Hello my friends and Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons.
Today’s cartoon selection begins with Felix the Cat in Neptune Nonsense (1936). This is the second of three short films the Van Beuren Studio made starring Felix the Cat.
Next is the Screen Song cartoon, Rudy Vallee Melodies (1932). This short film features our good friend Betty Boop.
Now for The Pink Panther in Sprinkle Me Pink (1978).
I love of the cartoons of Chuck Jones from any period but there is something special about his films from 1942 and 1943. At this time, he was fully getting away from his slower paced cuter output of the late 1930's but had not yet gotten to the style of films he would make in the 1950's that everybody is familiar with today. So, what we get from output during these two years are cartoons that experiment with what you can do in an animated short. It doesn't hurt that he worked with such experimental artists as layout man John McGrew. Chuck gave McGrew plenty of freedom and what John accomplished in these cartoons is nothing short of amazing. This is especially shown in The Case of the Missing Hare (1942), where experimentation is seen in every moment. Just watch the abstract backgrounds that show a mixture of two colors at a time, but the colors change when there is a strong action in the foreground. This is something someone may not notice on their first watch, but it is something they can feel. A review in The Film Daily stated, "Here is another hilarious, the Leon Schlesinger creation that keeps growing in comic strength with every new release." I think anyone watching this cartoon today will recognize that the antagonist is not Elmer Fudd, but one reviewer from The Exhibitor didn't as in his review he stated "...this has Elmer, as a magician..." A review from the same magazine less than a month later stated, "Elmer isn't in this." The latter is right. A review in Variety called this "One of the better Bugs Bunny subjects."
Now it is time for a commercial break.
We now join Herman and Katnip in One Funny Knight (1957). The credited writer for this cartoon is Jack Mercer, who was also the voice of Popeye and Felix the cat (in Felix's 1950's TV cartoons).
Up next is a classic Disney film, The Pelican and the Snipe (1944). This cartoon was planned around the time the Disney was asked to create a series of films about South America for the U.S.'s Good Neighbor Policy. Writer Bill Cotterell took a strong interest in this story after returning from the studio's trip to South America. As story work went underway for this film, quite a bit had changed. The cartoon's story had begun to deal more directly with the war, the characters' names were changed (from Percy and Sidney to Monte and Video) and the location changed from Chile to Uruguay. The story was fully formed in February 1942 and soon production went underway (under the working title Down Uruguay Way). Ham Luske was assigned to direct. Luske was near completing another South American themed short, Pedro, which would be released as part of the feature film, Saludos Amigos (1943). A top-notch team of animators was also assigned to work on this film. Ham Luske animated much of the film's opening sequence, the plane buzzing the pelican, the second rescue and the plane dropping the bombs. Ollie Johnson animated the snipe nailing the blanket down, the pelican admiring the plane, the pelican pulling the snipe into the air, the snipe's dream sequence, the sequence involving the pelican waking up and the bomb and the snipe rescue through the film's end. Ward Kimball animates the pelican exercising, pelican going into the water and the pelican ordering the snipe to leave. For some unknown reason the film was shelved for nearly a year. It resumed production in February 1943. It was completed in late 1943 and released in January 1944.
Next comes a silent Aesop's Film Fables cartoon, The Jolly Rounders (1923).
Let us close by singing one we all know.
Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another selection of animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and melodies merry.
Resources Used
No comments:
Post a Comment