What cartoons do you find interesting?

[oldgreypole]

What cartoons do you find interesting? They don't have to be good cartoons, just interesting ones.

I can name a few, myself. I would say that "The Jet Cage" is interesting in that it has Milt Franklyn music during the first half, and William Lava music during the second half.

"Now Hear This" is also an interesting and unusual cartoon. It is here that the modern graphic lettering debuted, and is one of the most abstract Warner Brothers cartoons ever made. Also, there is much more for sound effects than music here. Treg Brown must have been much more involved with this cartoon (even getting credited for the sound effects rather than the usual "film editor") than William Lava, whose music is barely heard throughout the body of the cartoon.

"Norman Normal" is an interesting cartoon in the sense that it is noticeably more adult than most of the other Warner Brothers cartoons of that same period.

"The Dot and the Line" and "The Bear That Wasn't" could also be considered interesting cartoons. They are the only non-Tom and Jerry MGM cartoons of the Chuck Jones era.

[Marty26]

Mucho Locos - I thought this cartoon was interesting because of the way it re-animated old WB clips complete with the limited animation and music of the DePattie-Freling cartoons. Notice how in the re-animated clip from Tortilla Flaps, when El Ventura has that dynamite explode on his foot, his screams of agony are just Daffy Duck's "Ho Ha Has" from the Robin Hood Daffy clip. Talk about lazy soundwork.

The High And The Flighty - This was not only one of the most interesting Foghorn Leghorn cartoons, but it was also one of his best IMO. He and Daffy work so well together it's a shame they were never paired in any other cartoons. The final punchline at the end is also great.

The Scarlet Pumpernickel - This was interesting mostly for its use of random WB stars in Daffy's story for the press. Also notice some lesser known WB stars like Mama Bear making cameo appearances in the cartoon.

[Martin Juneau]

That's my choices by four big animated studios:

MGM:
Jerry, Jerry, Quite Contrary:A Chuck Jones' Tom and Jerry cartoon that i qualified to very avant-gardist compared to early H-B's Tom & Jerry shorts

Warner Bros.:
Guided Muscle: With "Fast and Furry-ous", that's my favorite Road Runner/Coyote cartoon. My best part are for the Carl Stalling's music score!!

Disney:
Symphony Hour: That's my favorite Mickey Mouse short. A wildest version of "The Band Concert", but more considered that a CARTOON!!

Lantz/Universal
The Legend of Rock-A-Bye Point: One of last Avery's cartoons of his career, this short are very a style. But that's disapointed to this shorts are too shorts because the Lantz cartoons are a very good quality!!

[Daffysleftfoot]

My choice isn't a full cartoon but rather a short part of an animated feature.

The scene where :donald: and :daffy: play "Dueling Lizsts" on the pianos in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. This entire thing is well executed two fold. One: the timing of the actions and the animation of them is top notch and excellent. Two: the two ducks really play well off each other.

Now that second one is very interesting because a) they were created by completely different studios and b) they both have similar personalities. Usually such a pairing would either be boring or a disaster. But with Donald and Daffy, it works. It made me wish Disney and WB had gotten together back in the old days and collaborated on some Donald & Daffy shorts. Those would have RULED!! :cool:

[RetroMan]

I find nearly all of Tex Avery's cartoon from the late 30's and early 40's interesting because of all the pop culture references, most interestingly:

Land of The Midnight Fun and Crazy Cruise: I like the surprise appearances of the Trylon and the Perisphere from the 1939 World's fair.

Believe It Or Else!: As a fan of Robert Ripley, this cartoon is a delight!
Then there's Frank Tashlin's "books come to life" piece Have You Got Any Castles. First, because I like the title song, and second, because it seems to be something of a 1930's pop culture capsule. You have the big bands ( represented by Cab Calloway), popular movies of the time (The Thin Man, The Private Life Of Henry VIII), popular novels (Gone With The Wind), a famous radio personality (Alexander Woolcott), etc.

There are more, but those are the ones I remember right now.

[Cartman]

My list:


DUCK PIMPLES (Disney) - This cartoon is very different than most Disney cartoons. It looks as though it were directed by Bob Clampett because of all the interesting surreal images.

The Bugs/Cecil Trilogy - These cartoons are interesting because Bugs is the antagonist rather than the protagonist.

LOUVE COME BACK TO ME (WB) - Being an art fan, I find the references to various artwork interesting. I especially enjoy the Mona Lisa's comment at the end.

[Matt the Y]

Some of the cartoons I find interesting...

"Rabbit Stew and Rabbits Too!" - Interesting series of spot gags in a cartoon that obviously resembles the Road Runner series but does not feature the Road Runner or Coyote.

"Horton Hatches the Egg" - The only classic theatrical WB cartoon to be based off a Dr. Seuss story.

"The Missing Mouse" - Interesting in that it is the only 1934-1958 MGM cartoon that was not scored by Scott Bradley. Edward Plumb did the honors for this short (and, while not up to the standards of Bradley, did a very good job, IMHO).

"Sink Pink" and "Pink Ice" are both interesting in that they are the only classic Pink Panther cartoons in which the Panther has dialogue.

[Tom Stathes]

ALL silents and most early soundies.

-Tom

[Martin Juneau]

Other interesting cartoons:

Have You got any Castles?: The background are so beautiful. I alway loved this short series without a really story!!

Rhapsody Rabbit: This is one of my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon. It's pure magical and more fun than "The Cat Concerto"

The Duel "Hungarian Rhapsody" of Daffy meet Donald in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

[mmtper]

I'm going to put a plug in for Max Fleischer's silent Koko the Clown series from the 1920's . They're still entertaining today and they're verrrry interesting from a historical point of view, as a bunch of creative young men took "primitive" technology and equipment and made them perform "miracles". Koko's Earth Control from 1927 should be counted among the greatest cartoons of all time.

[RetroMan]

I forgot to mention You Ought To Be In Pictures because it gives us a brief glimpse of the actual Termite Terrace and the surrounding areas, as well as a look at some of the staffers (besides, Leon speaks!). By the way, just for curiosity, could anyone post screenshots of the colorized version?

[J. B. Warner]

I'd say "Rabbit Fire" is one of the cartoons I find particularly interesting, primarily because it's the first cartoon where Daffy squares off with Bugs. I can just imagine the folks in the audience and their reaction to the "new" Daffy.

"The Great Piggy Bank Robbery" also interests me, this time because of the animation style. After listening to John Kricfalusi's Golden Collection commentary, I appreciate it even more. Rod Scribner's animation technique is the style I try to emulate the most - wild movements that "don't even look like they animate".

In terms of later and lesser-known cartoons, "Muchos Locos" (as Marty26 mentioned) was always interesting to me as well. Warner had done cheater cartoons before, but utilizing Golden Age clips in a Seven Arts cartoon was especially intriguing - almost as if they were trying to bridge the generation gap between eras.

But the most intriguing cartoon, I think, is "Hare Ribbin'". It's just a totally unorthodox cartoon that takes place almost entirely underwater for no apparent reason. I heard somewhere (might have been this board) that the Clampett unit wanted to try out the ripple glass technique in a cartoon and created this one as an excuse to do so. Furthermore, the ending having to be reshot was even more odd, since it was common practice at the Schlesinger studio to NEVER do retakes of a scene due to budget restrictions. Apparently, Clampett overstepped the line a little bit with this one - but I've seen the director's cut and I still think it's hilarious, funnier than the theatrical version even.

[Marty26]

Actually, another cartoon I always found interesting was Porky The Rainmaker. I somehow get the impression that particular cartoon was supposed to be a sort of "feel good" cartoon for the victims of both the dust bowl and the depression of the 1930s. With farmers having a hard time growing food and making an income at the time, seeing Porky shoot a rain pill up in the air and save his father's farm must've been intended to instill a sense of optimism with them.

[PorkyIsntFat]

Education for death is very intresting cartoon and he is not funny at all!

[Bugsmer]

Firstly, any shorts brimming with science. Some shorts show us what scientific theories were most widely believed at the time, and what people thought might exist elsewhere. One of the South American Disney shorts on the "On The Front Lines" Treasures set, for example, tells us that vegetables are good for your teeth and bones, and the meat and milk groups are lumped into one category. Today, we're told that milk is essential for your bones and teeth to grow. In the future, who knows what people will be told? It also used different terminology for some things, like the outdated, but still-used term, mircrobes, in place of germs and other microscopic organisms.

Secondly, shorts that allow one to go to a magical place that either doesn't exist, or else nobody, or at least few, have been there. Cartoons include the "Land of the Lost" shorts, "Little Buck Cheeser"; and shorts that are a mixture of science and fantasy, like any cartoon that takes place in Outer Space, underwater, etcetera. The most fantastic moon shorts have been made before anyone had gone there. The Apollo team could have found anything on the moon, and people were hoping they'd find at least some kind of lifeform, but they didn't. Some people may have been disappointed at the time, but the knowledge of posssible further exploration, and the new technology of making your own species of creature if no new ones are found, makes the exploration into fantasy and science more thrilling than ever before. If you can't find what you're looking for, create it! A simple solution! Sixty years ago, people may have scoffed at man trying to make a new animal, but man has succeeded in making minor changes to similar species, and in joining them together (take the "Beefalo", for example); and has made more fruitful, hardier and quicker-growing plants that make a farmer's life easier. Who knows where man will go next? His next step will always be preceeded by fantasy, and when the fantasy comes true, on to the next item! This is what makes shorts like the "Car of Tomorrow" and "Dog Gone Modern" so enticing, for their unlimited potential alone!

Lastly, household gadgets. We've all seen things in cartoons that we may own now, but they look different and may be more complex. Few people use an icebox anymore, or an old-fashioned washing machine, but they spark immediate interest. Some of the tools and contraptions are nowhere to be found today, and are no longer used by modern man. Who uses an ironing board, for example? They're no longer needed. Clothes have been made with such synthetic fibers that ironing is no longer a necessity. One thing that has changed the most is the shape of the telephone, yet we can always recognize one if we find it in a cartoon.

The most interesting thing, perhaps, is man's reaction to exterior stimulii. Man's nature has not changed from the times of Prehistoric man to today. People will always laugh, cry, feel hungry, get angry, punch out cats, shift blame, steal, lie to policemen, and look like angels if suspected of anything. In our society, people seldom show these emotions in public, so we have to watch TV to see them, and what better place than in a cartoon?

[Nick]

I'd say "Rabbit Fire" is one of the cartoons I find particularly interesting, primarily because it's the first cartoon where Daffy squares off with Bugs. I can just imagine the folks in the audience and their reaction to the "new" Daffy. I wouldn't exactly call the Daffy in "Rabbit Fire" the 'new' Daffy. He still acts more or less the same way as he did in Jones' earlier Daffy cartoons and he's trying to trick Bugs here, and isn't wildly jealous of him.

I find the Sylvester cartoons directed by Jones, Davis and Clampett to be interesting, as he acts differently to how Freleng made him (McKimson was a little bit different too). I also find the stylistic cartoons directed by Jones during 1942-1946 to be interesting, as the backgrounds are really ahead of their time and inspired the UPA style of later years.