

To his ignorance and failure, what he managed to capture was an angry bee who is revealed inside the bag. Afraid, they both make a run for as they are getting stung by a bee, who in the long-shot scenes can't be seen stinging the crows. As they jump inside the water, the bee arrives at the moment but signals a "darn it" motion with his arm and flies off.

Believing the coast is clear, they raise their heads from underwater but find they are still in danger from the angry bee who finds them, and stops at nothing to get justice. The Hardy bird gets stung once more by the bee and ducks under.

The Laurel bird displays his ignorance by raising his head up: showing no indication of alertness. He gets stung once more by the bee. A great gag of the bee feeling fatigued from a hard hit on the Laurel crow's head, emphasising his "bonehead" structure. Some pretty decent effects animation and timing on the stinging effect. The socket effect to emphasise the sting is effective, and comical and overall the sequence is somewhat amusing: particularly the little to no effect the Laurel crow has when the bee dive-bombs his head.

Speaking of Freleng's timing: here I will talk briefly of some pieces of timing that sticks out well in his style as well as the cartoon itself. It's not just Friz's timing that has a punchy and appealing feel to it, but he also appears to be attempting to explore different aspects of it: either comical, subtle or other aspects--which is a rare skill to have as a director.

A great scene that come to mind would be the opening shot. Already, the audience are engaged of a scene with the grasshopper hopping. To make the hopping somewhat effective and motivating: the camera hops to the movement of Hopalong.

Then it turns to a gag, involving a faster pace to the camera, faster timing as well as Carl Stalling to make the gag work. Hopalong hops in sync to a popular song of its time: Organ Grinder's Swing.

Another great piece of timing with the geniuses of Freleng and Carl Stalling combined would occur in the scene of the Hardy crow attempting to hop like the grasshopper in hopes of catching him. The scene takes place right after the lake episode, featuring the bee. The timing of the sequence is very punchy, and the music captures the frustration the crow is feeling in his hopes of capturing Hopalong. This leads him to a junkyard, where once again: this leads to another of Hopalong's victories.

To make the sequences to a bigger edge from the previous shorts: Michael Maltese uses the junkyard location for another scheme for the Hardy crow to use in an attempt to make Hopalong vulnerable. Noticing the bedsprings in the junkyard, he uses them to help him hop on the same level as Hopalong. To the grasshopper's surprise, it makes to work a while and this makes Hopalong appear vulnerable. The Hardy crow greets him smugly, "Hello".

The hopping action continues when they both cross to the edge of a cliff. Hopalong manages to escape back to the edge safely, whilst the Hardy crow falls, we hear no crash but another spring effect to show he is rising upwards. Just his luck, Hopalong removes the springs off the crow, leading him to fall once more. Once again another victory for the grasshopper, it's a great little scene to make the sequence edgier than the previous ones: and plus, a caution to Hopalong's egotistical remarks earlier in the short.

The following scene is a treat from Mike Maltese's inventive gag sequences, and plus Friz's timing to combine with classical music to go along with it. The sequence begins with Hopalong hopping casually through the junkyard, as the crows are hiding underneath an abandoned piano: in another attempt to capturing the grasshopper.

The Hardy crow entices the grasshopper with a piece of corn hanging from a stick, but Hopalong fails to catch the corn: leading to a sequence where the grasshopper is on top of the piano trying to catch the corn whilst playing the Poet and Peasant Overture.

It's a popular piece of music for animated cartoons, especially in action and climatical scenes, and here it works wonderfully as a gag. Inside the piano shows the Laurel and Hardy crows being beaten up by the piano felts, and pounding them in rhythm to the overture. It's a great little sequence which expresses Freleng and Stalling's abilities in creating great cartoon comedy. This ends as the grasshopper bounces on the piano, leaving the crows to fall out from the piano.

Leading up to the finale of the cartoon: the grasshopper hides once more inside an abandoned cuckoo clock. This leads to Hopalong who quickly attempts to masquerade himself as a clock figurine who appear on the hour. The Hardy crow, changing the time further to the hour, watches Hopalong walk; acting like a mechanical figurine, tapping the bell. The crow fails to catch him this round.

The following round, Hopalong finds he is face-to-face with the crow: but escapes from the clock with luck. Leading to a brief chase scene of the crows failing to catch Hopalong; he makes it out in time just as the cartoon irises out. Another great plot device by Maltese, who is seen breaking the rules of what would appear in animate cartoons.

He escapes through the iris, panting and wheezing, "Well, just as I was telling you folks, I'm too fast for 'em. They'll never catch me. Never". But, his remark contradicts otherwise as the Hardy bird opens up the iris-out and grabs the grasshopper's turtleneck taking him back to the cartoon to his fate. A sadistic gag yes, but also an unpredictable, funny sendoff to contradict Hopalong's line. Not to mention, it ends with the moral, for its unwise to be overconfident and brash: thus ending with what the grasshopper deserved.

From writing in the cat-mouse formula, Mike Maltese does a decent effort in turning out this short. The grasshopper is a very big-heated, self-centred character that Maltese manages to make the character unlikable throughout the entire cartoons, thus ending him with good justice. The use of forth-wall material makes the characters appear believable and human from their interactions, and all the characters show three-dimensional personalities. From a viewer's perspective, the short shows some great character development. Freleng's timing is also fun and inventive in the cartoon; with the cliched 'Poet and Peasant Overture' sequence being witty and humorous. Overall, its got some great sequences, great characters that add up to a great cartoon. A very underrated Freleng effort.

Rating: 3.5/5.

334. The Heckling Hare (1941)

335. Inki and the Lion (1941)

336. Aviation Vacation (1941)

337. We, the Animals Squeak! (1941)

338. Sport Chumpions (1941)

339. The Henpecked Duck (1941)

340. Snowtime for Comedy (1941)

341. All This and Rabbit Stew (1941)

342. Notes to You (1941)

343. The Brave Little Bat (1941)

344. The Bug Parade (1941)

345. Robinson Crusoe, Jr. (1941)

346. Rookie Revue (1941)

347. Saddle Silly (1941)

348. The Cagey Canary (1941)

349. Porky's Midnight Matinee (1941)

350. Rhapsody in Rivets (1941)

351. Wabbit Twouble (1941)

352. Porky's Pooch (1941)

353. Hop, Skip, and a Chump (1942)