Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #254

 Hello, my friends and welcome back for a spooky edition of Saturday Morning Cartoons. 

Today's spooky cartoon selection begins with The Haunted House (1929). Despite its spooky setting, this film was released closer to Christmas, premiering in movie theaters on December 2, 1929. Still the spooky setting is very effective, and this sense of atmosphere makes it one of my favorite early Mickeys. Though legendary animator and pioneering Disney director, Ub Iwerks had by this time mostly been dedicating himself to the Silly Symphony shorts rather than the Mickey Mouse, you can see some of his work here. However, this is in reused footage from the famous first Silly Symphony, The Skelton Dance (1929), which was released earlier the same year. This film did run into trouble with the state censors though not for any of the creepy parts. Instead, they objected to gags involving a chamber pot and an outhouse.

Now for the Pink Panther in Pink Plasma (1975). This short was directed by Art Leonardi, who had been an animator for Friz Freleng's unit at Warner Brothers (Friz of course was one of the producers of the Pink Panther cartoons). He would later become a director for the TV series, Tiny Toons Adventures. The writer for this cartoon was one of Friz's favorite writers John Dunn.

Next comes a classic Norman McCabe directed Daffy Duck cartoon. Though he only directed three Daffy cartoons, Norman McCabe more than proved himself as a perfect match for this character. Though his Daffy was still wild and crazy, Norman's cartoons gave him a more fully formed personality than previous directors did. Besides just the personality these films were extremely high energy cartoons that were extremely fun. Norman McCabe would continue working with the Looney Tunes characters well past the golden age of Looney Tunes, as he would be a timing director for the TV shows, Tiny Toon Adventures (1990-1991), Taz-Mania (1991-1995) and The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (1995-1996). So, enjoy Impatient Patient (1942). 

Now comes the Terry Toons cartoon, Pandora (1934). 

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Now for Felix the Cat in Skulls and Sculls (1930). 

Now for something completely different here is a completely serious cartoon short of the 1950's, The Tell-Tale Heart (1953). This film is not surprisingly from the UPA studio. The UPA studio at this time sought to move away from the violent slapstick of Warner Brothers or MGM cartoons, or the more realistic "illusion of life" featured in many Disney cartoons. They often experimented with what could be done with the color and design in animated films. These films often experimented with flat backgrounds, purposely limited animation and abstract color schemes that reflect the emotion of a scene rather than what something would really look like. As is true of all cartoon studios that do a lot of experimenting, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Tell-Tale Heart is one of the most successful and one of the most extreme experiments. Most American audiences at this time had never seen an animated short quite like this and many would never see something like this again. When a 1954 article in Home Movies talking about the Cannes Film Festival got to Disney's Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953) winning a prize, the writer had this to say, "It is unpardonable however that Disney should so openly and fully steal the style of the cartoon developed by the most excellent groups of artists, Steven Bosustow's UPA. It was no secret this was the case among those as the festival as UPA is well known and well respected in France. It is a shame that UPA recent and excellent 3D cartoon, The Tell-Tale Heart could not be shown at the festival, for it most certainly won the prize awarded to Disney." This cartoon is placed at 24 in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons. 

Next comes Woody Woodpecker in Spook-a-Nanny (1964). This is the only original cartoon made for TV's Woody Woodpecker Show. For the most part the cartoons on this show consisted of the theatrical short films from the Walter Lantz studio. However, this cartoon has become a Halloween tradition for many cartoon fans (including me). The title song is ridiculously catchy. 

Today's cartoon selection ends with The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror segment, The Raven (1990). This cartoon comes from the first of The Simpsons' many Halloween specials. The first Treehouse of Horror was released during season two and with the show in its 37th season, it has continued to do one of these Halloween specials every season since. This still ranks as one of my favorite Treehouse of Horror segments. 

Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry. 

Resources Used

Of Mice and Magic: A History of the American Animated Cartoon by Leonard Maltin


Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History by J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein 

The 50 Greatest Cartoons edited by Jerry Beck

  

Scooby-Doo and Guess Who: What a Night, For a Dark Knight (2019)

 

A really fun episode. 

The gang goes to visit Daphne's Uncle Alfie (AKA Batman's Butler Alfred). When Uncle Alfie disappears, Batman suspects our heroes of kidnapping him. After discovering that they aren't behind the kidnapping, Batman simply tells the gang to stay out of his way while he solves this mystery.  

