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Joe Blevins 
"Don't I look handsome?"
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 Posted - 01/02/2010 : 17:59:49
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Hello once again.
I had so much fun with my 50 Chillers and 8 Thrillers projects that I decided to attempt another movie-reviewing marathon project. This time, my subject is 75 Greatest Cartoons, a collection of public-domain and questionable-ownership cartoons I picked up at the grocery store (new!) for a measly 25 cents. That seems a very reasonable price since the cover promises "Over Five Hours of Fun!"
This project will consist of watching all 75 cartoons and commenting a little on each and every one. The set itself consists of two double sided DVDs -- so I thought I'd do this in four installments, one for each side. Naturally, I'll start with Disc 1, Side 1.
To give you an idea what the set contains, here is the text on the back cover:
75 Greatest Cartoons
The greatest shows on Earth. Ever wanted to have all
the great classic cartoons in one collection? Now, for
the first time ever, we have gone into the vaults to do
just that. 75 Greatest Cartoons features all the
favorites, including:
Casper, The Friendly Ghost
Popeye
The Three Stooges
Mighty Mouse
Betty Boop
Little Lulu
Mutt & Jeff
And many more!
Other collections offer you some of the favorites, but
nobody else gives you 75 of the greatest cartoons ever
made in one package! Packed with laughs, this
package is a must for kids of all ages!
Runtime: 330 Minutes
The box also promises that these cartoons are "Digitally Remastered" and in "Dolby Digital Sound", but I have just cause to be skeptical. In any event, this project looks like some fun, so I hope you will join me for future installments. |
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lemmycaution 
"Long mired in film"
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Posted - 01/02/2010 : 19:08:09
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One good thing about a cartoon marathon is if there is a really bad one it's over in eight minutes!
As always, looking forward to your comments. |
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 01/02/2010 : 20:42:52
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| As I wrote in my 10th anniversary piece, I thought your last trip through PD-land was just marvelous. Can't wait to read this one. |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 01/02/2010 : 21:02:02
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75 CHEAP CARTOONS: PART ONE
It turns out that Disc 1, Side 1 contains three separate cartoon compilations: BETTY BOOP, VARIETY PACK 1, and POPEYE. Fortunately, the main menu has a handy "Play All" option which allows all three compilations to play through in order.
The disc starts with six of Betty Boop's vintage Fleischer cartoons, all in black-and-white and all in surprisingly good shape. For the most part, these cartoons were a delight -- sexy, fast-paced, and endlessly inventive. I could see in these Fleischer cartoons the roots of MAD magazine, R. Crumb, and John Kricfalusi. The whole world seems imbued with life in the detail-crammed Boop-iverse, and all its inhabitants are in a state of constant flux. The Fleischer brothers come on like mad scientists, inventing the rules of animation on the fly and incorporating live action, stop motion, rotoscoping, and anything they think just might work. But, anyway, on to the individual cartoons:
1. BETTY BOOP - "Chess-Nuts" (1932) Betty Boop and her sidekicks Bimbo (a dog) and Koko (a clown) participate in an utterly bizarre and surreal chess game. This starts out with live-action chess footage, followed by stop-motion footage of chess pieces moving of their own accord. Eventually, the cartoon part starts and Betty is kidnapped by the villainous and libidinous Black King and taken to his castle. At one point, his eyeballs turn into lit candles, indicating his lust. Betty blows out the candles, which then droop over limply. All of this is impressive and exhausting, if not exactly engaging. GRADE: A-
2. BETTY BOOP - "Morning, Noon and Night" (1933) The title refers to Von Suppe's "Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna," and the cartoon is built around that piece of music as interpreted by "Rubinoff & Orch." As in "Chess-Nuts," Betty Boop is just one element of the chaotic craziness here. The main plot revolves around a war between cats and birds in a barnyard setting. Weird, weird stuff. GRADE: A-
3. BETTY BOOP - "Snow White" (1933) Now we're cooking! This is the wild, breakneck Fleischer take on the classic fairy tale (released well ahead of the Disney version). For me, the greatest thing about the cartoon is the appearance of Cab Calloway, who sings that great old standard, "St. James Infirmary Blues." Calloway is glimpsed in live action footage, and Betty's shape-shifting clown sidekick Koko later sings in Calloway's voice. Amazing stuff. GRADE: An easy A+
4. BETTY BOOP - "The Old Man of the Mountain" (1933) Man, they were crankin' 'em out in 1933, huh? This is another Betty Boop vs. Cab Calloway cartoon. Cab is a white-bearded hermit this time and sings a bit of "Minnie the Moocher" and the title song. Another weird and not-quite-sensical melange of visual jokes. GRADE: A-
5. BETTY BOOP - "Betty Boop's Rise to Fame" (1934) A clip show, reusing bits from previous Booptoons including "The Old Man of the Mountain," which we just saw. But hold on! There's a live-action wraparound story with Max Fleischer as himself and Dave Fleischer as a reporter, and some of the new 'toon/live-action interplay is charming. At one point, Max's pen becomes anthropomorphic and shakes its ass at us. La Boop is sexual dynamite, always disappearing behind objects to disrobe. At one point, she wears only a grass skirt and lei, and a prudish flower buries its own head in the ground out of embarrassment. GRADE: B+
6. BETTY BOOP - "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal You"(1932) Betty Boop sure had awesome taste in music. Here she teams up with Louis Armstrong in a highly politically incorrect tale of ravenous headhunters. The floating, disembodied head of Satchmo himself menaces poor Koko the Clown. GRADE: A
Sadly, that does it for Betty Boop and her surrealism-loving cartoon pals. From there, we move on to the nebulously-titled VARIETY PACK 1.
