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.

117 Yokel Duck Makes Good

Title: Yokel Duck Makes Good
Studio: Terry
Date: 11/26/43
Credits:
Story by
John Foster
Directed by
Eddie Donnelly
Music by
Philip A. Scheib
Series:
Running time (of viewed version): 6:26
Commercial DVD Availability: -

Synopsis: Cornball duck gets the business form those nature slicker waterfowl, until he proves himself useful.
















Comments: The ducklings appear to be swimming in place , then they start moving with the background, but there is a jump. Almost inconceivable that this was a 1943 cartoon. The cartoony white duck is more of '43. Still not exactly current tho. He applies talc like my grandfather did. Bird fist fight. I think he's going to have sex with that swan. In the continuous opening pan (with the slight jump) we go from painted ducks to cel ducks at different ends.

111 The Lion and the Mouse

Title: The Lion and the Mouse
Studio: Terry
Date: 11/12/43
Credits:
Story by
John Foster
Directed by
Mannie Davis
Music by
Philip A. Scheib
Series: Super Mouse/Mighy Mouse
Running time (of viewed version): 6:31
Commercial DVD Availability: -

Synopsis: Mouse gets drunk and fights lion, then gets more drunk and fights for lion.




























Comments: Womany eyes on the lion in the title card. The narrator isn't bad, but I think I'm getting sick of him. Antelope look nice. Bottle of hard cider makes mouse drunk. Finally looks cartoony when drunk. Drunk half Tarzan yell. Probably the funniest Terry animation so far this year (and there isn't much left). Great inner mouth painting. The dogs look more WB than Terry. Maybe MGM-y. Still called Super Mouse. And he gets his powers by getting drunk. But not enough to just kick the lion's ass earlier. Maybe it's a hangover that gives him his mighty powers. Reused animation of a not drunk MM/SM flying? The lion literally crawls into the bottle at the end. It's funny, but presumably this has original titles because it was (again presumably) deemed at some early point to be unsuitable for television. Been a lot of characters turning liquid lately. The lion is inexplicably afraid of three dogs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-fsWQI9B7w