Darkest WB Cartoon Ever?

[Marty26]

What would you say is probably the darkest and most sinister WB cartoon ever produced?

There are quite a few. So many that I can't decide on a clear winner. But I'll post a few:

Canned Feud
Each Dawn I Crow
Leghorn Swoggled (only because of the ending)
Hyde And Hare
Easter Yeggs

[Sogturtle]

Marty26~

Interesting list... Buuuuut you left off the only one that EVER authentically scared me as a child, namely Art Davis' "Bye Bye Bluebeard". Nothing like a cartoon that features an ESCAPED psychotic serial-killer!!:eek: And who is about to do in poor defenseless Porky, that is once Porky yanks the mouse-querador :p by the beard out from under his table only to reveal that it's the REAL psycho serial-killer.:eek:

Just goes to prove that the Warner cartoons WERE made for adults (both the directors and audiences).:tweety:

[oceansoul]

Case of the Stuttering Pig?

[cpdavison]

BIRDS ANONYMOUS, anyone? :tweety:

[Geezil]

Or "Scaredy Cat" (at least in part)?

[JERRY BECK]

CHOW HOUND anyone?

[dandu]

Henpecked Duck has moments that aren't for the kiddies!
Some of the Jack King cartoons can also be quite mean spirited, I feel really sorry for those Shanghied Shipmates...A few gags in Bosko cartoons are supposed to look cheery, but seem quite gruesome like bosko being sliced to pieces and reforming...

[J. J. Hunsecker]

I agree with Jerry -- Chow Hound gets my vote. I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned earlier. It has the most chilling ending of any golden age cartoon. "This time we didn't forget the gravy..."

Second runner up for me would be Fresh Airedale, where evil wins out in the end, just like in real life.

[Matt the Y]

"Scaredy Cat" would be one of my top choices. This cartoon actually frightened me as a kid; the idea that those "killer mice" actually wanted to do Porky and Sylvester homicidal harm, especially the black-hooded mouse wielding an executioner's chopping axe! :eek:

"The Daffy Doc" always struck me as a bit disturbing; Daffy being a crazed surgeon who has no idea what he's doing particularly once he starts chasing Porky with that saw!!!!! Fortunately, Porky's life is saved (?) once he and his pursuor both get stuck in the iron lung... but at what cost?

"An Itch in Time" also bothers me to no end what with the flea actually trying to cannibalize Elmer's dog with Clampett taking a normal flea-living-on-a-dog relationship to an out-of-this-world (not to mention completely tasteless) extreme. The suicide gag the cat delivers at the end just adds to the cartoon's darkness!

And, of course, how could we not forget "Angel Puss", a rather forgettable short (Is that oxymoronic?:D ) about the black boy who is paid to drown a pussycat only to have the cat escape, pursuade the boy to drown the "cat" (i.e. now empty sack) anyway, and then disguise himself as a ghost to "haunt" the poor lad! In the end, the disguise comes off, the boy is infuriated about being tricked and takes his trusty shotgun and shoots..... and kills ..... the cat for real and is now REALLY going to be haunted by the cat's ghostly nine lives!!!!! Yah!!!!! Great fun!!!!! I could never really bring myself to enjoy this short; just too dark and disturbing (and not really THAT funny) for my tastes.

[dandu]

The end of "Whys and Others Wise" (1927, Sullivan) has felix beat up to a pulp at the end as well as they reused the ending for "Flim Flam Films" (1927)...
Mom found the scene where the dogs get turned into hot dogs in "Dog gone" (1926, Fisher) rather disturbing too.

[Debbie]

The Warner cartoons had a dark side to them quite often, whether it was Daffy blowing his brains out to sell a script, or blowing himself up to win over an audience.

"Rover's Rival" is another of those uncomfortable films, about Porky's arthritic dog (seeing Rover roll over is quite painful to watch), and the little mutt who is bound and determined to keep bringing back the dynamite sticks to Porky. But the ending, in which we see Rover (seemingly) blown to bits is more than a bit gruesome, even if he does later reveal himself to be all in one piece.
I'm also going to second "Chow Hound" and "Bye-Bye Bluebeard".