7. COLOR CLASSIC - "The Cobweb Hotel" (1936) Another Fleischer cartoon, this time minus any notable stars but maintaining the surrealism and rapid pace. The first 'toon so far in color, and here's where the crumminess of the transfer begins to manifest itself. This is essentially a horror story with a diabolical spider trapping helpless flies in his web-filled "hotel." Good eventually triumphs, though I had a tough time rooting for flies. GRADE: B+
8. LITTLE LULU - "Cad and Caddy" (1947) The title character, based on Marge's Saturday Evening Post creation, appears in animated form here to no great effect. She alternately menaces and is menaced by a very Bluto-like golfer. Lulu has her own theme song reminding us what a troublemaker she is, but frankly I wasn't impressed. GRADE: C+
9. MIGHTY MOUSE - "Wolf! Wolf!" (1944) Yes, it's Mighty Mouse, but don't get too excited. This is a fairly early appearance for MM, and very little of his trademark schtick is in place. His theme song and usual supporting cast are AWOL, and the Mouse himself is mute and wears a prototype version of his famous costume. Here he saves a lamb from a hungry wolf who dresses in Bo Peep drag (with weightlifting dumbbells for breasts). GRADE: C
10. MUTT & JEFF - "Slick Sleuths" (1926) You know those old video games which take licensed characters from movies and cartoons and just drop them into generic settings that have nothing to do with the characters whatsoever? That's basically what the 'toon world did with Mutt & Jeff. The famous newspaper duo are presented here as mute characters who "communicate" only with whirring noises. (This was the silent era.) The gags come fast and furious -- some are quite inventive -- but the main characters are cyphers. They could be anybody. Here they are detectives on the trail of a shape-shifting baddie named The Phantom, who at one point even becomes a "Mammy" character. GRADE: B-
11. MUTT & JEFF - "Westward Whoa" (1926) The lameness of the title pun gives you an indication of the wit on display in this 'toon. M&J are cowboys this time, attempting to rope and brand uncooperative cattle. The gags are fairly lame and run out of steam by the end. I can see why this series was a flop. GRADE: C
12. WOODY WOODPECKER - �Pantry Panic� (1941) The only Woody Woodpecker 'toon to fall into the public domain, this features the earlier, uglier version of the character. Here he competes with a conniving cat for food during a cold snap. Back then, jokey title cards were apparently part of Woody's repertoire. The conclusion of the cartoon is bracingly brutal and honest. GRADE: B
And that does it for Variety Pack 1. On to POPEYE. What we have here are nine Popeye cartoons, eight of which are from his stint at Paramount. The Paramount Popeye has been redesigned to be "cuter" and more appealing, and a lot of his rough edges have been sanded away. Far removed from Sweethaven or the seafaring life, Popeye has been transplanted to a generic 1950s American suburb. Generally, the plots focus on his rivalry with Bluto for the love of a snub-nosed yet still flat-chested Olive Oyl and his harried attempts to raise his four nephews. What we have here is a domesticated, neutered Popeye who too often comes across as a goody two-shoes. There's still fun to be had in this setting, though.
13. POPEYE - "Assault & Flattery" (1956) Another clip show, this time with a wraparound story featuring Bluto Vs. Popeye in court with Wimpy as the judge! Bluto and Popeye relate various anecdotes about the past, and we see clips of their previous scuffles, one of which involves that classic cartoon trope, the construction site with the exposed steel girders. Largely a wasted opportunity for some meta-commentary about the series. GRADE: C
14. POPEYE - "Bride & Gloom" (1954) On the eve of her wedding to Popeye, Olive Oyl has a nightmare about raising Popeye's monstrous children and changes her mind about the ceremony. There's something almost subversive going on here. Ends with a terrible "Confucius say" gag, though. GRADE: B-
15. POPEYE - "Cookin' with Gags" (1955) A cartoon focusing on the eternal Popeye/Olive/Bluto triangle, this time in a picnic setting. Bluto plays a series of incredibly violent and sadistic April Fools Day tricks on Popeye, much to the delight of Olive Oyl. Olive even seems to endorse Bluto's plan to burn Popeye alive. A fickle young lady, to say the least. GRADE: B-
16. POPEYE - "Floor Flusher" (1954) Another Popeye/Bluto/Olive deal, this time with the two men competing to impress Ms. Oyl by fixing her plumbing. For me, the clear highlight was Popeye singing "By a Waterfall," a standard I mostly know from the Bonzo Dog Band. This was also the first 'toon in the collection to end with Popeye singing his theme song with reworded lyrics that summarize the plot. GRADE: B-
17. POPEYE - �Fright to the Finish� (1954) A slight variation on �Cookin' with Gags,� this has a lustful and revenge-minded Bluto playing some spooky and elaborate Halloween practical jokes on Olive and Popeye. Popeye, naturally, retaliates and the endless cycle continues. Fairly weak brew. GRADE: C+
18. POPEYE - �Gopher Spinach� (1954) If your favorite part of the Popeye mythos is the spinach itself, then this is the cartoon for you. Presaging Bill Murray in Caddyshack, Popeye does battle with a pesky gopher for supremacy of a spinach patch. Eventually, the two team up to take on a bull. Seriously. The weirdest thing about this cartoon is the anthropomorphic spinach. Hard to believe rock & roll was just around the corner. GRADE: C+
19. POPEYE - �Greek Mirthology� (1954) More '54 Popeye, this is the first 'toon in the collection to feature his four creepy, identical nephews: Pipeye, Peepeye, Pupeye, and the unfortunately-named Poopeye. The boys, it seems, prefer ice cream to spinach so the Sailor Man regales them with tales of his ancestor, Hercules, who started out sniffing garlic (huh?) before switching to spinach. At least this ends realistically, with the boys unmoved by Popeye's teaching and falling under the sway of ice cream vendor Bluto. GRADE: B-
20. POPEYE - �Me Musical Nephews� (1942) Again with the nephews, though of an earlier vintage this time... and in blessed black-and-white, too. The lads keep poor Popeye awake by playing their raucous jazz music all night. No trace of the old, badass Popeye here. He's just a harried suburban father figure here. Eventually, our sailor friend seeks rest and comfort by escaping the movie altogether. A fun one. GRADE: B
21. POPEYE - �The Paneless Window Washer� (1937) This is the only B&W Fleischer Popeye cartoon in the bunch, and though it's not the character's most inspired outing, I was happy to have it here, if only to see that familiar credit sequence with the opening and closing shutters. Olive Oyl is a �public stenographer,� while Bluto is a freelance window washer. (Did such a job exist in 1937?) He and Popeye compete (again!) to see who's the better washer of windows. Guess who wins. At least this cartoon restores one of my favorite tropes: Popeye muttering asides under his breath. GRADE: B+
That about does it for Part One. Hope you will join me soon for Part Two featuring Superman and more! |
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 01/02/2010 : 21:27:41
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| How did they get all those 50s Popeyes and not the 30s-40s Fleischers, which are being lovingly re-released by Warner Home Video [that's where Koko and Boop come from too!]. Amazin' -- some rightsholder must have really been asleep at the switch! |
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 01/02/2010 : 22:38:33
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Joe - what a great public service! It's so good to have your take on all these. Big thanks!
