Making my way through Clampett's toons in the Golden Collection chronologically.


**** Porky's Poppa - This toon is poorly named (Porky's poppa doesn't really participate in the action, he only introduces the conflict) but other than that it's one of the best of the black and white Porky toons. This is the earliest Clampett toon in the Golden Collection, his fourth toon for Warner, and it's kind of amazing to see what a natural director he was this early on; he didn't seem to take much time developing his voice like Jones did. One of the biggest strengths here is that we have a strong and well-defined central conflict between two well-developed sides: the farm animals and the industrial machine that seeks to replace them. It's a good example of how you can have a cartoon that manages to keep the constant chaos of the action clear without sacrificing the throbbing, lively quality, something the other wacky director (Tex Avery) didn't always balance as well as Clampett. A lot of people say that Porky is one of the least memorable and interesting of the Looney Tunes, but one of his strengths was his ability to act as an anchor for a story while also sort of blending into the background to make room for larger, more interesting, purely situational conflicts that Clampett could do whatever he wanted with. I also just think that the opening rendition of Old McDonald Had a Farm is cute with the animation of the animals perfectly aligning with the music. A very strong start to my journey into Clampett's filmography.

***** What Price Porky - This toon's merits are similar to that of Porky's Poppa: a strong central conflict, Porky anchoring that conflict while getting out of its way, and a perfect balance between chaos and clearness in the execution. What puts this toon over that one can't really be described in words: it simply has funnier gags and more of them, and it doesn't hurt that we get a little taste of Clampettian duck. People throw around terms like "pure cinema", and this is "pure animation" because it fully explores the areas where only animation can go, and attempts to go there for every single second of the toon. Just when you think they can't top the last gag's total inventiveness and creativity, they do. This is Clampett's first masterpiece.

***** Porky's Party - 1938 was a year where it seemed like Bob could do no wrong and this is probably my favorite from that year, which is no small praise considering it features other Clampett classics like "Porky in Wackyland", "What Price Porky" and "The Daffy Doc", but there's just too much to admire in this short. Porky's stutter is a character trait that, because it's so well known and repeatedly used, sometimes seems to lose its impact, but this short avoids that problem by actually causing the stutter to create physical gags with the bug that sews everytime it hears "so", which Porky can't help from saying over and over. And that's really the key strength of the short: the gags develop organically from the character traits rather than just randomly. I love how quickly Clampett develops the supporting characters here; the first guest to the party is hilariously illustrated as a selfish lout within 5 seconds of his entrance and Clampett sticks to this character trait consistently by using it to accentuate and provoke other gags throughout the toon. Then Porky's dog (who looks suspiciously like Pluto) and the second guest to the party are just inherently funny-looking so that even when the concept of the gag isn't particularly great it's still funny because of the great acting from the characters. The way that Clampett ties sews of these different aspects together so that they play off of each other really gives the cartoon a sense of momentum, and each and every gag is really funny in and of itself anyway. For me this is about as good as the early Porky-centered toons ever got, and really about as good as the Looney Tunes troup ever got period, though I can see why this particular style wouldn't be for everyone.

***** Porky in Wackyland - This is probably Clampett's most famous toon with general audiences due to its hallucinogenic Dali-like qualities. I can't agree with those who say it's Clampett's absolute best because there are simply other less well known toons not just with more gags, but funnier ones too, executed with more virtuosity. But this is certainly one of his most distinctive and memorable in terms of overall concept, and if it's not his best it's certainly up there with his other masterpieces. It's interesting to compare this to the Freleng-supervised color remake "Dough for the Do-Do"--apparently some people prefer that one, though I can't imagine why; maybe they saw it first or something. To me the only thing "Dough" has over this is the Rubber Band joke, which is admittedly pretty excellent, but this one is just much more fluid, particularly in terms of how the sound and music and animation all seem to be working seamlessly together to create a totally wacked-out atmosphere. Every aspect bounces off every other aspect here, where the Freleng version seems slightly less life-like in comparison. It's too bad that the Do-Do didn't feature in more shorts because he's a great character--though maybe the reason he has so much power here is because he wasn't overused elsewhere. Whatever the case, this is must-see cartooning and definitely one of Clampett's masterpieces.

