Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #203

 Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons. 

Today's cartoon selection begins with a yuletide favorite, Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952).  This movie features a great cast of animators including, George Kreisl, Fred Moore, Bill Justice, Volus Jones, Blaine Gibson and Dan MacManus. Dan MacManus animates the opening scene of the cartoon. Fred Moore is recognized as one of the greatest Mickey animators of all time and he gets to show that off here as he animates Mickey chopping down the tree, Mickey decorating the tree, Mickey with the Christmas gifts, Mickey's reactions to Pluto's antics, Mickey holding the chipmunks and him and Pluto looking out the window. Bill Justice and Volus Jones animate much of the Chipmunks. Justice also animates the cameo of Minnie, Donald and Goofy at the end. George Kreisl animates much of Pluto's antics. Blaine Gibson animates very little in this movie with the tree lights going off and on. Pluto's Christmas Tree was a rare Mickey Mouse cartoon directed by Jack Hannah, who mostly directed Donald Duck cartoons. However this is not too surprising as this cartoon features two of Hannah's creations, Chip and Dale (whom the director most often used as adversaries for Donald). Hannah had directed an earlier Mickey Mouse cartoon that co-starred Chip and Dale with Squatters Rights (1946). Despite Hannah being one of the main directors of Disney shorts during this period, these marked the only two Mickey shorts he actually directed.

Next we join Little Roquefort and Percy the Cat in Seasick Sailors (1951). While these Terry Toons shorts, never quite lived up to Tom and Jerry, they could be a lot of fun on their own terms, as is the case here. 

Up next is one of my favorite of the early Merrie Melodies cartoons, The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives (1933). I love the atmospheric feel to the early scenes in this cartoon. There is a delightful amount of detail in these opening moments. I also simply love the title song. Despite being a Christmas cartoon, this movie was released to theaters on January 7, 1933, just barely missing Christmas. The animation of the dolls singing, and dancing was reused from an earlier Merrie Melody, Red Headed Baby (1931).

Now for a silent movie starring KoKo the Clown, Egg Cited (1926). 

To read the article below, just click on the page and use your touch screen to zoom in. 

Pictures and the Picturegoer, 1924

Now it is time for a commercial break.

Now it is time for some Saturday Morning Minions. 

Next we join Daffy Duck in Scrap Happy Daffy (1943). This movie marks Daffy Duck's last apperance in a black and white cartoon. It is also simply a delightful film. The short is directed by Frank Tashlin, who would go on to direct many live action feature films. His Looney Tunes are some of the most cinematic and feature wonderful filmmaking. The use of editing and montage here are excellent and hold up to many of the great live action films of the time. Yet this is also simply a very funny cartoon, including one of the funniest fade-out/fade-ins in the history of cartoons. This cartoon appears in Jerry Beck's book, The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes.

Now for Popeye in Floor Flusher (1954). 

While it is easy to say that the DePatie-Freling cartoons of the mid and late 1970's were not on par with the studio's cartoons of the 1960's and early 70's without any sense of doubt, A Pink Christmas (1978) is a huge exception. This TV special is about as good a cartoon as the studio ever made. This dialogue-less special is somewhat based on O. Henry's The Cop and the Anthem. The Pink Panther has often been compared to Charlie Chaplin, mostly because he is a pantomime character. This though is probably the most Chaplin-esque film the cartoon cat ever stared in. It beautifully combines comedy and pathos, and the idea of a poor tramp like character looking for food of course has roots in Chaplin as well. In fact, this film borrows a gag from Chaplin's The Gold Rush (1925) (involving shoveling snow). It succussed very well. It is both very funny and very moving.





 

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

Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Brothers Cartoons by Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald 

The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes edited by Jerry Beck 

http://afilmla.blogspot.com/search/label/Shorts_RKO?updated-max=2006-08-26T01:00:00-07:00&max-results=20&start=25&by-date=false

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #186

 Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. It is time to get yourself ready for another round of classic cartoons. 