BTW -- Go HERE for a plethora of bootiful Boops ... FOR FREE!!!! 
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MguyXXV 
"X marks the spot"
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Posted - 01/03/2010 : 07:44:54
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quote:
Originally posted by randall
How did they get all those 50s Popeyes and not the 30s-40s Fleischers, which are being lovingly re-released by Warner Home Video [that's where Koko and Boop come from too!]. Amazin' -- some rightsholder must have really been asleep at the switch!
For my money, a non-Fleischer Popeye is an abomination. The mumbling is worth the watching! |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 01/03/2010 : 09:05:28
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75 Cheap Cartoons: Part Two
Disc 1, Side 2 is quite a bit different than Side 1, mostly for the worse. Instead of three shorter, themed groups, this side contains one long compilation, somewhat misleadingly titled Superman and Other Cartoon Treasures, and has no actual menu or chapter list. It's essentially a mystery grab bag of random stuff. And what does it contain? Well...
It does start off with three fine vintage Fleischer Superman cartoons, albeit presented in very faded and blurry transfers. The credits boast TECHNICOLOR, but these should say TECHNICALLY IN COLOR. I can distinctly remember Joe Bob Briggs saying he never liked the Fleischer Superman 'toons, but I can't see why. They're action packed and gorgeously rendered, possibly one of the best iterations of the character in any medium, anywhere. Animators today should be studying the interplay of light and shadow in these 'toons.
22. SUPERMAN - �The Mechanical Monsters� (1941) A mad scientist has invented a bank-robbin', jewel-snatchin' robot, and guess who has to clean up the mess. A very sexy Lois gets herself kidnapped, and in one stunning shot Supes uses his cape to protect her from a flood of molten metal. One sticking point: the damaged robot spills his cargo of jewels in one scene while flying over some unknown terrain, but a Daily Planet story at the end says the jewels were recovered. When? How? Grade: A-
23. SUPERMAN - �Billion Dollar Limited� (1942) Some masked thugs are apparently not satisfied with merely robbing a train carrying a billion dollars worth of gold. They want to also kill everyone on board, including (natch) Lois Lane. Superman fixes things quickly, though some ancillary characters do fall to their deaths. That's one of the ways in which this Superman differs from the bland Hanna Barbera Superman of my own youth. The Fleischer Superman is a man of few words, but the HB Superman pretty much never shuts up and recites aloud everything he plans to do before he does it. I see now the Fleischer 'toons follow a strict formula, ending with Lois Lane getting the scoop for the Daily Planet and Clark Kent trying a little too hard to make himself seem like a loser wimp. Grade: A-
24. SUPERMAN - �The Arctic Giant� (1942) The last and most absurdly wonderful of the Superman 'toons in the collection. A frozen, perfectly-preserved T. Rex is found in Siberia and is soon taken to where it damned well belongs: the United States of America, son! If you're guessing this quickly takes a Kong/Godzilla/Gorgo turn, you guessed right. Superman versus a dinosaur � how are you gonna beat that? This version of the Man of Steel can't fly, so he just kinda hops around. Favorite detail: the plaque on T. Rex's teeth. Grade: A
And that's all she wrote for Superman. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we reach the truly soul-shattering stuff: nine consecutive episodes of the wretched, obscure 1970s cartoon Fraidy Cat, which originally aired as part of the unsuccessful 1975-1976 Filmation series, Uncle Croc's Block.
Fraidy Cat has, at least, a wonderfully dark premise. The title character is a jittery feline who is down to the last of his nine lives and is, therefore, terrified of death. Since his life is constantly being threatened, Fraidy's existence is pure, unending hell. Funny, right? Well, here's the catch. Every time FC utters a number between 1 and 8 � or even a word that sounds like a number between 1 and 8 � he is visited by one of the ghosts of his past lives, all of whom are extremely annoying, loud, and gratingly unfunny. When FC says the word �nine,� he is plagued by a number-9-shaped cloud which shoots lightning bolts at him. This is even less funny than it sounds. And all of this is done in the style of typical bad 1970s Saturday morning animation: ugly design, horrid music, and a chortling laugh-track which never, ever relents. Frequently heard are FC's two big catchphrases: �This kitten is splittin'!� and �Oops! I said...� The latter is uttered whenever he accidentally utters a number, which is very often.
Watching nine straight Fraidy Cat 'toons was one of the toughest viewing experiences of my life. No exaggeration. The 'toons are generally presented without any credits or title cards whatsoever, so it was tough to even tell when one cartoon ended and another began. They all look alike and generally take place at night in garbage cans, dumpsters, junkyards, and dank alleys. It's like a big, amorphous blob of suckitude. I consulted several online Fraidy Cat episode guides in an attempt to sort out which episode was which, but much of the following is pure guesswork.
25. FRAIDY CAT - �Meaner Than a Junkyard Cat� (1975) The cat takes lessons in being a junkyard dog from a mean mutt creatively named Meaney. GRADE: C- for novelty
26. FRAIDY CAT - �Cupid the Cat� (1975) Cupid makes FC fall in love with a hideous, Phyllis Diller-type she-cat. GRADE: D
27. FRAIDY CAT - �Over the Wall and Havin' a Ball� (1975) Fraidy is in prison, apparently for crimes against comedy. There he meets some gangsters who want him to help them escape. It turns into a Godfather parody, with a mumbling Marlon Brando-type dog called �the Grandfather.� That alone makes it the best-ever Fraidy Cat. GRADE: C+
28. FRAIDY CAT - �Feline Fortune� (1975) FC repeatedly gains and loses $10,000. It's so depressing. His phone service is about to be cut off for nonpayment. Terrible cat-based puns abound. GRADE: F
29. FRAIDY CAT - �Fraidy Goes Fishin'� (1975) Ungodly crap with FC stowing away on a ship. There's a parrot pirate who talks like Humphrey Bogart. I couldn't follow what was supposed to be happening. GRADE: IS THERE SOMETHING LOWER THAN F? G, MAYBE?