*** Porky in Egypt - This is a step down from Clampett's first incredible early run, but it's still a fun toon. I don't understand why some have framed this as a racist or xenophobic. It seems to me that it's clearly poking fun at condescending "exoticized" notions of the Arab world rather than making fun of the Arab world itself, though I guess I could understand why it would make someone uncomfortable. There's good character acting and mis-en-scene throughout, and the highlights of the toon are the introduction to Egypt and the weird trip Porky's horse goes on, but it really does seem to go downhill gagwise after Porky's introduced--this is an example of where a star character gets in the way of the fun rather than holding the toon together. Still, this is a mostly entertaining cartoon that does more in Clampett's hands than it would have in anyone else's.

**** The Daffy Doc - I appreciate every incarnation of Daffy, but Clampett's batshit version is my favorite, taking the original wild and zany Tex Avery version and making him much more rubbery and expressive. This is the first time Daffy was at the center of a Clampett toon, and so while it doesn't have the structural solidarity of his early Porky toons, it's still an admirable achievement. Clampett's Daffy is more elastic and so can effect more areas of the cartoon world than Avery's can, though I will admit that at this point Daffy is still more of just an anonomosly insane duck than he is a distinctive personality--that wouldn't come until "Wise Quacks". This is an important and highly entertaining toon, well above average for Warner Brothers, even if it's not quite masterpiece level yet.

***** Wise Quacks - Porky's Party and Polar Pals established Clampett as willing to rely heavily on drunkenness to get laughs, but this toon is goes so far as to make drunkeness not just a gag but a central part of the narrative. This toon holds a special place in my heart for being my first introduction to the non-smug, non-Chuck Jones version of Daffy. I remember being confused: "Why is Daffy drinking so much corn syrup?Why does it make him hiccup and sway? What does 'How dry I am' mean?" I remember my mother being irritated at the TV and not knowing why, and it's probably concerned parents like her that caused Cartoon Network to start censoring these toons and eventually to stop airing them altogether, which is too bad because this is one of the funniest cartoons I've ever seen and the first wholly successful toon with Daffy at the center.

*** The Film Fan - I see this as signalling the beginning of a decline that would plauge Clampett until around the end of 1940, but it's not too bad yet. There's nothing particularly wrong with this toon. Everything is perfectly executed on a micro-level and it certainly works as a whole as well, but other than a bit poking fun at a woman and her dog who are too good to go to the movies there's nothing particularly memorable about any of the gags (but that's probably just because much of the humor is based in specific references to the pop culture of the time). Keeps out of the two-star range for its structural solidarity, never being boring while you're watching it, and the often pleasing mis-en-scene.

* Pilgrim Porky - This toon plods along with some of the worst gag-timing I've ever seen from Clampett, but these gags wouldn't be funny even if they were well timed. Somehow the politically incorrect bits in this toon are far more disturbing than those in the more famously problematic shorts like Coal Black and Tin Pan Alley Cats. Those toons, though thoroughly condescending and racist, at least seem to be trying to celebrate what Clampett saw as the imaginative freedom of black culture. Here the racism, though not at center stage, has a kind of casually tossed-off cruelty, and it's much harder to watch.

** Porky's Poor Fish - There's not one memorable gag in the bunch, and the only appealing one--eggs hatch as they are called to arms--is lifted right out of "What Price Porky", but where there it made sense because that whole toon was military themed, here it just seems like a desperate attempt to get at least one halfway decent laugh in. While it's interesting to to see Carl Stalling incorporate Ellington's "You, You Darlin'" theme into the score and to see Clampett pay homage to Popeye, that historical interest can't make up for the total lack of laughs and sloppily thrown together ideas. Gets an extra star for some interesting movement techniques.

* Patient Porky - One big nothing of a cartoon. Wastes time on indulging an offensive bellhop character and pointlessly setting the hospital scenery before it decides to try and launch a new major character halfway through by using the same situation as Daffy Doc without the good organic gags or distinctive acting. The aimless narrative and lack of clear plot would be okay if it made up for it with good visual or conceptual gags, but it doesn't have any of those either, so it's ultimately just boring. One of Clampett's most disappointing shorts.

Porky in Wackyland is in the National Film Registry, the other three Looney Tunes shorts are "Duck Amuck", "One Froggy Evening" and "What's Opera, Doc?". Its in excellent company, but I would love for the National Film Registry to start selecting more Looney Tunes (or even just other animated) shorts.

The over the top stereotypes never really bothered me, I always seen it as just fitting into the crazy distorted world of Looney Toons and not genuine racism. Looney Toons made caricatures out of everyone and everything. People need to lighten the fuck up and not try to apply politics to something as far removed from reality as goddamn Warner Bros cartoons.

