Hello again my friends and happy Saturday morning. With Halloween just around the corner, today's Saturday morning cartoons post is dedicated to some downright spooky cartoons.
We start with the coolest cat to ever grace the silver screen, The Pink Panther in a spooky treat, Pink Panic (1967). This a delightful and very creative cartoons. It may not be one of the funniest Pink Panthers, but it has its own atmospheric charm.
Next we'll rejoin our good friend Scrappy in a delightfully spooky Columbia short, Scrappy' s Ghost Story (1935). I really love the little song in this cartoon, and much of the dancing animation is very enjoyable. Like many Scrappy cartoons, what makes this film so delightful is the sheer amount of imagination and creativity. A review in The Film Daily stated "A good number of laughs evolve from this fast moving cartoon."
Next comes another Columbia Halloween treat from the 1930's. This cartoon, Skeleton Frolic (1937) was directed by the one and only Ub Iwerks. Many of you are probably aware that Ub Iwerks was the main animator of the classic Disney cartoon, The Skeleton Dance (1929). This film is in many ways an unofficial remake of the earlier cartoon. While it may not be the masterpiece that The Skeleton Dance was this is a delightful film in its own right. One exhibitors review from the Motion Picture Herald stated "Amusing antics. This sort of thing doesn't seem to bother our young folks any." A review in The Film Daily stated, "Rather a gruesome subject in a way but done with great technical cleverness and filled with a grim sense of humor." This cartoon would be reissued to theaters in 1953-1954 and 1961.
Of course you can't have Halloween cartoon watching without the next Disney classic. This is one of Jack Hannah's finest Donald Duck cartoons, Trick or Treat (1952). If you are interested in the history of this cartoon you can't do better than a great article Disney Historian Jim Fanning wrote for the D23 website. To see that click here.
Happy Halloween and come back next week for more cartoon fun.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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