30. FRAIDY CAT - �The Not-So-Nice Mice� (1975) FC is bullied by mice who take a perverse interest in the unspeakably awful ghosts. GRADE: F
31. FRAIDY CAT - �Love Is a Many Feathered Thing� (1975) Running away from dogs, FC finds himself in the clutches of an overly-affectionate bird named Mary Tyler Too or some stupid pun name like that. Wretched and endless. GRADE: F
32. FRAIDY CAT - "Choo-Choo Fraidy" (1975) FC hops a train but winds up in the desert doing the same old shit. There's a character named �Ruth Buzzard.� Kill me right this instant, God. GRADE: F
33. FRAIDY CAT - �Scaredy Fraidy� (1975) Blessedly, the last FC cartoon in the collection. This one focuses on that lightning-bolt-shooting 9 cloud and also includes a fake Paul Lynde cat teamed up with a hillbilly cat. GRADE: D
Whew! We survived Fraidy Cat. On with the rest of the collection.
34. POPEYE - �The Crystal Brawl� (1957) Another Paramount Popeye from the 1950s and it's another clip show. Bluto shanghais Olive and escorts her to the fair. Popeye retaliates by posing as a fortune teller and showing Olive her �future� with the brute, weirdly represented by past cartoons about mountaineering and Ferris wheels. It's at this point I start to question the motives of everyone involved. Is Bluto a would-be date rapist? Why does Olive keep encouraging him? GRADE: B-
35. INKI - �Inki and the Minah Bird� (1943) Hoo boy. Some controversial stuff. This semi-forgotten Chuck Jones Warner Bros. 'toon centers around Inki, a jet-black-skinned, red-lipped, spear-chucking African boy and a mysterious, disaffected bird with a cool-as-hell theme song. Rarely seen (for obvious reasons), but not terribly funny either. The transfer is lousy. GRADE: C
36. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �Flat Heads� (1965) An installment of the Stooges' little-loved TV series. The live action wraparound with the Stooges at the beach, substituting Iron Grip Cement for suntan lotion, is fair to middling. The (barely) animated segment has them as incompetent auto mechanics foiling a bank robber. In both sections, Curly Joe DeRita is a weak link. Sorry, but the man just cannot read lines terribly well. GRADE: C
37. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �Hairbrained Barbers� (1965) A better (if not exactly great) Stooge 'toon. Both the live action and animated sections have the boys cutting hair. Their live-action victim is a Lord Fauntleroy-type boy. Their animated victim is a British rock star, Coolie McCool. How 'bout that � the 3 Stooges Vs. the British Invasion! Meanwhile, in one live-action scene, they're plagued by interference from an irate barbers union rep! I will say this: the awful and frequently-repeated New 3 Stooges theme song � seemingly all piccolo and snare drum � gets old fast. GRADE: B-
38. THE DOVER BOYS - �The Dover Boys at Pimento University� or �The Rivals of Roquefort Hall� (1942) Another somewhat forgotten Chuck Jones 'toon for Warner Bros. This is apparently considered a classic among animators and was something of a landmark in its time. Trouble is, it's a parody of a series (The Rover Boys) with which I am entirely unfamiliar, so the jokes go soaring over my head. I think if I'd been a kid watching Looney Toons and this came on, I'd be disappointed. I'm sure to those in the know, it's hilarious. GRADE: B
And that'll close the book on Part 2. Look for Part 3 in the near future!
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Edited by - Joe Blevins on 01/03/2010 09:06:47 |
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demonic
"Cinemaniac"
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Posted - 01/03/2010 : 22:12:23
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Bravo Joe - I greatly enjoy reading your reviews as always. "Fraidy Cat" sounds like a real treat.   |
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Beanmimo 
"August review site"
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Posted - 01/04/2010 : 13:02:19
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Joe these are great!! I remember they used to show Popeye, Betty Boop and Mighty Mouse by rotation on friday evenings, thanks for the trip.
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[matt]
"Cinemattic."
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Posted - 01/04/2010 : 15:01:08
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Wow, I'm so jealous you got all them for only 25 cents! That's awesome. Great project.
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 01/10/2010 : 19:33:01
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75 CHEAP CARTOONS, PART III: THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND MICE
First, let me thank everyone for the kind comments. I'm glad you are enjoying this series. But now let us move on to the second disc. Disc 2, Side 1 is structured much like Disc 1, Side 1 and contains three separate compilations, in this case: NEW 3 STOOGES, RAINBOW PARADE and the unappetizingly titled VARIETY PACK 2. There is also a �Play All� option, which is what I selected.
This disc leads with its chin, so to speak: 14 back-to-back installments of the infamous 1965 TV series, The New 3 Stooges, a last-ditch effort to wring the last few dollars out of the aging comedy team. In theory, a Stooge animated show is a great idea. Imagine the Stooges totally unencumbered by such pesky annoyances as gravity. But a typical Stooge 'toon is stiff and slow-paced with noticeably fewer gags than you'd find in their live-action Columbia shorts. It doesn't help that the animation is perhaps some of the chintziest in TV history, and that the boys themselves are past retirement age. Anyway, let's dive in:
39. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �Baby Sitters� (1965) Sadly, these episodes do not feature the live action wraparound segments. On the plus side, the transfers here are not bad � bright and colorful, though the cartoons themselves are extremely minimalist. (The limited action tends to take place against very vague, blocky scenery.) Here, the boys are training to be babysitters at a very odd institution run by nurses. They get to practice their parenting skills on a green, diapered robot brat. Baffling. GRADE: C+
40. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �Behind the 8-Ball Express� (1965)� The Stooges are a train crew pitted against a thief named Bullwhip (voiced by Hal Smith). Back then, kiddie cartoon characters could smoke and carry guns, which they can't do today. Ends with the Stooges threatening their boss with crude weapons fashioned from 2X4's with nails through them. Yikes. To borrow a phrase from SCTV, this 'toon was a little bald on jokes. GRADE: C
41. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �Dizzy Doodlers� (1965) The boys are lowly assistants to a temperamental Italian artist who is working on a Sistine Chapel-type ceiling. This is all an excuse for the proudly lowbrow Stooges to thumb their noses at Art. By the low standards of this series, a pretty funny one. GRADE: B-
42. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �Goldriggers of '49� (1965) Here's another stock situation done in a slightly odd way. The Stooges are 1840s prospectors, looking for gold out West. Their nemesis is a crook named Cha-Cha Charlie. I liked how obvious Charlie was in his villainy: wearing his mask even when disguised as an old lady, clearly labeling his hideout as �HIDE OUT,� and carrying his loot in a sack marked �STOLEN GOLD.� GRADE: B-
43. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �Litter Bear� (1965) In an apparent attempt to rip off Yogi Bear, the Stooges are park rangers at odds with an ursine troublemaker named (get this) Tim Bear. Tim's littering nearly gets him shot in the back. I did like this odd, mid-chase-scene exchange between Larry and Moe: �A clean park is a happy park!� �You're sick, Larry.� GRADE: B-
44. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �That Little Old Bomb Maker� (1965) The pilot for the series and a distinct cut above the rest, this is a WWI adventure with the boys foiling the Kaiser's plot to unleash a �super bomb� on �Captain Eddie Chickenflicker.� Well-known voiceman Paul Frees plays virtually all the non-Stooge roles here, including a lunch-stealing American sergeant and an evil German scientist named (and this is the show's spelling) �HER DR. MACH SCHNELL.� This will not be the series' last spoof of Swiss Colony's now-forgotten �Little Old Wine Maker Me� ad campaign of the early 1960s. GRADE: B
45. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �The Tree Nuts� (1965) The Stooges are forest rangers again (yawn), sworn to protect the trees against a nasty little insect, Terry Termite. Surprisingly, this involves some gunplay. Inconclusive nonsense. GRADE: C
46. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �There Auto Be a Law� (1965) Somewhere between The Great Race and Wacky Races lies this cartoon, another wild free-for-all race set in the early days of automotion, when drivers wore those funny goggles and long coats.Here, the Stooges are again vying with a very obvious, one-note villain, Dirty Dan. The animation here is particularly awful. GRADE: C-
47. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �Three Jacks & a Beanstalk� (1965) A very, very tired Stooge take on the old fairytale. Magic beans. Golden eggs. You know the routine. The giant gets a funny line � �Ho-hoing all day makes me tired� � and the ending is within spitting distance of originality. GRADE: C
48. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �Tin Horn Dude� (1965) � I'm sure there's a pun in that title somewhere. Another Western, with the boys as �special deputies� fighting a robot gunslinger called Bo Nanza. Amazingly, this turns into the SECOND parody of the Swiss Colony wine ad campaign. (See #44) That ad campaign must've been a major pop culture touchstone. GRADE: C-
49. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �To Kill a Clockingbird� (1965) My patience is wearing thin. The boys are clock repairmen this time out, working on one of those fancy mechanical clocks you occasionally see in town squares. (There's such a clock in Frankenmuth, MI.) Anyway, our heroes are plagued by mechanized figures � including Satan � and a pesky stork. None of this is terribly funny. GRADE: C-
50. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �Turnabout is Bearplay� (1965) Oh, Jesus. Another forest ranger/Tim Bear cartoon. This time, the Stooges attempt to give tree-ruining Tim a bath. Moe: �He's making fools of us.� Curly Joe (drily): �That's a clever observation.� One last thought � honey bubbles? The hell? GRADE: D
51. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �Who's Lion?� (1965) A lion is accidentally delivered to the boys, who end up feeding it hamburgers and disguising it as a poodle (?) to fool a stereotype Irish cop. Ten bucks sure bought a lot of hamburgers back then. Curly Joe rightly observes, �All we ever do is run,� and I swear the same running-towards-the-horizon ending has been recycled three or four times by now. GRADE: D
52. THE NEW 3 STOOGES - �Woodsman Bear That Tree� (1965) The Stooges are lumberjacks this time, getting on the nerves of a hibernating bear. (Not Tim Bear, I guess.) There might be some proto-environmentalism here, as the boys are working for the �DEVOSTATION LOGGING CO.� (Again, the show's spelling, not mine.) GRADE: D
And that, thank the merciful Lord, is it for The New 3 Stooges. I'm a Stooge fan, so this wasn't quite as painful as Fraidy Cat, but I wouldn't recommend watching 14 of these things in a row. Next up is VARIETY PACK 2.
53. �Dick Whittington's Cat� (1936) There's a lot of history here. The tale of Dick Whittington and his rat-catching cat is apparently beloved in England, but is unknown to me. This freewheeling adaptation, told entirely in pantomime, was rather charming but lost me at several points. I think to appreciate a parody, you have to be very familiar with the original. I'm not. Sorry. The director, Ub Iwerks, was the principal animator behind the original Mickey Mouse, and the rats here have a certain Mickey-esque quality. Iwerks tried for several years to compete with Disney, releasing cartoons like this one, but he ultimately returned the House of Mouse. GRADE: B
54. �Fin 'N Catty� (1943) I guess the only Warner Brothers cartoons they can include in these sets are the ones without big stars. That's okay. Something's better than nothing. This is a minor but enjoyable Chuck Jones obscuro about a water-hating cat who schemes to get a goldfish. No dialogue, only a little narration. Cute, but you can live without it. GRADE: B+
55. EGGHEAD - �Hamateur Night� (1939) Now this I loved. A wild Tex Avery cartoon for Warner Brothers, this centers around a talent show with a pig as a judge and boisterous cartoon animals in the audience. The gags here are decidedly dark and weird. The only semi-star here is Egghead (arguably the prototype for Elmer Fudd). This one includes a spoof of Katharine Hepburn (�raaahhhhhlly it does�) and a marquee which reads: �WARMER BROS. THEATER � Four Daughters with Selected Shorts.� A gem. GRADE: A-
56. �The Henpecked Rooster� (1944) A typically blah, uninteresting Famous Studios cartoon, this one centers around a tricky mouse who intervenes in the terrible marriage between the titular henpecked rooster and his shrewish wife. One nice gag: the wife reads a book called How to Lay an Egg by Bob Hope, and we hear a bit of �Thanks For the Memories� on the soundtrack. Take that, 1944 Bob Hope! GRADE: B-
57. HERMAN - �Naughty But Mice� (1947) More cat-and-mouse stuff. The Herman & Katnip series was Famous Studios' blatant and fairly uninspired attempt to copy MGM's Tom & Jerry. This is the debut cartoon, and only the city-slicker mouse Herman (voiced by Arnold Stang) has a name or receives prominent billing. The cat is just generic at this point, though there is a series of gags revolving around actual catnip and its psychedelic qualities, so maybe that was where Katnip eventually got his moniker. A lot of singing here, too. Like �Dick Whittington's Cat,� this has a gag about a cat's nine lives appearing as ghosts, giving me terrifying flashbacks to Fraidy Cat. GRADE: B-
58. �Little Red Schoolmouse� (1949) Still more run-of-the-mill Famous Studios stuff, again involving generic cats and mice. A na�ve young mouse is laughed out of mouse school for not knowing what a cat is, so when he encounters a real cat he brings it to school to show off, unleashing a potential cat apocalypse. The cat here seems to be modeled after J. Worthington Foulfellow from Pinocchio. Our dumb-mouse hero eventually saves the day, but the day wouldn't have needed saving if he hadn't brought the cat there in the first place! GRADE: C
59. �The Fifth-Column Mouse� (1943) Anyone order another generic cats-vs.-mice 'toon? This is yet another star-free Warner 'toon, this time WWII propaganda about the danger of enemies secretly lurking within our own society. A traitorous mouse wants to appease an oppressive cat, but an eventual mouse/cat war is inevitable. There's a homemade mechanical dog here, as well as a parody of the song �Blues in the Night.� The mice also sing that great WWII standard, �We Did It Before And We Can Do It Again� in their little sped-up mouse voices. GRADE: B
(NOTE: The term �fifth column� is not much in use today. Here is a definition.)