There is a lot to enjoy about this episode. Though the Mystery Inc. gang has teamed with Batman before, they usually teamed up with a lighter version of the charter more in tune with the Super Friends and Adam West interpretations. To have them meet with this darker more brooding version allows this to feel distinctly different from those previous encounters. This allows for a wider variety of gags and a different chemistry that works very well. The humor in this episode is often really funny as it both parodies and pays tribute to Batman's history. Daphne being constantly distracted while investigating an abandoned department store with all sorts of rare fashion accessories, only adds to the great humor. I also love that this episode incorporates the lesser-known Batman villain Man-Bat her as he proves himself to fit in perfectly to this Scooby setting. 

If I have on complaint, it is that the mystery is much too easy to solve. 

This episode was written by Michael Ryan, who has written plenty of episode of both Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated and Scooby-Doo and Guess Who. He also wrote the direct to vide movies Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon (2013), Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery (2014) and Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog (2021). His first time writing Scooby was on the Johnny Bravo episode Bravo Dooby-Doo (1997). The director was Chris Bailey who was also a producer for this show. 

This is such a fun episode. 

Scooby-Doo and Scrappy Doo: Moonlight Madness (1981)

 

A fun atmospheric cartoon. 

In this short, Shaggy (along with Scooby and Scrappy) visits his ancestorial home of Moonlight Castle. There the creepy butler puts a medallion on him that turns him into a werewolf. 

There is a lot to enjoy about this short. Moonlight Castle has a wonderfully creepy atmospheric feel to it. The background art and use of lighting and muted colors give this cartoon a great creepy feel to it, similar to that of the original Scooby-Doo Where Are You episodes. The storyline is quite clever and perfect for these characters, and the cartoon has a strong ending.

The only real problem with this cartoon is that it is never that funny. There is a charm to some of the jokes but it still never really made me laugh. 

Shaggy would later turn into a werewolf again in the feature length movie, Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988). 

This is a fun little cartoon.

Movie Review: Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

A very entertaining movie based on the popular manga and anime. 

For a movie about a teenage boy who can change into a creature made of chainsaws, this movie has all the over-the-top action (where else are you going to see a guy made of chainsaws riding a massive shark) and gore one could hope for. The action scenes are tons of fun to watch, and they look wonderful on a bug movie screen. However, this movie has more going for it than just fun action. The main treats of this film are the characters and the worldbuilding. I have never read the manga or watched a single episode of the anime, making this my first experience with this franchise. Yet I quickly found myself to be absorbed in this world. Meanwhile the characters are all very likable and easy to relate to.

The storyline is quite familiar and mostly predictable. However, it well told and leads to surprisingly emotionally powerful ending (probably the only part of the story I did not see coming). This ending is so effective that it makes you easily forgive the predictableness of the rest of the movie. 

On the other hand, the humor almost consistently falls completely flat (there are really only a couple comedic moments that are actually funny). Some of these comedic moments also come off as loud and obnoxious, like the filmmakers are trying too hard to be funny. 

This movie may have its flaws, but the parts that work are truly fantastic. 

 

Scooby-Doo (2002)

 

This 2002 film marked the first live action Scooby-Doo movie and Scooby's first film to be released theatrically. 

In this movie, the Mystery Inc. Gang splits apart after a big fight. Two years later, the entire gang is invited to solve a mystery on a theme park called Spooky Island. However, this proves to be a much more dangerous mystery than the gang has solved before as something truly supernatural is happing here. 

There is a lot to love about this movie. Even the film's biggest distractors must admit that the casting is perfect here. Matthew Lillard (Shaggy), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Fred), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Daphne), Linda Cardellini (Velma) and Neil Fanning (the voice of Scooby) are simply wonderful and are as close as you can ever come to capturing the cartoon character in live action (though Scooby is CGI). They even look like the cartoon characters come to life (again with the exception of Scooby who is CGI). Matthew Lillard was so perfect that he would later become the voice of Shaggy in the cartoons. Another way this film captures the feel of the cartoon is in its sense of atmosphere. The sets are wonderfully atmospheric and gives this movie a unique and fun look that stays with you. These sets are equal parts spooky, imaginative and fun, just like any Scooby-Doo movie should be. The use of lighting also adds a lot to this movie's wonderfully effective look as does location shooting in Australia (much on Tangalooma Island resort in Moreton Island). As well as being very atmospheric this film is quite a bit darker than the average Scooby mystery and features a few legitimately creepy moments. Yet they are not so creepy as to take away from the fun feel. The comedic moments may not always hit but when they do, they can be laugh out loud funny. Even Shaggy's romance with a girl named Mary Jane (Isla Fisher) is quite effective and has a good twist.

The main problem with this film however is its treatment of Scrappy-Doo. I understand that the filmmakers (as well as many cartoon fans) were not a fan of the character of Scrappy and that he is an easy comedic target. However, this simply comes off as too mean spirited and at odds with the rest of the movie. It can even make our main characters seem too unlikable in one scene. If this scene was a cut-away on Family Guy, I could see it being pretty funny. However in an actual Scooby-Doo movie, where we are supposed to like the characters, it is at odds with the rest of the film. Some of the CGI has also dated poorly which is to be expected from a movie from 2002. 