Actually (a bit OT), I think that a few of the MGM Droopy cartoons like "Wags to Riches" and "Share and Share Alike", Walter Lantz's "Wet Blanket Policy" (It's hard not to cringe seeing Buzz Buzzard sticking Woody's head in the pencil sharpener) and Disney's "The Mad Doctor" (especially seeing Mickey strapped to the table and a big buzz saw about to slice him in half in a very painful looking way) are some of the darker humored entries from other studios.

[Chow Hound]

"Bye Bye Bluebeard" - it always frightened me as a kid and I still find it a little unsettling now, although I do enjoy it.

[Jon Cooke]

"Tweet and Sour" is a rather dark cartoon, especially the ending (which bothered me as a child). Sylvester spends the whole cartoon trying to keep Tweety safe, but the end implies Granny will be sending him off to the violin string factory anyway. :eek: :sylvester

[J Lee]

Two cartoons only slightly redeemed by their "just sorta kidding" endings are the director's cut of "Hare Ribbin'" and "Nelly's Folly". In the former, the dog's last line mitigates Bugs blowing his brains out just a little (but not enough, obviously for Leon and/or the censors), while in the latter the narration and final scene is meant to imply a happy ending, after hinting that the title character is contempating suicide (we never see Nelley get back to Africa, we're just told to imagine she's there).

On the whole, the Warner Bros. cartoons avoided any really dark endings or painful violence for the most part, which in large part is what made them so successful. Now if you want to talk about dark cartoons or painful violence, take a trip over to the Paramount cartoon releases...

[kaseykockroach]

Fresh Airedale and Chow Hound were the first to come to mind. Dough Ray Me-ow is also quite sadistic.

[David Gerstein]

FRESH AIREDALE was also the first one I thought of.
As a kid, I found EARLY TO BET pretty dark—the cat isn't actually addicted to gambling, it's the bug who causes it and the cat has to pay the penalty.

Other studios: Lantz's MISGUIDED MISSILE, with the missile slowly chasing characters around. It's much more disturbing moving at a slow speed than if it had moved quickly; you think you've gotten away, but once you're entirely forgotten the danger... tick-tick-tick, here it comes. You can never really escape.
When I was very young, I was scared of Mickey's Lindbergh grin in PLANE CRAZY and his rather painful-looking "eat me" transformation in THRU THE MIRROR. Wow, I was a sissy.

[J. J. Hunsecker]

Fresh Airedale and Chow Hound were the first to come to mind. Dough Ray Me-ow is also quite sadistic.
Yeah, but Dough Ray Me-ow has a happy ending. It's just the set up that's dark.

[larriva9/11]

On the whole, the Warner Bros. cartoons avoided any really dark endings or painful violence for the most part, which in large part is what made them so successful. Now if you want to talk about dark cartoons or painful violence, take a trip over to the Paramount cartoon releases...
Though I always found the violence taking a turn t/w the painful in the Lava/DeP-F era WBs--which, I presume, had more to do with quality decline than "darkness"...

[Bugsy-Kun]

"Tweet and Sour" is a rather dark cartoon, especially the ending (which bothered me as a child). Sylvester spends the whole cartoon trying to keep Tweety safe, but the end implies Granny will be sending him off to the violin string factory anyway. :eek: :sylvester

Me too i still find Tweet and Sour very dark. (And also a mediocre short)
Chow Hound bothered too for the ending sequence.

For the others studios, my vote goes for Heavenly Puss (MGM) and Wicket Wacky (Lantz) in the last scene where the gopher goes dead when Woody being inconscious tough.

[J. B. Warner]

Yeah, but Dough Ray Me-ow has a happy ending. It's just the set up that's dark.

It's not a happy ending for Louie, though, is it?

"Fresh Airedale" was the first thing that came to my mind, even though I haven't seen it (Mike Barrier describes it in detail in "Hollywood Cartoons"). I can vouch for "Chow Hound", though - the darkness is the main reason that I love it so much. Seems that Chuck Jones did a good number of dark cartoons...

[Douglas E.]