And that, my friends, is all that VARIETY PACK 2 has to offer. The DVD ends with RAINBOW PARADE, a collection of four Technicolor cartoons released by the fledgling Van Bueren Studios through RKO Radio Pictures. Rainbow Parade (aka Burt Gillett's Rainbow Parade) was evidently some kind of series back in the day.
60. �Cupid Gets His Man� (1936) Even in this low-quality transfer, the Technicolor here is fairly dazzling. This must have been quite a treat in 1936, the closest thing to Avatar they had back then. Too bad the script and plot are so bad. This one centers around cupids, but they're weirdly uniformed from the waist up as Canadian Mounties and frequently boast that they �always get their man.�. They are naked but smooth and featureless from the waist down. These are seriously disturbing creatures. (Warning: there's also a stereotypical �black cupid� character. I knew his arrival was imminent when the score turned �jazzy� for a few bars.) The cupids engage in full-on warfare to get a bachelor and his shrewish neighbor lady together. The male character is pitifully trying to emulate W.C. Fields, but it's the absolute worst Fields impression I've ever heard in my life. Still, I wasn't bored by this. GRADE: C+
61. FELIX - �Bold King Cole� (1936) Felix the Cat goes Technicolor! Felix takes shelter from a lightning storm in the castle of the boastful King Cole. The cat is mainly on the sidelines here, as the cartoon focuses on a group of ghosts who punish the king for his bragging ways. The torture devices they use on poor King Cole remind me of the stuff Kevin Spacey did in the movie Se7en, only not as merciful and humane. GRADE: B-
62. FELIX - �The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg� (1936) More Technicolor Felix. Here, he's working in a Relief Agency (this was during the Great Depression), distributing gold coins/eggs from his magical goose to poor villagers in a fairy tale setting. But the valuable goose is soon stolen away by pirate dogs, and much singing and generic cartoon wackiness ensue. The pirate dogs do have a catchy song, but otherwise this is pretty uninvolving material. GRADE: B-
63. Fontaine Fox's �Toonerville Trolley� (1936) Okay, here's the deal. This is the cartoon version of a popular newspaper strip called Toonerville Folks. I am totally unfamliar with the comic strip, so maybe I'm not the one to evaluate the 'toon version. This is chaotic and slapsticky, as a crazed old man, the Skipper, tries desperately to get a trolley to a railroad depot, despite many obstacles. He is occasionally aided by a powerful, heavily accented woman named Katrinka, who only says, �I fix!� (I remember that catchphrase turning up in Ed Wood's Bride of the Monster.) It was tough to get a sense of who these people were, why they did what they did, and why we in the audience should care about any of it. In any event, the animated Toonerville was pretty much a non-starter, ending after only three installments. GRADE: B-
At this point, the DVD looped horrifyingly back to the beginning and started showing me The New 3 Stooges again, so I quickly shut it off. It looks like we are actaually going to get more than 75 cartoons in the collection at this pace. I notice that the DVD menus say 75 YEARS OF CARTOON CLASSICS instead, but from what I've seen the 'toons seem to span about 50 years (mid-1920s to mid-1970s).
I hope you will join me next week for the series-ending PART FOUR, featuring Casper the Friendly Ghost, Little Audrey, and yet more Rainbow Parade.
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Edited by - Joe Blevins on 01/10/2010 20:03:35 |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 01/17/2010 : 07:18:32
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75 CHEAP CARTOONS: The Fourth & Final Installment
Hello out there, true believers, and welcome to the conclusion of the 75 Cheap Cartoons series. Today, we will examine Disc 2, Side 2 of the compilation, which is actually comprised of four shorter collections: LITTLE AUDREY, RAINBOW PARADE 2, CASPER and VARIETY PACK 3. This, I'm sorry to report, is probably the dullest stretch of the entire set � no horrifying lows or dizzying highs, just a whole lotta middling cartoons, all but one of them from Paramount's underachieving Famous Studios.
We start with five CASPER shorts, presented under a bewildering number of logos � Harvey Films, UM&M TV Corp., National Telefilm Associates � but all originating from Paramount in the 1940s and 1950s. The famous Friendly Ghost has appeared in other media, notably comics and feature films, but his roots are right here in this theatrical cartoon series. Frankly, the appeal of the character eludes me. The series' top priority is not comedy but pathos. Casper is presented as a pathetic, depressed misfit who inadvertently terrifies those around him and whose only hope for happiness is glomming onto characters who are even more pitiful than he is. I don't really see the fun in this set-up. But let's dive in anyway, shall we?
