Top ten cartoons of the 1940s

[ebrand11]

Here we go again..
mine:
1. Stage Door Cartoon (1944, WB)
2. Puttin on the Act (1940, Fleischer)
3. Hare Brained Hare (1946, WB)
4.The Shooting of Dan Magoo (1945, MGM)
5.The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946, WB)
6.Bad Luck Blackie (1949,MGM)
7.Hollywood Steps Out (1941, WB)
8.Red Hot Riding Hood (1943, MGM)
9.King Size Canary (1947, MGM)
10. Porky Pig's Feat (1943, WB)

[Bugsy-Kun]

Mine's is my 1940's top 10:
1. Fast and Furry-ous (WB, 1949)
2. Der Fuhrer's Face (Disney, 1943)
3. A Wild Hare (WB, 1940)
4. The Big Snooze (WB, 1946)
5. Part Time Pal (MGM, 1947)
6. The Barber of Seville (Lantz, 1944)
7. The Poet and the Peasant (Lantz, 1946)
8. Toy Tinkers (Disney, 1949)
9. The Foghorn Leghorn (WB, 1948)
10. The Wacky Weed (Lantz, 1946)

[Matt the Y]

Top 10, in random order.....

1. The Dover Boys (WB/1942)
2. Chicken Little (Disney/1943)
3. Der Fuehrer's Face (Disney/1943)
4. Porky Pig's Feat (WB/1943)
5. Wagon Heels (WB/1945)
6. King Size Canary (MGM/1947)
7. Often an Orphan (WB/1949)
8. Hockey Homicide (Disney/1945)
9. Dough Ray Me-ow (WB/1948)
10. Fast and Furry-ous (WB/1949)

Honorable mention goes to: The Fox and the Grapes (Columbia/1941)

I'm a bit disappointed that we could only include 10! And I'm amazed at how much cartoons had generally improved by the 1940's decade (in my opinion, at least). I'm still stuck for choosing a general Top 10 for the 1930's list thread (I'll try to decide today just so I can post to that thread before it finally bites the dust) just because I'm still trying to muster up a total of 10 cartoons that stand out the most to me from the 30's but there are so many brilliant cartoons from the 40's that I truly savor that just fitting in ten for me here for this list was really choosy! :) Still, I'm satisfied with the list I went with here. ;)

[David Gerstein]

Okay, let's see...

FIRE CHIEF (Disney 1940)
TOLL BRIDGE TROUBLES (Columbia 1942)
LITTLE RED RIDING RABBIT (Warner 1944)
THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGOO (MGM 1945)
THE GREAT PIGGY BANK ROBBERY (Warner 1946)
SONG OF THE SOUTH: "Tar Baby" sequence (Disney 1946)
A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE (MGM 1947)
KING-SIZE CANARY (MGM 1947)
BOWERY BUGS (Warner 1949)
THE WINDBLOWN HARE (Warner 1949)

Runners-up were THE LONESOME MOUSE (MGM 1942), BLITZ WOLF (MGM 1942), DER FUEHRER'S FACE (Disney 1943), SKI FOR TWO (Lantz 1944), and GOOFY GYMNASTICS (Disney 1949)—all five great cartoons, but hurt by slow pacing here and there. There's actually a period in DER FUEHRER'S FACE where if you ignore the fact that Donald is working for the Axis, the assembly line gags could really have been part of any average Donald cartoon.
THE LITTLE WHIRLWIND (Disney 1941) has a funny, interesting version of Mickey Mouse that could have starred in dozens of great cartoons had Riley Thomson stayed at the controls. But the cartoon itself, your basic Disney battle with a small, cute pest, is still ordinary, and its musical sequence derivative of the earlier POLAR TRAPPERS.
Finally, COAL BLACK (Warner 1943) would have made my list five years ago; it still has its good points, but I can't get over the impact it's had. It's very funny and paced to perfection, but it's also very racist, and it seems to have singlehandedly spawned a whole subculture of apologists for an era I'm glad is decades past.

[Douglas E.]

This will be tough but:

The Dover Boys (Warner Bros.)
Hockey Homicide (Disney)
Hare Trigger (Warner Bros.)
A Gruesome Twosome (Warner Bros.)
The Barber Of Seville (Lantz)
King Size Canary (MGM)
Mexican Joy Ride (Warner Bros.)
The Hungry Goat (Famous)
Woody Woodpecker (Lantz)
Duck Pimples (Disney)

Honorable Mentions: All of Tex Avery's MGM shorts, anything by Warner Bros done between 1944-1947, Der Fueheher's Face, most of the Tom & Jerry shorts made between 1943-1949, How To Play Baseball, How To Play Golf, Californy Er Bust, Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs, and The Poet & the Peasant.

