Title: Fifth Column Mouse
Studio: Warner Bros.
Date: 03/06/43 (2/6 in OMAM)
Credits: - (Blue Ribbon)
Series: Merrie Melodies (on a Blue Ribbon reissue)
Running time (of viewed version): 7:30
Commercial DVD Availability: LTGCv6d2
Synopsis: Parable to show it can happen here.
Comments: Mice on floating soap (Ivory presumably), singing Ain't We Got Fun. Mice living lives in human stuff; what is this, a Terrytoon? Second air raid cartoon in a row. Silhouettes. Great cat mouth painting. Singing cat song to Blues in the Night ("that cat he done tol' me). We Did It Before and We Can Do It Again. Lots of songs in this one... There was a bit I've heard on Jack Benny where there's a guy who talks gibberish. That bit shows up here in the blueprint scene. There's a quick Japanese impression from the cat, followed by a heil from the mouse. Cool sea of eyes. As mice are enemies to our species, how should we take this cartoon? That our enemies are heroic and can win if they work together?
The original title card comes from
http://www.cartoonresearch.com/warner.html
Really a throwback cartoon, with am old-style Haman-Ising type plot Friz was repeatedly recycling in 1934-36 updated to fit in with the current war effort. If anyone ever wondered what something like "Bingo Crosbyana" would have been done if it had been made in the 1940s, look no further.
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