64. CASPER - �A-Haunting We Will Go� (1949) The biggest laugh here comes from a butchered credit sequence which includes the words �FEATURING CASPERS FRIENDLY GHOST.� Rejected by his ghostly schoolmates, self-pitying Casper declares (with no sense of irony): �I might as well be dead.� Luckily, he redeems himself by thwarting some duck hunters. Very few gags here. The series' writers are fond of puns on words like �boo� and �spook,� but that's about it. GRADE: C-
65. CASPER - �Boo Moon� (1954) See what I mean about those �boo� puns? This is hallucinatory science-fiction treacle, as Casper travels to the moon and assists the moon men in their war against the (not making this up) �tree men.� I think Casper should have gotten both sides of the story before intervening in this conflict. This is the only Casper cartoon on the disc to feature that famous theme song, but it's presented with an extremely heavy echo effect. I thought this was a mistake at first, but when the song is reprised at the end, the echo is back! GRADE: C
66. CASPER - �Spooking About Africa� (1957) The title made me queasy. I thought Casper was going to encounter some stereotyped �natives.� But no. This is just harmless stuff about jungle animals, specifically a sneezing elephant named Wheezy whose sneezing habit initially annoys and then (predictably) saves his animal neighbors. Typical gag: Casper confronts a zebra, who becomes so terrified that he takes off without his stripes. (The same basic gag was used in #64, only with a spotted dog.) This film has the �Harvey Films� logo at the beginning, featuring various characters who were licensed to Harvey Comics. It sure looks like Bugs Bunny is in there, alongside Baby Huey, Little Audrey, and other Harvey b-listers. Meanwhile, the series' composer, Winston Sharples, has a particular motif � a slowed-down variation on �Turkey in the Straw� � which will be recycled to the point of madness over the course of the next few 'toons. GRADE: C-
67. CASPER - �The Friendly Ghost� (1945) The pilot for the series and the template for the rigid Casper formula. If there's a point of interest here, it's that the droll narration is done by Perry Como's sidekick, Frank Gallop, who also had a novelty hit (twenty-one years hence) with �The Ballad of Irving.� Maybe it's of interest that Casper reads How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie or that he attempts suicide by throwing himself in the path of an oncoming train. Casper just might be bipolar. Again, pathos is the order of the day, as the ghost befriends two children but terrifies their mother and is nearly reduced to a bindlestiff-toting hobo. Fortunately, he saves the day by terrorizing a bank employee who feels the mother should actually make her mortgage payments. GRADE: C
68. CASPER - �There's Good Boos To-Night� (1948) Now there's a title pun with a delightful double meaning! Complete with more Frank Gallop narration, this seems like a virtual remake of the previous Casper 'toon, with the ghost horrifying a series of hapless farm animals before attaching himself to a naive fox, who in turn is murdered by hunters. Don't worry, though. Little Ferdie Fox comes back as Casper's ghostly playmate, but not before a trauma-inducing scene in which Casper buries the lifeless corpse of his animal pal in a pauper's grave. Sleep well, kiddies! GRADE: C
That'll do, Casper. That'll do. Next up is LITTLE AUDREY, a series which resulted from cost-cutting measures at Paramount. They figured, why shell out big bucks for the rights to Little Lulu when we can just create our own knockoff character? And thus was born Little Audrey, another sassy, misbehaving little girl who is constantly infuriating the stodgy adults around her with her irrepressible antics. In a way, Lulu and Audrey (along with Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy) are the spiritual forerunners of Kristen Wiig's controversial �Gilly� character on Saturday Night Live. Like Gilly (and Lulu for that matter), Audrey even has a theme song about what a badass she is.
Oh, Little Audrey says,
�Save for a rainy day!�
She saves, but every time it rains,
She spends what she puts away.
She knows her proverbs A to Z
And knows what good they bring.
But when she has to follow them,
Well, that's another thing!
Oh, Little Audrey says,
�While the sun is out, make hay!�
Though she's not immense,
there's a lot of sense
In what Little Audrey has to say!
�Though she's not immense..?� Whatever. On with the 'toons.
69. LITTLE AUDREY - �Butterscotch and Soda� (1948) This was pretty much the pilot for the series (see #71), and it's here that the rather stifling Little Audrey formula is established: Audrey misbehaves, has a dream sequence which teaches her the error of her ways, then awakes and swears off whatever it was she was doing at the beginning of the cartoon. In this case, it's eating sacks of mud-like �candy.� What sets this one apart is that it's structured as a parody of The Lost Weekend, with Audrey stowing candy in secret hiding places and having nightmarish sugar-induced hallucinations, including a musical number: �You've Got the Tummyache Blues.� Too bad there's also a stereotyped �Mammy� character (apparently Audrey's caretaker) and that the gags aren't terribly funny, though I did chuckle at a billboard with the slogan, �I'd Walk a Mile for a Caramel.� GRADE: C+
70. LITTLE AUDREY - �Goofy Goofy Gander� (1950) In the words of Joe Bob Briggs, this one has way too much plot getting in the way of the story! Audrey's in school but has no interest in studying Mother Goose. (How is that educational anyway?) Instead, she wants to read (gasp!) comic books, specifically �Phony Funnies,� with a pair of Dick Tracy-esque crooks named Pinhead and Bird-Brain, the latter of whom has an actual bird living in a hole in his head. Audrey's sent to sit in the corner, where she has one of her characteristic dream sequences. This time, she dreams up a slangy �hep to the jive� Mother Goose and some fairy tale and nursery rhyme parodies, including a lame Frank Sinatra simulacrum as Tommy Tucker and an even lamer Edward G. Robinson simulacrum as Humpty Dumpty. Trouble is, Warner Brothers is much better at spoofing/modernizing the old fairy tales and nursery rhymes. �Three Little Bops,� for instance, is roughly a gazillion times funnier than this. Further points deducted for being at least the third cartoon in 75 Greatest Cartoons to feature a goose laying golden eggs. GRADE: C
71. LITTLE AUDREY - �Santa's Surprise� (1947) Before Audrey starred in her own series, she appeared in this holiday 'toon with a bunch of ethnic stereotype kids (Dutch, Hawaiian, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Caucasian, and African-American) who visit Santa at the North Pole, where he apparently lives alone in a depressing, ill-maintained bachelor pad. The kids help clean up the joint while Santa sleeps. The token Chinese child handles the laundry, of course. And I think you can guess the ethnicity of the lad who says, �I'll shine his shoes with a boogie beat!� Eminently skippable. GRADE: C
72. LITTLE AUDREY - �Song of the Birds� (1949) This one begins with Audrey on an insane shooting spree, taking aim at both a dog and the embarrassing �Mammy� character. So, anyway, she goes out and shoots a small bird. Then there's this super-creepy bird funeral, which may be Audrey's guilty/paranoid fantasy. Anyway, she learns her lesson, breaks the gun in half, blah, blah, blah. Boilerplate Little Audrey. GRADE: C-
73. LITTLE AUDREY - �Tarts and Flowers� (1950) Audrey falls asleep (surprise!) while baking a gingerbread man and has an elaborate dream (surprise again!) about going to Cakeland, which is a happier version of the Candy Land she visited in cartoon #69. It seems the gingerbread man is marrying an angel cake lady, but a satanic devil's food cake wants the bride for his own. I'm not sure why this even has to be a Little Audrey cartoon, since it would function just as well without her. The point here is to have lots of anthropomorphic cakes and pastries living in their cute little cakey world. Did you guess that the rum cake is an alcoholic? GRADE: C
74. LITTLE AUDREY - �The Lost Dream� (1949) Well, at least the �Mammy� character gets a name here � Petunia. Hello, Petunia. Nice to meet you. Audrey's �sin� du jour is reading by moonlight, which gives her nightmares. She is taken by a �Lost Dream� (a little ghost/pixie-type thing) to Dreamland, which is ruled over by the Sandman. The Lost Dream gives Audrey a tour of the place, including a glimpse of Broken Dreams and Faded Dreams. (One dream shows an honor student becoming a street sweeper. Sorry to any street sweepers in the audience.) So far, so good. But Audrey can't resist opening an ominous black door and unleashing the nightmares. There's another musical number, �Oh What You Did When You Did What You Did,� then Audrey awakes and vows never to so much as gaze upon the moon again. GRADE: C+
75. LITTLE AUDREY - �The Seapreme Court� (1954) So here's something new. Audrey � you'll never believe this � falls asleep after doing something wrong (fishing � apparently a sin here) and has an elaborate dream in which she learns the error of her ways. In her dream, she's arrested by fish and put on trial for the sins of humankind against fishkind. In the end, she wakes up and breaks her fishing pole in half, just like she broke that gun in half in cartoon #72. She's good at breaking things in half, I'll give her that. GRADE: C+
(Now, technically, I could stop right here. I promised you 75 cartoons, and I've reviewed 75 cartoons. But the set continues, and so does this write-up.)