Maybe I should have done a Top 20 instead...

-Doug :bugs2: :daffy: :ysam: :tweety: :woody: :goof: :donald: :sailor:

[cartoonfan4ever]

Wow. This one's tough. The 40's is my favorite decade and there's sooooo many good ones.


Russian Rhapsody (WB)
The Ducktators (WB)
Book Revue (WB)
Birth of a Notion (WB)
Haredevil Hare (WB)
Kitty Kornered (WB)
Baby Bottleneck (WB)
Californy'er Bust (Disney)
African Diary (Disney)
Hockey Homicide (Disney)

[Thad]

The hardest decade to do because it's the pinnacle of the animated cartoon.

1. 'PORKY PIG'S FEAT' (1943/Tashlin) - An all-time filmic laugh riot that ranks up there with the best of Chaplin, Keaton, and Laurel & Hardy's shorts.

2. 'CHICKEN LITTLE' (1943/Disney) - If the studio put out a cartoon this daring at least once every other year, its placement on a pedestal would be justified.

3. 'PLANE DAFFY' (1944/Tashlin) - A really stylized and refined sex comedy, a rarity for any animation studio.

4. 'WOODY DINES OUT' (1945/Culhane) - Taking an otherwise haphazard, ordinary script and making interesting things happen with a dark tone. LOVE that Hawkins scene of the cat falling down the elevator shaft, and doing a delayed take.

5. 'LONESOME LENNY' (1946/Avery) - 7.5 minutes of pure joy.

6. 'THE GREAT PIGGY BANK ROBBERY' (1946/Clampett) - Over-discussed, but it's come to terms with me, and it really is an incredible cartoon.

7. 'BACK ALLEY OPROAR' (1948/Freleng) - Flawless timing, animation, and direction, and some outstanding BG and layout work as well. The scene with the singing fat cat is one of the greatest gags ever put on film.

8. 'LONG-HAIRED HARE' (1949/Jones) - THE Bugs cartoon.

9. 'FAST AND FURRY-OUS' (1949/Jones) - If they only made this one, it'd be considered the greatest one-shot ever made.

10. 'LITTLE RURAL RIDING HOOD' (1949/Avery) - Competes with at least one other for the title of "The Most Perfect Cartoon Ever Made". Definitely wins "Greatest Cheater" though!

Honorable 'almosts': 'HOCKEY HOMICIDE' (1945/Kinney), 'FRESH AIREDALE' (1945/Jones), 'KING-SIZE CANARY' (1947/Avery), 'BUCCANEER BUNNY' (1948/Freleng), 'TEE FOR TWO' (1945/Hanna-Barbera), 'TWO GOPHERS FROM TEXAS' (1948/Davis), 'SHAPE AHOY' (1945/Famous).

[lonesome-lenny]

As Thad said, THE toughest decade to make such a list for. There are too many great cartoons to really make a list of 10 feasible.
So, I'm gonna just pick 10 off the top of my head...

1. THE GREAT PIGGY BANK ROBBERY (1946/Clampett)
2. LONESOME LENNY (1946/Avery)
3. PORKY PIG'S FEAT (1943/Tashlin)
4. THE BOOGIE WOOGIE MAN (1943/Culhane)
5. MOUSE TROUBLE (1945/HB)
6. BABY BOTTLENECK (1946/Clampett)
7. KING SIZE CANARY (1947/Avery)
8. UNCLE TOM'S CABANA (1947/Avery)
9. BACK ALLEY OPROAR (1947/Freleng)
10. MOUSE WRECKERS (1949/Jones)

These are 10 cartoons that I consider flawless, despite the racial stereotypes of (4) and (8).

RUNNERS-UP:

THE FOX AND THE GRAPES (1941/Tashlin)
THE GREATEST MAN IN SIAM (1943/Culhane)
PASS THE BISCUITS MIRANDY (1943/Culhane)
OF FOX AND HOUNDS (1941/Avery)
INKI AND THE MINAH BIRD (1943/Jones)

[J. J. Hunsecker]

It's going to hurt limiting the choices to only ten, but here goes.

1. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
2. Baby Bottleneck
3. Coal Black and de Seben dwarfs
4. A Gruesome Twosome
5. A Corny Concerto
6. Book Revue
7. Kitty Kornered (What can I say? I'm obviously a Clampett fan.)
8. The Dover Boys
9. Little Rural Riding Hood
10. Wags to Riches

It was painful leaving Russian Rhapsody, The Bashful Buzzard, The Ducktators, Scrap Happy Daffy, Porky Pig's Feat, Little Red Riding Rabbit, Der Fuehrer's Face, Hockey Homicide, The Fox and the Grapes, Flora, Baseball Bugs, Daffy Doodles, Birth of a Notion, The Barber of Seville, Long Haired Hare, Fast and Furry-ous, etc. off the list.

[jonmayo15]

Tough. Not necessarily my exact top ten but all are favorites:
Porky's Preview (Warners)
The Stupidstitious Cat (Famous)
Northwest Hounded Police (MGM)
The Hams That Couldn't Be Cured (Lantz)
Scrap Happy Daffy (Warners)
The Old Gray Hare (Warners)
Bugs Bunny Gets The Boid (Warners)
Rebel Rabbit (Warners)
The Hungry Goat (Famous)
Showdown (Fleischer)

[rrfan3267]

Top Ten WB Cartoons:

1. Porky Pig's Feat (Tashlin)
2. Daffy Dilly (Jones)
3. Rabbit Hood (Jones)
4. Pigs in a Polka (Freleng)
5. Fast and Furry-ous (Jones)
6. Bugs Bunny Rides Again (Freleng)
7. My Favorite Duck (Jones)
8. Baseball Bugs (Freleng)
9. The Wabbit Who Came to Supper (Freleng)
10. Tick Tock Tuckered (Clampett)

Runners up include I've Got Plenty of Mutton (Tashlin) and Wabbit Twouble (Avery)

[zavkram]

Here's my list (again, in no particular order):

1. Bad Luck Blackie (MGM)
2. Bugs Bunny Rides Again (Warner Bros.)
3. King-Sized Canary (MGM)
4. Yankee Doodle Mouse (MGM)
5. Pigs in a Polka (Warner Bros.)
6. You Ought To Be In Pictures (Warner Bros.)
7. Donald's Dilemma (Disney)
8. Superman (Fleischer)
9. The Dover Boys (Warner Bros.)
10. Fish Fry (Walter Lantz)

[Duck Dodgers]

1) Porky Pig's Feat
2) Kitty Kornered
3) Little Rural Riding Hood
4) Plane Daffy
5) Der Fuehrer's Face
6) Mouse Trouble
7) Book Revue
8) Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs
9) Easter Yeggs
10) Two Gophers from Texas

Among the honorable mentions: "The Screwy Truant", "Lonesome Lenny", "The Hungry Goat", "Russian Rhapsody"; "Scrap Happy Daffy"; "Trap Happy".

[Cartman]

Another toughie..



Der Fueher's Face
Fox and Grapes
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves
Mississippi Hare
Hockey Homicide
Mr. Moocher
Chew Chew Baby
Fresh Airdale
Duck Pimples
Barber of Seville

[Noisejunkie]

1. King Size Canary (MGM)
2. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves (WB)
3. Der Fuehrer's Face (Disney)
4. Hockey Homicide (Disney)
5. Mouse Wreckers (WB)
6. The Power of Thought (Terrytoons)
7. The Barber of Seville (Lantz)
8. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (WB)
9 Red Hot Riding Hood (MGM)
10. The Cat Concerto (MGM)

Honorable mentions:
Gypsy Life (Terrytoons)
Abou Ben Boogie (Lantz)
Fast and Furryous (WB)
Most Tom & Jerry cartoons (MGM)
Bad Luck Blackie (MGM)
The Fox and the Grapes (Columbia)
Shakespearian Spinach (Fleischer)
Rocket to Mars (Famous)
Swing Shift Cinderella (MGM)
Book Revue (WB)
Baby Bottleneck (WB)

And the list goes on and on and.....

[Douglas E.]

I decided to update my list to 20 shorts:

-The Dover Boys (Warner Bros.)
-Hockey Homicide (Disney)
-Hare Trigger (Warner Bros.)
-A Gruesome Twosome (Warner Bros.)
-The Barber Of Seville (Lantz)
-King Size Canary (MGM)
-Mexican Joy Ride (Warner Bros.)
-The Hungry Goat (Famous)
-Woody Woodpecker (Lantz)
-Duck Pimples (Disney)
-Bad Luck Blackie (MGM)
-The Screwy Truant (MGM)
-Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs (Warner Bros.)
-Plane Daffy (Warner Bros.)
-Chicken Little (Disney)
-The Poet and the Peasant (Lantz)
-Tee For Two (MGM)
-Little Rural Riding Hood (MGM)
-Mouse Wreckers (Warner Bros.)
-The Ducktators (Warner Bros.)