Today's cartoon selection begins with a classic Mickey Mouse film, The Delivery Boy (1931). This short film, like all of the 1930's Mickeys, features a wonderful cast of animators. Johnny Cannon animates the opening scene with Mickey riding the delivery wagon and the scene with the dog playing the accordion. Rudy Zamora, who would later direct many of the Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons of the 1980's, animates Minnie washing her clothes. Jack Cutting animates the underwear washing itself. Norm Ferguson (who as an animator helped define the character of Pluto) animates the first scene of Mickey and Minnie's dance, Pluto getting his feet caught in the tar and doing his little dance and the two workers with the dynamite.  Frenchy de Trémaudan animates the gag with the goat. David Hand, who would later be the supervising director on the feature films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Bambi (1942) animates Mickey climbing into the pants, the scene with the hornets and the birds whistling and dancing. Future Donald Duck, Woody Woodpecker and Barney Bear director, Dick Lundy animates the second scene of Mickey and Minnie's dance. George Lane animates the instruments nearly falling on the animals and them running away. Tom Palmer, who would later direct a few cartoons for Warner Brothers and Van Beuren, animates Mickey and Minnie on the Piano. Les Clark, one of the best Mickey Mouse animators, animates Mickey and Minnie playing the trombone, trumpet and drum as well as the gag with the turtle and the mule. Future Looney Tunes and Donald Duck director, Jack King animates the ending sequence from when Pluto picks up the dynamite to the end. 

Movie buffs know Jack Hannah best for directing Donald Duck cartoons and Jack Kinney best for directing Goofy cartoons. However, there were times when Hannah would direct Goofy and Kinney would direct Donald. They're Off (1948) has Hannah directing an excellent Goofy short. This film is still very much in the style of Kinney's Goofy cartoons though. 



 

Next up is the 1st Hoot Kloot film, Kloot's Kounty (1973).

Next comes a classic Porky Pig cartoon, Injun Trouble (1938). This short film would later be remade in color as Wagon Heels (1945). The title would later be reused as the name of another Looney Tunes cartoon, a 1969 Cool Cat short that would mark the last of the original Looney Tunes shorts.

Now it is time for a commercial break.

 

Next comes one of the wonderful Fleischer Superman cartoons, The Artic Giant (1942).

Boxoffice, 1940


Now for a silent movie starring Mutt and Jeff, A Kick For Cinderella (1925).



 

Next comes a wonderful later Looney Tunes cartoon, Daffy's Rhapsody (2015). Despite this movie being made after Mel Blanc's death, Daffy's voice is still obviously Mel. This is because Daffy's song comes from a 1950 children's record Mel Blanc made that was also entitled Daffy's Rhapsody. This short film was released in movie theaters before the feature film, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012). 

Today's cartoon selection ends with some Saturday Morning Minions. 

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

The Disney Films by Leonard Maltin

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

http://afilmla.blogspot.com/search/label/Shorts_Columbia?max-results=20

Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #185

 Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons. 

Starting off is a delightful black and white Porky Pig cartoon, Get Rich Quick Porky (1937). This was an early cartoon for director Bob Clampett (1937 was his first year as a director) and while it may not be as wild as some of the director's later work, there is plenty to enjoy here. This cartoon also marked the last appearance of Porky's sidekick, Gabby Goat. There is not much to Gabby besides him being grumpy and easily irritated, but the contrast between him and the more optimistic Porky makes for delightful watching. Two of the animators on this movie would later become great Looney Tune directors in their own right. Chuck Jones animates the wonderful scene with the dog, the gopher and a bone as well as the film's ending. Norm McCabe animates Gabby underground with his jackhammer as well as Porky handing the deed to Honest John. 

Next comes a wonderful Donald Duck cartoon, Modern Inventions (1937). A review in The Film Daily called this picture, "One of the funniest episodes in which Donald Duck has been featured." In a 1938 article from World Film News Richard Ford writes, "Several Disney Cartoons - Donald and Pluto and Modern Inventions have Machiavellian incidents to which many children are frightening. This fear subsequently gives way to sympathy for the victim, so that Donald Duck is liked on a basis of tragedy rather than comedy." In the June 26, 1937 issue of Boxoffice magazine this movie was named "Short of the Week." The following is the review from that issue. "Donald Duck stamps himself as pre-eminent among cartoon comedians by his hilarious antics in his creator's final Technicolor subject for United Artists release. Unquestionably one of the most laugh-provoking subjects to issue from Disney studios since Donald first made his timid entrance as a minor cartoon character over a year ago. In this clever satire on the machine age Donald enters an exhibit where a robot butler immediately moves his hat much to the duck's fury. His irritability increases as he is cradled in an automatic baby carriage and is forcibly fed with a bottle and clothed with a diaper. However the piece de resistance is Donald's struggles while placed upside down in a barber chair with the mechanical attendant clipping off his tail feathers and blackening his face. The laughs follow in such quick succession that they are practically continuous." Though no director is credited on this short, it was directed by Jack King, who directed many of Donald's finest cartoons. 