This movie was directed by Raja Gosnell. Gosnell's other directorial efforts include Home Alone 3 (1997), Never Been Kissed (1999), Big Momma's House (2000), Yours, Mine & Ours (2005), Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008), The Smurfs (2011) and The Smurfs 2 (2013). His work may not be exactly critically praised but it was often very successful at the box office. 

The writer was none other than James Gunn, who would go on to direct the Guardians of the Galaxy films and Superman (2025) as well as the current head of DC Comics' theatrical films. James Gunn would later tell that this movie was not originally made to be family friendly but rather an R rated movie, meant for adults. However, over time Warner Brothers kept pushing for this movie to be more family friendly, preferring a movie kids could go see. James Gunn stated about this, “The first cut was rated R by the MPAA, and the female stars’ cleavage was CGI’d away so as not to offend. But, you know, such is life. I had a lot of fun making this movie, regardless of all that. And I was also able to eat, buy a car, and a house because of it.”

Despite coming out the same summer as Disney's Lilo and Stitch (2002), this movie was a box office success ranking number one at the box office on its opening weekend. Critical reviews were quite poor; however audiences greatly enjoyed the movie, and it is still a favorite of many who were kids at the time. It has even gained a cult like status in recent years. Due to this film's popularity James Gunn stated, “I was offered every movie you can imagine. Like, uh, the Jabberjaw movie, and The Jetsons movie, and the Captain Caveman movie. I was offered tons of money to do all of these things. So, of course, me being me, I chose to write Dawn of the Dead. Go figure out my brain, who knows.”

Though I may not be a fan of this movie's version of Scrappy-Doo, I love everything else about this charmer of a movie. 

Resources Used

https://www.thewrap.com/scooby-doo-was-initially-rated-r-says-james-gunn/

https://www.tangalooma.com/blog-articles/resort-news-blog/2017/spooky-island-the-scooby-doo-movie

Blackbeard's Ghost (1968)

 

Though at first glance Blackbeard's Ghost seems like a very typical slapstick comedy, it actually holds an important spot in Disney history. Walt Disney passed away in late 1966, however there were still multiple feature films that were already well on the way in production. Blackbeard's Ghost marked the first feature length Disney movie where most of the production took after the passing of Walt Disney. It very much represents what Disney films would be like for the next few years. That is to say it is a fun and charming movie but one that avoids taking any chances by closely following formulas of previous hit Disney movies. 

In this film, Steve Walker (Dean Jones) becomes Godolphin college's new track director. He stays at the Blackbeard's Inn, where he runs into the ghost of Blackbeard the pirate. Blackbeard is cursed to be a ghost until he can complete one good deed. Steve and Blackbeard becoming stuck together sharing the same room and find very quickly that they don't get along. Steve learns that the track team he has is seemingly hopeless. Blackbeard decides to help to hopefully accomplish one good deed. 

There is a lot to enjoy about this movie. It has a wonderfully playful Halloween-esque atmosphere to many scenes. The characters are all very fun and likable, something that is boosted by great performances from a truly top-notch cast (something present in even the weakest Disney movies of this time). For a movie from 1968, the special effects hold up quite well. The storyline is quite clever. Most of all though there are some very funny moments throughout. 

The film has two main flaws though. One is that at an hour and forty-six minutes it is fairly long from a silly comedy and can drag at times. The other flaw is that with so much of this movie being very reminiscent of previous Disney comedies, it is easy to simply forget about this mostly delightful film.  

The movie's director, Robert Stevenson was one of the Disney studio's most prolific and best live action directors. Disney films he made include Johnny Tremain (1957), Old Yeller (1957), Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), Kidnapped (1960), The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), In Search of the Castaways (1962), Son of Flubber (1963), The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964), Mary Poppins (1964), The Monkey's Uncle (1965), That Darn Cat! (1965), The Gnome-Mobile (1967), The Love Bug (1968), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), Herbie Rides Again (1974), The Island at the Top of the World (1974), One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975) and The Shaggy D.A. (1976). He was a perfect director to trust with the first Disney feature made mostly without Walt (even if no one would know that this was going to be made mostly without Walt when production started). The writing team of Don DaGradi and Bill Walsh had previously written the studio's live action masterpiece, Mary Poppins. The screenplay was based off a 1965 novel by Ben Stahl, who was better known as an artist and an illustrator. Stahl only wrote one other novel, The Secret of Red Skull, which was a sequel to Blackbeard's Ghost. 