-Doug

[oceansoul]

Geesh, this is too difficult for me.

1. Porky Pig's Feat
2. A Gruesome Twosome
3. Heavenly Puss
4. Bad Luck Blackie
5. The Dover Boys
6. You Ought to be in Pictures
7. Who Killed Who?
8. The Foghorn Leghorn
9. Fox and Grapes
10. Fast and Furry-ous

Runners-up: Kitty Kornered, Mississippi Hare, Plane Daffy, Daffy Duck Slept Here, Draftee Daffy, Fresh Airedele, Mouse Trouble, King Size Canary, Blitz Wolf, Der Fuehrer's Face, everything with Avery's Red etc

[oceansoul]

Watching the posts, it seems to me that Porky Pig's Feat is a clear winner here. I nmy humble opinion this cartoon easily belongs to the top10 of the all time greats, and just needs to be rediscovered. Unfortunately it wasn't made in color.

[jonmayo15]

Unfortunately it wasn't made in color.Why is this unfortunate? Some of the greatest films of all time were made in black and white. This one works in it.

[oceansoul]

Why is this unfortunate? Some of the greatest films of all time were made in black and white. This one works in it.

Well, I love the cartoon in B/W, just thought it could be a reason why it's not discovered by the larger public. The same could be said about Porky's Romance, another fantastic art-deco cartoon by Tashlin.

[Mark J]

The genius of that short is Tashlin's use of black & white, the shadows and shading that work so well with his designs. Same thing he does in Puss & Booty and other shorts. It would not have worked as well in color - see the colorized version that used to run on CN, it takes away the visual magic of the film. Tashlin did great work in color (see Plane Daffy, Nasty Quacks, Now That Summer has Gone etc.), but imho he did his best work in b & w.

[Duck Dodgers]

Oceansoul is right. He means that black and white cartoons are watched ina different way than Technicolor ones by the casual viewer.
They're considered old hat, boring stuff.
That's a shame, because shorts like "Porky Pig's Feat", "Puss n' Booty" "Porky's Tire Trouble" or "What Price Porky" would have to be seen by everybody!

[ebrand11]

..and the colorized version was shown on CN New Years so nowadays we don't even get to see the original on TV no more.

[RyougaLolakie]

Here's my Top 10 favorite animated shorts of the 1940's

1) Mouse Trouble (Hanna-Barbera MGM) (This Tom and Jerry cartoon is definately my all-time favorite. The gags are just too awesome for words.)
2)Porky Pig's Feat (Tashlin/WB) (This is the funniest WB cartoon I've ever seen in the 1940's. 8 minutes of pure joy that is! :D)
3) Part-Time Pal (Hanna-Barbera/MGM)
4) The Nifty Nineties (Disney)
5) Chicken Little (Disney) (Almost a bit dark as Cheese Burgler from Famous Studios, but it's made during WW2 so I can understand that.)
6) Fox and the Grapes (Tashlin/Columbia Pictures)
7)Cheese Burgler (Famous) (I can't believe no one mention about this. Obviously the animation by Jim Tyer and the cartoon itself is possibly one of the darkest cartoons in history. :p:eek:)
8) Red Hot Riding Hood (Avery/MGM)
9)Plane Daffy (Tashlin/WB)
10)Hocky Homicide (Disney)

Gosh, that was a toughy to choose. :p

[Magpie]

I'll probably change my mind right after typing this...decisions, decisions. Here goes (in no particular order):
1. Donald's Dream Voice (Disney)
2. Svengali's Cat-Mighty Mouse (Terrytoons)
3. The Power of Thought-Heckle and Jeckle (Terrytoons)
4. Drooler's Delight-Woody woodpecker (Lantz)
5. Porky's Preview (WB)
6. The Dover Boys (WB)
7. Corny Concerto (WB)
8. The Hungry Goat-Popeye (Paramount)
9. Little Rural Riding Hood (MGM)
10. Superman (Paramount)

:cool:

[J. A. Boschen]

the 1940's is definetly the best era in American animation history. Here's ten of my favorites in no particular order

MR. DUCK STEPS OUT (Disney(RKO)-1940) :donald:
WABBIT TWOUBLE (Warner 1941) :bugs2:
DER FEURHER'S FACE (Disney(RKO)-1942) :donald:
RUSSIAN RHAPSODY (Warner-1944)
HOW TO PLAY GOLF (Disney (RKO)-1944) :goof:
TIGER TROUBLE (Disney(RKO)-1945) :goof:
TEE FOR TWO (MGM-1945) :tomcat: :jerry:
BATHING BUDDIES (Lantz/Universal-1946) :woody:
SMOKED HAMS (Lantz/Univesal-1947) :woody:
FAST AND FURRY-OUS (Warner-1949) :beepbeep: :coyote:

[grundle]

I'm limiting my list to WB cartoons.