I'm suprised so many members have mentioned Scaredy Cat, but not Claws for Alarm. In Scaredy Cat, it seems a little silly with mice trying to kill with anvils and bowling balls, but in Claws For Alarm, its much, much darker. Also Scaredy Cat has a happy ending with Porky cathcing on.

-Doug :sylvester :ham:

[Matt the Y]

I'm suprised so many members have mentioned Scaredy Cat, but not Claws for Alarm. In Scaredy Cat, it seems a little silly with mice trying to kill with anvils and bowling balls, but in Claws For Alarm, its much, much darker. Also Scaredy Cat has a happy ending with Porky cathcing on.

-Doug :sylvester :ham:

I actually considered mentioning "Claws for Alarm" but I actually consider IT to be LESS dark than "Scaredy Cat". "Scaredy Cat" stages and times each scene for more thrills and suspense than "Claws" does so that the overall effect is more creepy and chilling. "Claws", while using the same amount of "scare tactics" as the original, is, as I said, staged and "directed" in a less sinister manner than the former, at least in my opinion, even though it does have a more effective ending that is actually an improvement over the original and both are excellent cartoons, IMHO.

[Scuzzbopper]

Most disturbing Warner Brothers cartoon? The answer...

FISH TALES!!!!

A giant fish attempts to eat Porky. Watch it and tremble.

[Marty26]

I guess Long-Haired Hare could also be considered a slightly "darker" cartoon because of Bugs's sadistic demeanor when conducting the Hollywood Bowl Symphony during Giovanni Jones' performance.

Also, the ending for the :daffy:/:speedy: short Mexican Mousepiece is a little dark in that Daffy's (literally) flattened, and then Speedy decides to send him over the seas to be eaten by a bunch of hungry cats.

[Jon Cooke]

I guess Long-Haired Hare could also be considered a slightly "darker" cartoon because of Bugs's sadistic demeanor when conducting the Hollywood Bowl Symphony during Giovanni Jones' performance.

Also, the ending for the :daffy:/:speedy: short Mexican Mousepiece is a little dark in that Daffy's (literally) flattened, and then Speedy decides to send him over the seas to be eaten by a bunch of hungry cats.

Those examples are kind of stretching it a bit... Daffy and Giovanni were both jerks who deserved what was coming to them in those cartoons.

[Sean Gaffney]

For me as a kid, there were a few. Scaredy Cat, Chow Hound...

I was also scared by Daffy Doc, though for odd reasons. I saw the edited colorized version where the iron lung was cut - so seeing Porky and Daffy inflate and deflate for apparently NO REASON was terrifying to me. :)

[millsie]

CHOW HOUND anyone?

My favourite all time Looney Tune. Hopefully it will appear on a LTGC in the near future. "This time we didn't forget the gravy." is a classic line that even now I try to use as much as possible. (Not really!)

[frizfrelengfan]

When I was a kid, the grotesque villains in "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery" gave me nightmares. Especially Neon Noodle.

[Larry T]

Chow Hound is pretty dark.

But nobody has mentioned "The Hypochondri-cat"... that one's extremely grim too- even the jokes made at Claude's expense are not that humourous.... the whole thing is really about rather dark subjects as well... surgery... death... sickness... a funeral....

[J. J. Hunsecker]

Chow Hound is pretty dark.

But nobody has mentioned "The Hypochondri-cat"... that one's extremely grim too- even the jokes made at Claude's expense are not that humourous.... the whole thing is really about rather dark subjects as well... surgery... death... sickness... a funeral....
Yeah, but Claude Cat lives at the end, even thought he thinks he's a ghost going to cat heaven. (He's happy about it too!) The mean dog in Chow Hound gets his "just desserts" at the end (even thought gravy isn't a dessert) and it doesn't look too good for him. The cartoon fades out as he is getting force fed gravy, which hints at a very disturbing finale for that dog.

Chow Hound feels more like film noir too, since it's a dark tale of revenge. There's really no malice intended on Hubie and Bertie's part in Hypocondri-cat, even though they put Claude Cat through a lot. The darkest moment in that cartoon is Claude's nightmare after he passes out.

Really, though, any late 40's Jones cartoon has moments of darkness to it, thanks to his pairing with writer Mike Maltese.

[JPox]

Chow Hound for sure.
Others that put the fear in me when I was young and innocent::eek:
- Bye Bye Bluebeard
- Birds Anonymous
- Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare ("No no Frankie!! NO NO!!")
- Hyde and Go Tweet
- Golden Yeggs
- The Birth of a Notion (Daffy sneaking up with a knife in the dark...)
Now that I'm older, these cartoons are hilarious. :D

[Matthew Hunter]

I agree 100% on "Chow Hound". The whole thing's got a dark edge.

[Marty26]

Actually, now that I think about it, I'm surprised The Wearing Of The Grin was never mentioned yet. That whole cartoon has a very "dark fantasy"-like storyline. Even using a lot of darker and more gloomy colors for its artwork. Plus, it's one of the few cartoons where Porky actually loses (in one way or another) at the end.

[Bromond]

I immediately thought of "What's Opera, Doc?". While funny and light-hearted in spots, there were some dark, intense and scary moments. I remember, as a child, thinking how sad the death of Bugs Bunny was and Elmer Fudd's tearful remorse over it (even though Bugs does reveal at the end that he is only acting).

[larriva9/11]

Also, the ending for the :daffy:/:speedy: short Mexican Mousepiece is a little dark in that Daffy's (literally) flattened, and then Speedy decides to send him over the seas to be eaten by a bunch of hungry cats.
Affirms my point about the painfulness of DPF-era WB...

[Comicfan]

No one's mentioned Satan's Waitin' yet? The whole cartoon is about Sylvester slowly losing all of his 9 lives, and at the end-even though he gives up chasing Tweety and tries to live a peaceful life-he still dies and goes to Hell forever! (Or at least until the next cartoon...) MGM's Heavenly Puss had a somewhat similar premise, but at least Tom's "death" turned out to be a dream...

[GeniusIntheLamp]

To me, THE OLD GREY HARE was a very dark cartoon. As funny as it was, it came across to me as being very bittersweet, with the themes of mortality and reflection being addressed. :bugs1::befuddled

And while not disturbing as a whole, one scene in WATER WATER EVERY HARE always freaked me out. It was the scene when Bugs and the evil scientist are moving in slow-motion after the bottle of ether is smashed.

[oceansoul]

Btw. how about Ant Pasted?

[oceansoul]

No one's mentioned Satan's Waitin' yet? The whole cartoon is about Sylvester slowly losing all of his 9 lives, and at the end-even though he gives up chasing Tweety and tries to live a peaceful life-he still dies and goes to Hell forever! (Or at least until the next cartoon...) MGM's Heavenly Puss had a somewhat similar premise, but at least Tom's "death" turned out to be a dream...

Despite being a dream, Heavenly puss is really a freaky dark cartoon. Also one of my favourite T&Js now btw, but as a kid it really depressed me.

[JPox]

No one's mentioned Satan's Waitin' yet? The whole cartoon is about Sylvester slowly losing all of his 9 lives, and at the end-even though he gives up chasing Tweety and tries to live a peaceful life-he still dies and goes to Hell forever! (Or at least until the next cartoon...)
There's another one!
That pit full of devil dogs always gave me the creeps when I was young.

[Dafffy Duck]

I immediately thought of "What's Opera, Doc?". While funny and light-hearted in spots, there were some dark, intense and scary moments. I remember, as a child, thinking how sad the death of Bugs Bunny was and Elmer Fudd's tearful remorse over it (even though Bugs does reveal at the end that he is only acting).

I'm fairly sure that the implication is that he was dead. Saying the fact that he gets up to deliver one more line means that he was "only acting" is like saying that Daffy is only acting at the end of "The Scarlett Pumpernickel" or that the dog was just acting at the end of "Hare Ribbin".

[larriva9/11]

...or Screwy Squirrel at the end of "Lonesome Lenny"

[Saranczuk]

The Hypo-condri-cat for me. Always freaked me out as a kid. Still does too, that is why I don't watch it.

[Jack G.]

Ding Dog Daddy
Old Grey Hare

[Speedy Boris]

Satan's Waitin'. I mean, Sylvester freaking DIES at the end. Granted it's only a cartoon and he bounced back in the next short, but still.