Next we join The Terry Bears in The Reluctant Pup (1953). This cartoon was directed by Mannie Davis. 

Movie fans tend to agree that some of the funniest cartoons ever made are the shorts that Tex Avery directed for MGM. A great example of why can be seen in today's next cartoon, Doggone Tired (1949). Tex once described to historian Joe Adamson, "I found out the eye can register an action in five frames of film. Five frames of film at twenty-four a second, so it's roughly a fifth of a second to register something, from the screen to your eye to your brain. I found out that if you want something to barely be seen five frames was all it needed ... Say we had an anvil falling, we would bring it in perhaps four or five frames before the hit, that's all you need - djuuuuuu ... Bam! it's there, and you don't need to know where in the hell it came from. It makes the gag that much funnier. If you saw this thing coming down, and you panned down with it, and it hits - uh uh." 

Now it is time for a commercial break.

    

Now for some Saturday Morning Minions. 

Up next comes a silent movie starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Tall Timber (1928). 

Today's cartoon selection ends with the TV special It's the Pied Piper Charlie Brown (2000). Though this is not one of the most remembered specials, it is one of the most important ones. It is the first special of the 21st century, it is the last one that Charles Schultz had any involvement in, and it is the first special to be released after Charles Schultz's death. This is also an unusual special by Peanuts standards. Most of you sure familiar with the fact that most Peanuts animation never showed the adults and had a trombone replace the sound of their voices. In this special you get to see and hear the adults. This actually wasn't the first time it was done in Peanuts animation though. A couple of other examples of animated Peanuts adventures that included speaking and visible adults are the mini-series This is America Charlie Brown (1988-1989) and the theatrically released feature length movie, Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!!) (1980) (and these are only two examples). This is also a rare special to adapt a classic children's story with Peanuts characters in it. While this is a common practice with many cartoon characters it is rare for the Peanuts gang. 

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

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animator-breakdown-get-rich-quick-porky-1937/

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

 

Movie Review: Minions: Rise of Gru

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

One of the best of the Despicable Me movies. 

It is obvious that the folks at Illumination have gotten these films down to a science. They have come to know exactly what audiences'' want from these films and just how to provide it. Director Kyle Balda keeps the movie moving at a very fast pace and never lets up on the laughs. Not every joke may land, but in the Marx Brothers tradition there will be a brigade of jokes following and many of them will make up for the few clunkers. It doesn't hurt that this movie has some of the strongest set pieces done with these characters. The scenes involving them taken over the plane or learning kung-fu are really good and certainly made me laugh. I love that unlike many animated features today, this franchise truly embraces its inner cartoon and is not afraid simply to be a series of feature length cartoons. The art of pure cartoon insanity is sadly fading, and I love to see it be able to take center stage in a major movie franchise. While this may not be up to the standards of Looney Tunes or Tex Avery, it is still delightful. Despite this though the film still has pretty good story. While it is true that you can see what is coming, the story still hits all the marks it needs to. Despite his villainy, Gru remains a very likable character and one that is easy to root for. His want to become a very feels so sincere and real that we actually kind of root for him. It doesn't hurt that he works against villains that are worse than he is, making him seem like a hero in comparison, while still letting him do villainous things. The emotion beats of this movie may not make you tear up, but they do their job in making you care about what happens in the story. Plus there is a really fun action scene at the climax. The film also delivers a nice message about letting others into your life and to always stay true to those you care about. Surprisingly this message is delivered in an effective way that never feels heavy handed and never takes away from the silly cartoon comedy.

As much as the fast pace works for the comedy, it can make much of the story feel a little rushed. There is also the fact that as much as this story can work, it is very similar to many other movies, and you can always easily see what is coming next.  

I doubt that this movie is going to make fans out of those who hate the Minions, but for those of us who had a good time with the previous films, this movie delivers exactly what we want.