1) Mississippi Hare
2) Mouse Wreckers
3) Wabbit Twouble
4) Hare Tonic
5) Tweetie Pie
6) A Horsefly Fleas
7) The Stupor Salesman
8) Fast and Furry-ous
9) Buccaneer Bunny
10) Dough Ray Me-Ow

[David Gerstein]

6) A Horsefly Fleas [...]
10) Dough Ray Me-OwHey, where are the major characters? You're not recommending what people want. I don't think you have any idea how turned off people are.
99% of the population would rather see Falling Hare instead of A Horsefly Fleas.

Oops—wrong thread!
:D

[grundle]

Hey, where are the major characters? You're not recommending what people want. I don't think you have any idea how turned off people are.
99% of the population would rather see Falling Hare instead of A Horsefly Fleas.

Oops—wrong thread!
:D

Heh heh.

[Dirty Skunk]

In no real order:

* The Cat Concerto (MGM, 1946)
* The Zoot Cat (MGM, 1944)
* Drip Dippy Donald (Disney, 1948)
* The Riveter (Disney, 1940)
* Mouse Trouble (MGM, 1944)
* Trap Happy (MGM, 1946)
* Long-Haired Hare (WB, 1948)
* You Ought To Be In Pictures (WB, 1940)
* Dumb Hounded (MGM, 1943)
* Der Fuehrer's Face (Disney, 1942)

Just missed the list: Wabbit Twouble, Boobs In The Woods, Love That Pup, Bone Trouble, Symphony Hour, The Windblown Hare, Puss N' Booty, The Yankee Doodle Mouse, Donald's Camera, Falling Hare, Rhapsody Rabbit, Baby Puss and God knows how many others.

[Lee Glover]

My current top ten (in no particular order):

Hockey Homicide (Disney)
The Million Dollar Cat (MGM)
The Hungry Goat (Famous)
Dough Ray Me-ow (WB)
What Makes Daffy Duck? (WB)
The Cat Concerto (MGM)
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (WB)
Mr. Moocher (Columbia)
Bad Luck Blackie (MGM)
The Barber of Seville (Lantz)

[Surenity]

My personal list is

1. "Little 'Tinker" (Avery, MGM)
2. "Red Hot RIding Hood" (Avery, MGM)
3. "The Heckling Hare" (Avery, Warner)
4. "A Wild Hare" (Avery, Warner)
5. "The Hungry Goat" (Famous)
6. "Happy Go Nutty" (Avery, MGM)
7. "The Unbearable Bear" (Jones, Warner)
8. "Mouse Trouble" (Hanna Barbera, MGM)
9. "The Wacky Wabbit" (Clampett, Warner)
10. "The Shooting of Dan McGoo" (Avery, MGM)

Very hard list to make, but as can be seen I'm a huge Tex Avery fan, and the 40's are my favorite period in classic animation.

[FleischerFan]

A little late to the party, but here's my list:

1. King-Size Canary (MGM)
2. Duck Pimples (Disney)
3. Coal Black & De Sebben Dwarfs (Warners)
4. Red Hot Riding Hood (MGM)
5. Book Revue (Warners)
6. Superman (aka "The Mad Scientist") (Fleischer)
7. Who Killed Who? (MGM)
8. Hockey Homicide (Disney)
9. Northwest Hounded Police (MGM)
10. Gypsy Life (Terrytoons)

Honorable Mention:
11. The Milky Way (MGM)
12. The Dover Boys at Pimento U. (Warners)
13. Mechanical Monsters (Fleischer)
14. The Lonesome Stranger (MGM)
15. Der Feuher's Face (Disney)
16. Tennis Racquet (Disney)
17. Dumb-Hounded (MGM)
18. The Zoot Cat (MGM)
19. Goofy Gymnastics (Disney)
20. You Ought to Be in Pictures (Warners)