Porky in Egypt is a childhood favorite. I love that wacky little Egyptian guy who had the funniest parts. "Get outta da waay, get outta da waaaaaaaaay".

When Warner felt it was necessary to ban all Speedy Gonzales shorts in the late 90's, you know who wrote to them, demanding they be put back on the air? Mexican American groups.

Exactly, it's a beloved childhood cartoon to many. If anything, cultural exposure... albeit in a cartoonishly (lol) silly way....but it works for kids. Children are the target audience, not your overly-sensitive crying wench who's waiting for the chance to howl how wrongly she's been done by society and feel 'empowered.'

I'm having alot of fun looking through this thread over the past fifteen minutes or so. This is probably one of my favorite threads on the forum right now.

I really like the dark aesthetic in the sections of this short that depict war. It stands up well when compared with animation from decades later.

Yeah, and did anybody even complain about Pepe Le Pew being a stereotype of the French? As far as I can tell, no.

What's Opera Doc? - *****

This rules on so many levels. It's not heavy on gags compared to other Bugs Bunny shorts and wether or not it really IS the greatest cartoon short of all time as many claim it to be is up for debate. But make no mistake, it's a work of animated perfection.

It succeeds as both an homage and parody of Wagner. What I love about Jones is that while he is one of the masters of the sight gag, he is also responsible for some of the most truly stunning and fantastical imagery in animation. That's what puts him at the top of the Warner Bros tier.

Dreww, did you ever wind up getting a hold of the "Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures" box set? If not, definitely add that to your netflix queue.

I can watch this scene with the feather and piano from "Three Orphan Kittens" over and over and over again...from about 4:55 - 7:30

I love Silly Symphonys. While Disney shorts will never compare to the WB stuff in wit and humor, they have such gorgeous animation that's so lovingly detailed, I think it's wrong to call their method of animation cold and mechanical, those animators while limited in creative freedom still exhibited a great sense of passion, devotion and perfectionism to their craft. Regardless of how incredibly calculated the Disney shorts were, those animators brought everything to life.

I understand that not everybody likes how Disney are always after tugging people's emotions but goddammit they're so good at it. I love the Disney shorts, since they lacked the more straightfoward plots of the feature length films they provided a loose setup for the animators to simply do their magic and show everyone what they could do.

While golden age era Disney often put more emphasis on dazzling their audience rather than having them die of laughter, that wasn't always the case. Jack Kinney's shorts (especially the Goofy ones) were full of inspired, wacky and hilarious sight gags, that guy could have worked for Warner Bros.

I don't think I'll ever understand the appeal of "What's Opera Doc"; it's totally boring. There are literally hundreds of cartoons I would rather watch. None of the jokes are funny. The layouts look good but there are many others I prefer. I can't imagine why everyone likes it so much. I think it has something to do with animation lovers feeling intimidated by the pompousness of the so-called high arts and so loving it when animation attempts to cut them down by putting them on the same level; I'd rather just demand that animation is inherently just as good rather than worrying about the high/low art divide in the first place. And even then, what's not to prefer about "Rabbit of Seville" when it comes to the clash between the supposed high/low divide? I just think that there are tons of better toons Jones did than this: "Rabbit Seasoning", "Duck Amuck", "Drip Along Daffy", "Scaredy Cat", "Deduce You Say", "Baton Bunny", and these are just from me looking at the list of Jones toons in the first volume in the Golden Collection--I'm sure there are many more I prefer. I just don't see what's so good about it and never will. In any case, I'll take "Slap-Happy Lion" not just over "What's Opera Doc", but over the collected works of Wagner himself. Vive la animacion!

I have great childhood memories of watching "What's Opera Doc?". Its certainly not one of my favorite Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies cartoons (which would probably be "Duck Amuck") and definitely comes nowhere close to my top 50, but I do like it quite a bit.

Also, aside from some Roadrunner/Coyote shorts and Chuck Jones' excellent "Now Hear This", I don't seem to remember any good 60's Looney Tunes shorts, although I am very interested in that particular time in the history of Warner Brothers animation. I know that I fucking hate the Cool Cat cartoons. Dreww, do you have any good recommendations from this era?

In other news, those things Jumpman and Forgie posted are excellent.

I really need to watch more of the Silly Symphonies. I definitely suffer from WB-bias not just in my opinions but in my knowledge.