Better even later than never

First, some non-cartoon related information.

I have officially graduated last Saturday and got my Bachelors of Science. Now I have just two weeks until I start graduate school. It's going to be busy, no matter how I look at it. Still, I'm excited.

Anyway onto cartoons

Mouse Menace - 1946

This is one I remember heavily from my youth (I saw it numerous times on vhs) and it still holds well. A mouse bothers Porky one too many times, who decides that he needs a cat to deal with his problem, finally settling on a robotic one. After that is typical Looney Tunes comedy, with a one very amusing ending.

The Tell-Tale Heart - 1953

Edgar Allen Poe is one of my favorite authors. While his may be silly in some people eyes, the fact that he could write a story in so few words but still give a level of completeness that few could match is quite a feat. And “The Tell-Tale Heart” is my favorite of his stories, presenting a man that is truly insane but doesn’t know it (as the saying goes, the difference between a senile man and an enlightened one is whether you agree with him or not). So how would an animated one of this masterpiece work. Well, for one this animated short is a lot different than most, movement is limited (if you remember Terry Gilliam’s work for Monty Python, it’s a bit like that) with Paul Julians’ beautiful backgrounds to help show the status of the man’s mind. And James Mason provides an excellent narration as if Poe himself had the voice in mind when he wrote it. Yet, I still prefer Poe’s short story far more than this. For one, the time between the murder and the madman’s confession is far too short (this film would have benefited from added length). Plus, while the motion is appropriately limited, it can feel like watching a bunch of pretty paintings. Still, despite my problems, I find this to still be a very respectable adaptation of Poe’s work.

Plane Daffy - 1944

Frank Tashlin is best known today for being the director of a number of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin movies, but before that he had two stints of being a director at the Schlesinger studio. Compared to most other cartoon directors, Tashlin incorporated more live action techniques (such as montages and weird camera angles) into his work (this is because Tashlin always desired a career in live-action film making). And of his cartoons, Plane Daffy is my favorite. This piece (clearly made during the war), pits Daffy Duck against the “Nutzi” spy Hata Mari, who tries whatever means necessary to obtain the important military secret he carries. The gags, the animation, and all the typical Tashlin elements are there; what’s not to like. Well, for a Daffy Duck cartoon, there isn’t much Daffy (he doesn’t show up until about half-way after a long, for the length, but funny exposition). And while Tashlin is great with the characters, I still prefer others the works of others when it comes to Daffy (that is Clampett and Jones). Still, this worth a watch and not a single minute of boredom abounds.

King-Sized Canary - 1947

Tex Avery is hands-down one of the most important people in animation. It was because of him that the Looney Tunes moved into the direction of making funny pictures instead of weak Disney imitations (an effect that would reach beyond the studio and would lead to numerous ) and he was the director that directed the first cartoons that can be officially classified as the first Daffy Duck and first Bugs Bunny cartoon (although how much he had to do with the creation of either is debatable given animations collaborative nature and Tex’s lack of interest in character, particularly with Bugs whose history is messy). All that alone would have given him a spot in animation history, but to top it off, Avery directed some of the funniest cartoons ever created, many of them with huge of amount of ridiculous gags. And King-Sized Canary is inarguable his Tour de Force. It’s typical Avery at his best during his MGM years (he left Termite Terrace in 1940 and came to MGM in 1941), take a crazy idea and then push it to maximum potential and don’t let up. Here a starving cat breaks into a house and finds the house canary to be hardly worth eating given its small size. When he finds a bottle of plant growth, well…I don’t want to spoil any more. The point is just watch it.