Cinematographer Edward Coleman also was a regular at the Disney studio, having worked on such movies as The Shaggy Dog (1959), The Absent-Minded Professor, Babes in Toyland (1961), Big Red (1962), Savage Sam (1963), Son of Flubber, Mary Poppins, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, Those Calloways (1964), The Monkey's Uncle, That Darn Cat!, The Ugly Dachshund (1966), The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967), The Gnome-Mobile, The Happiest Millionaire (1967) and The Love Bug. 

 Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette as the leading man and leading lady worked together previously in The Ugly Dachshund. This marked Academy Award winner Peter Ustinov first appearance in a Disney film. He voiced Prince John and King Richard in the animated Robin Hood (1973) as well as appearing onscreen in the live action Disney movies One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing and Treasure of Matecumbe (1976). Elsa Lanchester, though best known for playing the bride in the horror classic Bride of Frankenstein (1935), appeared in quite a few Disney movies. These movies include Mary Poppins, That Darn Cat and Rascal (1969). 



Dean Jones remembered pointing out some of his concerns about this movie to Walt Disney before production started. In his memoir Jones would state, "[Disney] sat back in his chair," recalled Jones in his 1982 memoir Under Running Laughter. "'You know, if you have so many objections to this picture, maybe you shouldn't be doing it at all. Maybe I should get another actor.'

We looked at each other for a moment. The iron fist was tightening in Walt's velvet glove, and I knew I had better talk fast. 'Look, Walt, you know I want to do this picture. This is an important film. They all are...There hasn't been a group of films with the historical significance of your comedies since Charlie Chaplin,' I said. 'I'd break down the studio gates to do Blackbeard's Ghost.'

'You would, huh?'

'Yes, I would,' I replied with emphasis. Walt smiled. He knew I was putting him on. Maybe he even admired the way I was doing it. He was also enjoying watching me squirm...Finally Walt let me off the hook, and he began talking about Peter Ustinov's arrival the next day.

'Can you have lunch with us?' he asked.

'Only if I'm still in the picture,' I smiled."

During the early days of production, it became clear that Walt's health was deteriorating. In his memoir Jones also wrote,   "I was shocked by his appearance. His face was haggard and colorless, and there were large circles under his eyes...His suit hung on him six sizes too big...I wondered what the doctors had done to Walt's neck to make him look so depleted." Jones asked Walt if everything was okay with him and Walt stated that he was not because his left lung was removed. Jones quickly realized how serious this was telling Walt, "Your lung...That would mean cancer!" Jones would write, "[Disney] nodded his head slowly, disgusted, staring defiantly but unseeing into the set...I looked toward the camera involuntarily, surprised that work was continuing after what Walt had just said. The set still buzzed with noise and the crew stood ready to make the shot. Everything was normal, except Walt Disney was dying." He died just two weeks later at the age of 65. 

This movie reached theaters on February 8th, 1968. It was both a critical and finical hit. It grossed $21 million. Even critics who weren't fans of previous Disney comedies had positive things to say about this film. Roger Ebert for instance wrote, "After the dreary 'Bullwhip Griffin' and the drearier 'The Happiest Millionaire,' I had about, liven up on Disney studios. 'Blackbeard’s Ghost' happily reverses the unhappy trend. It is Disney’s best since 'The Absent-Minded Professor' and a splendid vehicle for the many talents of Peter Ustinov." The New York Times said it was "a delightful seasonal goody for the young and young-hearted." Variety called it, "lively and entertaining...highlighted by several very amusing chase and special effects sequences." The movie would be reissued to theaters in 1976 and would make its TV premiere in 1982. 



   

Hollywood Studio Magazine, 1968

                                                                    Resources Used

The Disney Films by Leonard Maltin

http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/search/label/Blackbeard%27s%20Ghost

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/68963/blackbeards-ghost/#articles-reviews?articleId=1349704

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/blackbeards-ghost-1968

The New Scooby-Doo Movies: The Secret of Shark Island (1972)

 

An excellent episode. 

In this episode the Mystery Inc. Gang picks up Sonny and Cher, when the singing couple's car breaks down. The gang drives the couple to the Hideaway Hotel, where the couple plans to have their honeymoon. Here they discover that there is a giant monster shark haunting the area. The gang has yet another mystery on their hands. 

There is a lot of fun to be had with this episode. The monster shark is a great villain with a wonderfully creepy design. The mystery of who is under the mask is a very good one and actually has a real surprise reveal. The action and chase scenes are a lot of fun as well. The background art is absolutely beautiful here and gives the whole episode a wonderful sense of atmosphere. The humor with Sonny and Cher is incredibly corny but in a charming way. I also admit that I even got a few laughs out of this corny humor. 

This is a pure delight.