I'm glad we're moving on. I don't know how much more Little Audrey I could stand. Next at bat is RAINBOW PARADE 2, a second collection of obscure 1930s Technicolor 'toons by the obscure, ill-fated VanBeuren Studios. Three of thee four cartoons here feature Molly Moo-Cow, perhaps the only animation �star� (albeit a low-wattage one) to emerge from the Rainbow Parade series.
But first, before Molly, something completely different...
76. RAINBOW PARADE - �It's a Greek Life� (1936) Hmm. This is a weird one � a surreal cartoon take on Greek mythology. Kinda. Sorta. Let's see here. We've got a centaur cobbler tasked with repairing Mercury's winged flying shoes. Somehow mischievous ducks get involved. I had trouble following this, quite frankly. This one just made me confused and headachey. All the characters speak with impenetrable accents that I guess were supposed to be Greek but which sounded Italian to me. The animation's not bad, I suppose, but the writing � pee-yew! Next! GRADE: C-
Now it's Molly time.
77. MOLLY MOO-COW - �Molly Moo-Cow and the Butterflies� (1935) In the history of animation, there are only a handful of famous cartoon cows. Off the top of my head, I can only think of Disney's Clarabelle and the cow from Cow and Chicken. Not a helluva great legacy, really. The mute, bell-wearing Molly herself is a bit low on star potential. Here she protects some butterflies against a butterfly-collecting dog. I did like the dog's little song, �I'm a Professor of Butterflies.� Otherwise, I was underwhelmed. GRADE: C
78. MOLLY MOO-COW - �Molly Moo-Cow and Robinson Crusoe� (1936) I think most people stranded on a desert island would be thrilled to find a cow, i.e. a source of potential food. But not Robinson Crusoe! Molly is cramping his happily hermetic style, so out she goes. That is, until Robinson is attacked by natives and Molly has to save him. If the caricatured natives don't make you wince, the finale will. Molly smears ashes on her face, and Robinson exclaims, �Friday!� Ugh. GRADE: C-
79. MOLLY MOO-COW - �Molly Moo-Cow and the Indians� (1935) Good Lord, how did this become a series? Molly and some ducks leave a Conestoga wagon heading West and encounter some movie-type �Injuns.� Plot point: a baby in a papoose falls into a river and floats away, and who dives in to save him? The baby's mother? Nope. The ducks, who are excellent swimmers? Nope again. It's big, clumsy Molly, of course. The mother later repays the favor by saving Molly's duck friends from a hunter. Look, Molly, you seem very nice but you simply are not funny. Your services will no longer be needed. Please leave your bell at the reception desk. GRADE: C
Adios to Rainbow Parade 2: The Slowening. And we close out the set � and the project � with the lowly VARIETY PACK 3, another grab bag of semi-forgotten 'toons.
80. BABY HUEY - �Pest Pupil� (1957) More Harvey Comics/Famous Studios mediocrity. Baby Huey � a very large, stupid, and destructive duck who habitually wears a diaper and baby bonnet though he must be at least 5 -- flunks out of kindergarten, so his mom is forced to hire a private tutor, a fussy little German-accented duck who probably wishes he were in a Carl Barks comic instead. Huey repeatedly endangers the life of his tutor, but then saves him from a shark in the end. So everything's jake, right? GRADE: C
81. BABY HUEY - �Quack-A-Doodle Do� (1950) The terrifying origin story of Baby Huey. Huey's mother apparently took too many vitamins while she was pregnant, and the result was the diaper-and-bonnet-wearing monstrosity we all know and love. Huey's destructive behavior gets him, quite rightly, exiled from the community. But then, wouldn't you know it, Huey saves his judgmental neighbors from a fox and becomes a hero. Bogus. At least this 'toon features the kind of fast-paced cartoon mayhem that holds a viewer's attention. GRADE: C+
82. MERRIE MELODIES - �Fox Pop� (1942) The only Warner Brothers cartoon on this side of the DVD and the only one of this crop that I actually liked. Like most of the WB 'toons in this collection, �Fox Pop� is a Chuck Jones obscurity lacking any recognizable stars, but it makes up for that with some nicely dark humor. Our hero is a fox (another fox?) who overhears a commercial for �Sterling Silver Fox Farm� and completely misinterprets the announcer's words. At first, the fox becomes a �Charlie Tuna� type, begging to be caught. Then, once he's actually in and realizes his mistake, the 'toon becomes a prison-escape flick. Ends weirdly, with some crows helping the fox to smash up a radio. None of this is earth-shattering, but it easily outclasses anything on this side of the DVD. GRADE: B+
So there you have it folks � 82 cheap cartoons for just 25 cents. If you have seen any of these 'toons and wish to share your opinions about them, please do. As for me, I think I got my quarter's worth out of this, but I doubt I'll want to rewatch any Paramount cartoons in the near � or far � future. The relentlessly bland and uninspired Paramount/Famous/Harvey cartoons show you just how good the Warner cartoons really are in comparison.
It would be a clich� to say, �That's all, folks!� but I'll do it anyway. Thanks for reading. |
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New project: 75 cheap cartoons!
