Fav or Flop:Tom Thumb in Trouble

[kaseykockroach]

The infamous disneyesque early Jones cartoon.I find the short very annoying and obnoxious, so I vote "Flop".

[janiepooh34]

This is one cartoon I could live without ever seeing again. Annoying is it.

[Marty26]

Total bomb. This is a completely jokeless and sappy cartoon. And Tom Thumb is way too goody-goody to be anything more than annoying.

[J. J. Hunsecker]

I never cared for it. I voted flop.

[kaseykockroach]

I wonder who voted "fav"?:confused:

[BloodyChamp]

I did! I've said it before and I'll say it again - it's wrong to label cartoons without anvils and guns as "Disney esque." This cartoon actually had a story and a scenario that provoked emotion. Disney cartoons were made in the ven, but they had no substance. There was never, say, a rescue mission like in this cartoon. There was never a reason to desire a happy ending. Heck, midway through some Disney cartoons, I'm foaming at the mouth for someone to eat an anvil :D

[Leviathan]

This cartoon, along with a few others, gives Chuck Jones' Pre-Draft Horse cartoons a bad name. It's such a tremendous chore to sit through

[gdX]

Flop.

I'll bet Chuck himself had to suppress a vomit at the thought of TTIT, in later years.

More anvils!

:coyote:

[AcmeCoyote]

It all depends on how you judge it. If it is judged as an individual film, it is not a miss at all. If you judge it based on the Looney Tunes style as a whole, then it is a miss.

[Matthew Hunter]

It's interesting in that it's Jones' most Disney-esque cartoon, but it doesn't have Disney's spark. It just comes off as a boring 1930's little-guy-in-danger cartoon. I say it's a flop, because it doesn't really succeed by Warner OR Disney standards.

[Bugsmer]

It has a good story, good direction, excellent animation, terrific backgrounds, artwork and character design, and not a single laugh--it didn't need one! It's great the way it is. It's an overall excellent Merrie Melodie.

[Paul Penna]

Boring. Seems like it will never end. Ugly, even grotesque character designs. Annoying characters. Always provoked a groan (as did "Old Glory") when it showed up in the rotation on local kiddie shows I watched when I was a kiddie.

Speaking of "Old Glory," has anyone identified the origin of the live action that was rotoscoped? Seems to me one of those historical Warner Bros. short subjects of the era would be the most likely suspect. If this point has already been talked to death, my apologies, as well as for the potential thread drift.

[ohmahaaha]

I voted "Fav" .... I think it's of historical importance, regarding Jones' development as a director; I think it has a great look to it and excellent animation.

I really think it is a question of timing as to when you watch this cartoon before you judge. For instance if you were to watch it directly after watching your Droopy DVD, I can see where you'd find it boring.

Good film. :cool:

[mmtper]

Sorry for answering an old post, but I've been in & out of circulation lately.It's been a long time since I've seen Jones's Tom Thumb, but I remember it as an okay toon, sort of ambitious in it's animation and cinematic techniques. I recall the sequence of Tom's father panicking and calling out his name as a series of close-ups and dramatic angles, and Jones would use the same editing technique for a totally different purpose a few years later in The Aristo Cat ("MEADOWS?!"). I should also admit that I have a higher tolerance for "cutie-pie" cartoons than some folks do: I like some of the Sniffles and Pudgy cartoons, and Disney's Water Babies and Wynken, Blynken & Nod are among my all-time favorites. So I agree with ohmahaaha:
I think it's of historical importance, regarding Jones' development as a director;
Jones is still in his apprentice phrase, he's still honing his craft but hasn't "found his voice" yet.

When I wanted to see this cartoon again a couple of weeks ago I went to YouTube and entered "Tom Thumb in Trouble": two entries popped up, a roughly 70 second excerpt of the Jones version (Tom takes a bath in his father's cupped hand) and a complete PD cartoon called The Mite Makes Right, a 1948 Famous Studio production directed by Bill Tytla. In it, the stork delivers a miniscule baby to a farm couple; when the boy proves useless on the farm, he runs away with his pet mouse and achieves fame at the circus as part of the elephant act. The toon's one of Famous's more elaborate efforts, with better than average animation, nice backgrounds, even an original song for little Tom to sing. It's probably no better or worse than Jones's Thumb toon, but this one made me rather sad after viewing it. Sometimes it's possible to know too much animation history. Because like a lot of Tytla directed toons, the fading echoes of his great Disney work are what you notice; in this case Dumbo is all over the place.

So you've got two ambitious but minor cartoons about Tom Thumb, both directed by geniuses. But one guy's still a kid, learning his craft, a few years from mastery and a career that would last him five decades. The other fellow's best days are behind him, and at best he can present a pale facsimile of past glorieshttp://www.forums.goldenagecartoons.com/images/smilies/frown.gif sigh

Unfortunately both toons have just been removed from YouTube. sigh again

BTW, Jones version of Tom's father loks to me like a cross between Disney's Paul Bunyon and Bob Clampett's Cap'n Huffenpuff. Hmmm.

[OurGangAlfalfa]

I did! I've said it before and I'll say it again - it's wrong to label cartoons without anvils and guns as "Disney esque." This cartoon actually had a story and a scenario that provoked emotion. Disney cartoons were made in the ven, but they had no substance. There was never, say, a rescue mission like in this cartoon. There was never a reason to desire a happy ending. Heck, midway through some Disney cartoons, I'm foaming at the mouth for someone to eat an anvil :D
Hmmmmmm... I wonder how many Disney cartoons you've actually seen. Snow White has no substance? Bambi, Pinocchio and Dumbo have no substance. I guess you can't please everybody.

[BloodyChamp]

Hmmmmmm... I wonder how many Disney cartoons you've actually seen. Snow White has no substance? Bambi, Pinocchio and Dumbo have no substance. I guess you can't please everybody.

Since when do we compare 7 minute theatrical cartoons with full length films?

[OurGangAlfalfa]

Since when do we compare 7 minute theatrical cartoons with full length films?

Okay, let me restate it.

Hmmmmmm... I wonder how many Disney cartoons you've actually seen. The THree Little Pigs has no substance? The Tortoise and the Hare, The Band Concert and Der Feuhrer's Face have no substance. I guess you can't please everybody.

[BloodyChamp]

I've seen many Disney cartoons, enough to know that Der Feurhrer's Face and The Bad Concert hardly define Disney's theatrical cartoons as a whole. They're more like diamonds in the roung among the hundreds of cartoons that I hinted at.