The Dover Boys at Pimento University or The Rivals of Roquefort Hall: Good or bad?

[Timber Wolf]

What do you think about Chuck Jones' "The Dover Boys at Pimento University or The Rivals of Roquefort Hall"? I think it's great cartoon!

[Sogturtle]

Timber Wolf~

"Great" doesn't seem to be on the list of choices...:)

[Geezil]

Timber Wolf~

"Great" doesn't seem to be on the list of choices...:)

Yes! Good or better!! :D Deliciously sly humor is everywhere in this one, and the animation styling anticipates many positive things to come from WB and other studios for the remainder of their "glory years."

[laugh4me]

Pimento U., oh sweet P.U.
Thy fragrant odor scents the air
A pox on Yale, poo-poo Purdue
Pimento U., my college fair

A definite winner IMHO...

[gilligan fanati]

I don't like it but that does not mean its a bad cartoon. I did vote bad only because I did not like it. if there was an its okay or its alright I would vote in that

[UncleJunior]

Like I've said several times, one of the most underrated classic cartoons ever.

[janiepooh34]

I voted "good".

The first time I saw it, I was like...what? This is crap! The more I watched it the more I liked it, now I love it!

[grim_tales]

I'm not sure.

I've only just seen it (on GCV2) and I was like "What the hell is this?!" :D I didnt like it much TBH.

[Tom Stathes]

I've had this cartoon on various pd tapes since the 90's. Back then I enjoyed it for the story and characters, but now I have a higher appreciation for it. That is because the lack of fluidity in the animation, as opposed to many other WBs of it's day, reminds me of silent animation from an earlier period. The clothing styles in the cartoon enhance that thought as well.
-Tom

[gilligan fanati]

I voted "good".

The first time I saw it, I was like...what? This is crap! The more I watched it the more I liked it, now I love it!

I have seen it once or twice. I think I should re watch it now

[Treadwell]

I think it's okay but vasty overrated. Didn't vote since that doesn't match either option presented.

[frizfrelengfan]

Good! The animation style was unique for its time. And the cartoon is very funny!

[Cdawg]

Sorry gang, I just do not like this cartoon! I'm not too fond of "Gay 90's" cartoons by anyone. (That's the 1890's for younger GACers).

[frogboxer]

Good, by far.

[Curious Orange]

While I don't usually enjoy this sort of cartoon, there's so many quick, rapid-fire visual gags in it that it made me laugh out loud the first time I saw it. I just love Dora Standpipe and the way she moves!
And it's a joy to be able to watch this on freeze-frame and see just how whacked out that smear animation was.
So yeah, a winner.



But who is that old sailor bloke supposed to be? Is he a caracature of someone audiences at the time would have recognised? Anyone else notice how his walk is kind of similar to the Minah Bird's??

[MF TOON]

Fantastic.

[Geezil]

[...] (That's the 1890's for younger GACers).

Ak, ak, I can feel me bones creaking even now ... ! ;)

[GeniusIntheLamp]

Ever since Ray Rayner showed it on WGN during my childhood, I've always enjoyed THE DOVER BOYS. Now that I have it on LTGC2, I enjoy it even more. Mel Blanc's characterization of Dan Backslide is a riot ("A roundabout ... I know ... I'LL STEAL IT!! NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW!!").

[Larry T]

This is an absolutely amazing cartoon in all respects: timing, gags, silliness, layout, animation, and design.

I read somewhere that this was Chuck Jones' answer to "making cartoons like Disney". I guess he had had enough trying to imitate cutesy situations like Walt's factory (RobinHood Makes Good, The Good Egg, Sniffles and the Bookworm, Joe Glow The Firefly, Tom Thumb in Trouble, etc) that he said to his staff, "Okay, now we are going to do everything completely opposite to what Disney would do" and this is the end result. Instead of carefully animating each and every sequence, everything is wipe-panned from one pose to another; backgrounds are heavily stylized; characters are not necessarily endearing or realistically designed; gags are fast-paced; and for once, the situation is an adult setting!! (What do you think a "Backslide" is, kiddies ;) )

Everything is so ridiculous in the cartoon, that's what makes it so funny. Parodying a genre that is already so overrun with ham acting (the melodramas of the late 1890's) and making it even worse- what a riot.

The scene in particular that kills me is the scholck animation before Dan peels Dora off the tree. When he moves the tree over to the car, everything is animated as if it were nothing more than a soluble blob of putty for the entire movement...! That would have been hard to animate- going from one pose to another is easy, but animating this wipe over several frames with a moving background would have been difficult! Bob Cannon never had it so good. :)

"Dear, rich Dora Standpipe, HOW I LOVE HER!!!...... father's money.."

[Zig Zag]

Unless I am a bit more prudish than I think I am, the term "Backslide" refers, usually in religious terms, to lapse morally or to revert to a previous (and worse) condition. I think that definition, combined with the quaint (if overt) melodramatic tone of the cartoon, is probably what Mister Jones was after.

[Chow Hound]

Unless I am a bit more prudish than I think I am, the term "Backslide" refers, usually in religious terms, to lapse morally or to revert to a previous (and worse) condition. I think that definition, combined with the quaint (if overt) melodramatic tone of the cartoon, is probably what Mister Jones was after.

That was the meaning I inferred as well upon first seeing this cartoon. I'm not at all sure what Larry T had in mind...

[JDWeil]

Dover Boys has a landmark status of sorts as well. According to John Hubley, the graphic style of this cartoon was the inspiration for the graphic style of the UPA cartoon studio.


One other thing whne the film was sent to Warners, they thought that Jones had sent them an unfinished cartoon but they took it anyway because they had a schedule to fill out. There was only other cartoon that was anything like the animation style of the Dover Boys that year, and that was the Baby Weems segment from "Reluctant Dragon"

[J. B. Warner]

It's surely a classic, and it always will be. I hadn't actually seen it before getting the LTGC Vol. 2, but I remember watching it and comparing it to other early Jones stuff like "Robin Hood Makes Good" and "Tom Thumb in Trouble" and thinking to myself "Ah, now THIS is Chuck Jones!" And yes, the animation is absolutely hysterical.

[Daffysleftfoot]

One of many Chuck Jones masterpieces. :cool: