'43 on Blu-Ray

So, a new Blu-Ray with an incredibly unwieldly title has been announced; the Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles The Chuck Jones Collection. We may never know if it's based on the novel by Sapphire. The UnBearable Bear (I had forgotten this cartoon almost completely in the year and a half since I wrote the post on it) and The Aristo-Cat (which I had not forgotten). One of the early reviews on Amazon says the bonus cartoons have been "reviled"; I think it's more technically true of the disc of Sniffles...

Looney Tunes the Chuck Jones Collection Mouse [Blu-ray]

126 Little Red Riding Rabbit

Title: Little Red Riding Rabbit
Studio: WB
Date: 12/18/43 (see issues below)
Credits:
Supervision
I. Freleng
Animation
Manuel Perez
Story
Michael Maltese
Voice Characterization
Mel Blanc
Musical Direction
Carl W. Stalling
Series: Merrie Melodies / Bugs Bunny
Running time (of viewed version): 7:04
Commercial DVD Availability: LTGCv2d1

Synopsis: Red Riding Hood story ends up turning against an odd Red.















Comments: Why does the FBI warning on LTGCv1 look they ripped it off from from a public access channel? I've always liked the song ("The 5 o'clock whistle is on the blink, the whistle won't blow and waddya think, my papa's still in the factory, cause he don't know what time it happens to be"). Red comes from the Tina Fey/Sarah Palin phenotype. Her clothing comes from the Superman collection. Bea voice again. That's a green housecoat. Grandma appears to live in Knight's Steakhouse. Knight's Steakhouse, serving Ann Arbor since some fool time in the past. Odd thing about Red's hood; to accommodate her hairstyle, it's a separate cap in this cartoon. Grim faces carved into the woodwork. Jumpy fire like in Puss n' Booty. Bugs silhouette in wolf's frock, followed by wolf silhouette. Everyone's teeth keep sticking out in this cartoon. Wolf and Bugs dislike Red. Red's happy song belies a pretty grim forest. Bugs doesn't seem like he should have a reason to hate Red, but then again he _is_ being delivered in a food basket by her. Big ears is followed by French. A specific Frenchmen with big ears being referenced? Charles Boyer? Breaking the last straw joke for the Red interruption is good because it avoids both an obvious joke and a pun.

This was not originally on my list; it shows up in LTMM as 1/4/44. I'm erring on the side of caution by including it here with its OMAM and (at least some) BoxOffice date. This is the last WB cartoon for the year. Unless it's actually in the next year. Then it was either Puss N Booty or Rumors, and it's unclear exactly what day Rumors came out. And of course there could always be some other issue that hasn't come out to me regarding dates. But in the general count, this is the last WB cartoon I'm covering right now for '43.

edit: Yowp provided the following image of a newspaper ad from December 23, 1943 from Hamilton, Ohio (for a Xmas and following showing) on Facebook. Thanks, Yowp.

Rumors

Title: Rumors
Studio: WB/US Government
Date: 12/XX/43
Credits: - (but Friz Freleng)
Series: SNAFU
Running time (of viewed version): 4:46
Commercial DVD Availability: Snafu Golden, LTGCv3d4 (HD on GAC pre-order)

Synopsis: Rumors are dangerous.
















Comments: Man, I hate it when people talk to me in the latrine. Very Blanc-y Blanc on the "bombing weather". A realistic ear at the beginning of the baloney mill. Tent silhouettes. Seussian wackyland bird. Even seussier thing in bed. Is it meant as a good thing for people to see/hear/know nothing, or a bad thing? I think it means that would be good. Which is unpleasant for a government to encourage, I think.

Eric Golberg's commentary says Virgil Ross is animating part of this. Also Gerry Chiniquy.

Hey, there's also a commentary from Mike Kazaleh on this. He brings up Maurice Noble's involvement. He believes it's Tedd Pierce doing the narration.

I believe SNAFU is the most prevalent character in the year, but I haven't actually checked that, and it's kind of a cheat as they're not theatricals. Donald Duck may also have a claim. At any rate, this is it for SNAFU for the year.

123 Puss n' Booty

Title: Puss n' Booty
Studio:WB
Date: 12/11/43
Credits:
Supervision
Frank Tashlin
Story
Warren Foster
Animation
Cal Dalton
Musical Direction
Carl W. Stalling
Series: Looney Tunes
Running time (of viewed version): 7:22
Commercial DVD Availability: LTGCv4d2

Synopsis: Cat and bird interaction.
















Comments: Feet and legs for the human. I wonder if this was designed to keep audiences from thinking the human should be identified with. Bea Benadaret(sp). Horribly hammy cat (named Rudolph; like Valentino?). Move up to the bust of the human. Stiff cat like the Rolls Royce nike hood ornament (maybe not; sure looks like a hood ornament of some kind tho; wait, jaguar would make total sense, with the cat and all)? Slinking in keeping with the steps. They didn't get the teeth right on Rudolph. Underwater butt stab. Semi silhouette. Very minimal background houses in the opening shot. Jerry Beck in commentary says the opening shots are from the POV of the cat, followed by the POV of the woman; the searching shot is almost certainly from the woman's POV, but I'm not sure the low and headless shots are the cat's POV as such. Jerry also says the address in this, 1605 Maple Drive, is recycled in a Tweety and Sylvester cartoon that remakes this. Jerry provides additional animator credits: Don Williams, Izzy Ellis, Shamus Culhane, and Art Davis. Back when everyone delivered. Seems like a real bad idea to buy a new pet over the phone. I kinda think the cat looks like Chuck Jones as an old man. The broken bed at the end reminds me of Mad art (heavy black line work in black and white). Jack Davis and Art Davis weren't related, were they?

Supposedly the last black and white WB cartoon, and the last of the Sunset syndication package; thus, before this equalled weekday showings, after this equalled Saturday morning for me (before and after would depend on how an order is determined, and I suppose just because this is the last in the Sunset package doesn't actually mean things before it might not be in the Sunset package).

122 An Itch In Time

Title: An Itch in Time
Studio: Warner Bros.
Date: 12/04/43 (12/4 in LTMM, 11/20 in OMAM)
Credits: - (but Clampett)
Series: Merrie Melodies (on a Blue Ribbon Rerelease)
Running time (of viewed version): 8:27
Commercial DVD Availability: LTGCv3d4

Synopsis: Flea eats his way through the Fudd house.






















Comments: Horribly hatted Elmer. Reading a comic book featuring Porky and Bugs on the back cover. Animated fire just sitting on top of some logs. MArtian art on the wall of Elmer's very modern (for 1943) house. Dog butt. That's how you know it's a Clampett cartoon, even with Blue Ribbon titles. Hillbilly flea. "Food around the corner for me" song. Background painting of dog's head is lineless, which is unusual in context. Ration book. The fireplace is sweet (but flue-less). A pretty good Clampett cartoon because he's only screwing up Elmer. Jump in shot of dog's head to greater CU. ""Hey, I'd better cut this out, I may get to like it" feels like a lift. Santa imagery. Suicide ending with a handgun. Rocking chair just kinda floats. John Kricfalusi on the commentary unsurprisingly likes the look of Elmer. I disagree. It's good that the fireplace looks great, because it shows up a lot in this.