Friday, December 16, 2011

125 The Hopeful Donkey



Title: The Hopeful Donkey
Studio: Terry
Date: 12/17/43
Credits:
Series:
Running time (of viewed version): 6:14
Commercial DVD Availability: -

Synopsis: A retelling of the Brementown musicians folk tale.


















Comments: Same narrator as Chicken Little? Establishing shot of a character eating oats. Throwback design on the farmer. Cartoony tho. They bothered to have the farmer walk closer to the camera and become larger while they controlled his perspective so he would avoid the fence, so don't tell me Terry (the studio) didn't give a crap. The farmer is on his way to dig a grave for the donkey. Which would be grim except that it means he's not going to use every part of the animal, so it's more of a tribute. It's a wonderful donkey shaped grave. Dog and donkey both seem very simple in design. Fairly high falutin' dialogue for the animals. The chicken seems to just be shirking its duty by refusing to be eaten, while the others were simply going to be executed/left to die. Robbers with sneak walk. Point a gun at a goose and say "lay". Then it goes all "Clue" the movie and has an alternate ending. In the alternate ending, the robbers are apparently not scared and are left to their booty. Probably some of the worst looking characters for the year.

Last Terry cartoon for the year.

6 comments:

  1. Yes, it's the wrong place to write about it, but don't you want to start blog about cartoons of 1944 or 1945 next year? I already have the chronological list of releases...

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  2. I'll be doing the years I choose to do. Everyone else is of course free to do other years (or the same years) themselves. If you have the list, why don't you do 1944 or 1945?

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  3. don't think i'm nuts, but any idea where i could find this to watch/download/buy? i've been looking for this for forever (a childhood favorite).

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  4. The internet says a cartoon called Hopeful Donkey is on "Storytime Classics - The Golden Egg Goose and Other Tales" on VHS ( http://www.ebay.com/ctg/Storytime-Classics-Golden-Egg-Goose-and-Other-Tales-VHS-/3251183 ) , also "Fairy Tale CLassics vol 3 ( http://www.worldcat.org/title/fairy-tale-classics-volume-iii/oclc/013896214 ). Googleing "Hopeful Donkey" and VHS will bring up some hits of people selling DVD copies of thier VHS collections as well.

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  5. oh my gosh! you are my new hero! haha

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