I'd also cast a vote for The Hypo-Chondri-Cat, Birds Anonymous, and The Old Grey Hare. All managed to tackle serious issues (whether they be death or, in Birds Anonymous' case, alcoholism) while being funny.

[oceansoul]

Since when Birds Anonymus is being funny? :D

[Javeman]

To add one toon that hasn't been mentioned yet, I'll say "Hyde and Go Tweet" always freaked me out when I was little. The design of the monstrous Tweety was nightmarish, and clearly made to scare people out, and the way Sylvester reacts in panic all through the cartoon adds a lot to the dark tone of the cartoon.

Sure, it was all a dream in the end, but I've honestly never been too keen on "nightmare" cartoons (except for "Heavenly Puss", which wins tons of points for its great impact).

[BloodyChamp]

The Stupid Cupid - Homo erotic Elmer is just kinda creepy. I thought so even as a child. Daffy being smitten with lust didn't help. With that said, the cartoon is hilarious :daffy:

[Bugsy-Kun]

I forgot. The end of Long-Haired Hare where Giovanni Jones changed colours still freak me when i was young, ditto for What's Opera, Doc?, but now i enjoy it because it's funny and very well written.

The majority of children's shows today could imitate this freaky scenes if they want, but they never have the capacity and the force than Chuck Jones made for some freaky (and hilarious) moments. :bugs2:

[whitsbrain]

"Bye Bye Bluebeard" - it always frightened me as a kid and I still find it a little unsettling now, although I do enjoy it.

I finally got around to seeing "Bye Bye Bluebeard" and it is one of the darker ones I've seen. The whole seven foot tall serial killer thing is a little creepy.

I have not seen "Chow Hound" but it sounds interesting. Maybe someday...

"Porky In Egypt" while not really dark, has a strange scene in which Porky's camel has a very odd hallucination. It managed to creep me a little bit.

[ferpme]

Ok...tough to beat CHOW HOUND....but PIGS IS PIGS always bothered me as a kid, as did the Jack Benny caricature killing the inflatable duck in DAFFY DUCK AND THE DINOSAUR., the hissing as Daffy is inflating it made it extra sinister. ..maybe it's just overly inflated things blowing up that give me the heebie jeebies...:bugs2: :sowhite:

[RachelToonist]

What would you say is probably the darkest and most sinister WB cartoon ever produced?

There are quite a few. So many that I can't decide on a clear winner. But I'll post a few:

Canned Feud
Each Dawn I Crow
Leghorn Swoggled (only because of the ending)
Hyde And Hare
Easter Yeggs

"Chow Hound" without a doubt.

(Description edited out for the benefit of those who haven't seen it).

It's pretty cynical even for a Warner's cartoon. But that's nothing compared to the ending: "This time, we didn't forget the gravy..."

[RachelToonist]

FRESH AIREDALE was also the first one I thought of.
As a kid, I found EARLY TO BET pretty dark—the cat isn't actually addicted to gambling, it's the bug who causes it and the cat has to pay the penalty.

Other studios: Lantz's MISGUIDED MISSILE, with the missile slowly chasing characters around. It's much more disturbing moving at a slow speed than if it had moved quickly; you think you've gotten away, but once you're entirely forgotten the danger... tick-tick-tick, here it comes. You can never really escape.
When I was very young, I was scared of Mickey's Lindbergh grin in PLANE CRAZY and his rather painful-looking "eat me" transformation in THRU THE MIRROR. Wow, I was a sissy.

If we're going to talk about cartoons from other studios, how about Famous Studios' (or I suppose I should say Paramount's) FINNEGAN'S FLEA, their answer to ONE FROGGY EVENING. A poor schlub of a guy befriends a singing flea in prison, is reunited with him in a miserable flophouse, manages to get the flea on network television, only to lose everything and go into catatonic shock when a thoughtless bartender accidentally smashes the flea. That cartoon haunted me for years...

And unlike the guy in ONE FROGGY EVENING, poor Finnegan didn't deserve his fate...

[RachelToonist]

I actually considered mentioning "Claws for Alarm" but I actually consider IT to be LESS dark than "Scaredy Cat". "Scaredy Cat" stages and times each scene for more thrills and suspense than "Claws" does so that the overall effect is more creepy and chilling. "Claws", while using the same amount of "scare tactics" as the original, is, as I said, staged and "directed" in a less sinister manner than the former, at least in my opinion, even though it does have a more effective ending that is actually an improvement over the original and both are excellent cartoons, IMHO.

Chuck Jones did quite a few nightmarish cartoons. WEARING OF THE GRIN, for example. Porky is sentenced to wear cursed green shoes by a pair of leprechauns--shoes that make him dance nonstop. I remember thinking it was pretty creepy when I first saw it. Same for JUMPIN' JUPITER, in which Porky and Sylvester are abducted by an alien, no less, though clueless Porky thinks he's still on Earth. I always tried to imagine what happened after the end, when Porky finally realizes where he is.

[Mr. Semaj]

There was one Tashlin cartoon where a starving wolf disguises as a female sheep to distract the head sheep from his flock. When the head sheep continues chasing the wolf in the nighttime, the wolf finally reveals himself, but the head sheep continues the chase, saying that "he's a wolf too". A very disturbing undertone to that revelation.

Another cartoon I can't remember had ghosts, which wasn't that scary, but I swear in the Korean-colored version, they were PINK!

Also, some bits of Hair-Raising Hare creeped me out when I was little, though parts of it is funny.

[Sogturtle]

There was one Tashlin cartoon where a starving wolf disguises as a female sheep to distract the head sheep from his flock. When the head sheep continues chasing the wolf in the nighttime, the wolf finally reveals himself, but the head sheep continues the chase, saying that "he's a wolf too". A very disturbing undertone to that revelation.
....


Mr. Semaj~

That Tashlin cartoon is 1944's "I Got Plenty Of Mutton"... I have to admit that THAT ram always disturbed me too!

[RachelToonist]

There was one Tashlin cartoon where a starving wolf disguises as a female sheep to distract the head sheep from his flock. When the head sheep continues chasing the wolf in the nighttime, the wolf finally reveals himself, but the head sheep continues the chase, saying that "he's a wolf too". A very disturbing undertone to that revelation.

Another cartoon I can't remember had ghosts, which wasn't that scary, but I swear in the Korean-colored version, they were PINK!

Also, some bits of Hair-Raising Hare creeped me out when I was little, though parts of it is funny.

I don't know..the ending of I GOT PLENTY OF MUTTON was pretty funny to me--it's similar to the end of SOME LIKE IT HOT, when Jack Lemmon flings off his wig in frustration and says to Joe E. Brown, "I'm a MAN!"

Brown's reply is wonderful: "Well, nobody's perfect..."

[oceansoul]

Anyone mentioned "Puss 'n' booty" yet? The ending is really depressing and the whole cartoon is very dark.

[Sogturtle]

I don't know..the ending of I GOT PLENTY OF MUTTON was pretty funny to me--it's similar to the end of SOME LIKE IT HOT, when Jack Lemmon flings off his wig in frustration and says to Joe E. Brown, "I'm a MAN!"

Brown's reply is wonderful: "Well, nobody's perfect..."

And both "I Got Plenty Of Mutton" and "Some Like It Hot" mirror the PURPORTED cut ending of Tex Avery's "Hollywood Steps Out" where according to the RUMOR (underline rumor:p) was that the real Clark Gable objected to the homosexual implication of him happily ending up with Groucho Marx in blonde wig and drag, thus causing the scene to be trimmed slightly.
However NONE of this has (to my knowledge) ever been substantiated).

[whitsbrain]

Ok...tough to beat CHOW HOUND....but PIGS IS PIGS always bothered me as a kid, as did the Jack Benny caricature killing the inflatable duck in DAFFY DUCK AND THE DINOSAUR., the hissing as Daffy is inflating it made it extra sinister. ..maybe it's just overly inflated things blowing up that give me the heebie jeebies...:bugs2: :sowhite:
Yeah, "Pigs Is Pigs" disturbed me a lot as a child. The mad scientist character was deceptive and deranged. A bad combination...

Also, "Wearing of the Grin" was just plain weird. Chuck Jones must have been high when he directed this.