Most violent cartoons-by studio.

[Comicfan]

OK, so the topic of 'toon violence has been brought up before, but this time let's discuss each studio's output. What is the single most violent cartoon produced by:

-Warner Bros.

-Disney

-MGM

-Paramount

-Famous Studios

-Terrytoons

-Walter Lantz

-etc. etc.

[Cartman]

Topics like these are never really a good idea. We're just fueling the censors with ideas.

[Leviathan]

Well, not really, since very few classic cartoons run on TV anymore, AND of all the obejctionable patrt of cartoons, the one DVD censors are least concerned of is violence.

[kaseykockroach]

Famous Studios, nuff said. Any other voilence is futile. :D

[ohmahaaha]

Topics like these are never really a good idea. We're just fueling the censors with ideas.
Yeah, really .... let's not draw anyone's fire.

[klangley]

Famous hands down. They're so delightfully painful.

[Duck Dodgers]

With Harveytoons a close second....maybe even first for me. Some of those Herman and Katnip outings are vicious!


brant



PS--And I don't think this discussion is going to rouse anyone's dander.

An Harvey cartoon studio never existed.
All the "Harveytoons" are actually Famous cartoons. In fact, many of the characters you see in Famous shorts (the pre-1950 shorts) can be seen in the post-1950 Famous cartoons renamed "Harveytoons", like Wolfie, Herman, Little Audrey and even Casper.

[J Lee]

Basically, we're talking about the Dave Tendlar/Marty Taras/Morey Reden unit Famous Studio cartoons here, since that group handled most of the Herman and Katnip, Buzzy and Baby Huey cartoons (though the other units headed by Al Eugster, Tom Johnson and the others made their contributions as well. And even the normally gentle Myron Waldman has that ending to "Winner By A Hare" on his resume :eek: )

[dandu]

Famous (The top of the tops)
MGM (Some Tom and Jerry's can be painful!)
WB
Lantz (Haven't seen many woodys, but from Pantry Panic...)
Terrytoons
Van Beuren (Well, Paul Terry worked for these folks between 1928-1931 and so we get some of the same results!)
Fliescher (Popeye mostly!)
Columbia (Well, their Fox and Crow is what I can think of)
Disney (Errrr, well most of the cartoons I've seen are for lil tykes like the silly symphonies but I guess after the 1940s they got violent, like Hockey Homicide)

[nickramer]

Guys, I think we really need to close this. Sure, classic animation is rarely seen on TV right now, but what if it does come back? You know the old saying, "The walls have ears."

[Duck Dodgers]

Disney (Errrr, well most of the cartoons I've seen are for lil tykes like the silly symphonies but I guess after the 1940s they got violent, like Hockey Homicide)

"Hockey Homicide" is an exception. The Disney cartoons made in the 40s are no way violent. Walt would have never allowed that.

[David Gerstein]

And the potatoes have eyes.

[samtheq]

An Harvey cartoon studio never existed.
All the "Harveytoons" are actually Famous cartoons. In fact, many of the characters you see in Famous shorts (the pre-1950 shorts) can be seen in the post-1950 Famous cartoons renamed "Harveytoons", like Wolfie, Herman, Little Audrey and even Casper.


Wow, I guess it would have helped if I had read the question right the first time!

[J. J. Hunsecker]

I can't think of specific titles at the moment, but Famous Studios wins hands down. Almost any episode of Herman & Katnip or Baby Huey will suffice. Here (http://classiccartoons.blogspot.com/2007/08/why-we-love-famous-cartoons.html) are some good examples.

Next would be some scenes from the Tom & Jerry cartoons over at MGM Studios. Joe Barbera could go a little overboard sometimes. Tex Avery's cartoons had plenty of violent gags, but they weren't painful. Instead they were more about breaking the forth wall (it just that the breaking of the wall was accomplished by explosions and anvils).

WB cartoons get a little more violent in the immediate post war years, especially from McKimson and Davis. Looney Tunes had slapstick violence before then, but it was less painful because of the execution (no pun intended).

Fleischer had the Popeye series which always featured some fine beatings. Towards the end of the studios run, some of the color cartoons exhibited sadistic tendencies. It seems like the germ that would grow to become Famous Studios.

Over at Lantz I think Culhane's cartoons featured the most violent gags. Like when the wolf unwittingly puts himself through a meatgrinder. For the most part, there isn't much violence in the Lantz product, outside of some mild slapstick.

The cartoons starring Mighty Mouse are the only ones I can think of from Terrytoons that feature violence. Some villians met rather horrible deaths, like in Frankenstein's Cat.

Disney, Columbia (both Screen Gems and UPA), and Van Beuren only have the occasional, rare moment of violence.

[J. J. Hunsecker]

I don't think you guys have to worry about censorship from the networks. (That is, even IF these cartoons were still on the air.) Those decisions are made by Standards and Practices. Usually it's vocal pressure groups that influence the executives to edit violent scenes out of the classic cartoons (whatever is deemed "imitatable behavior").

Let the members of the forum have their fun in disecting these cartoons. Noboby but us fanatics is really paying attention to these boards, anyway.

[OurGangAlfalfa]

DIsney's Mickey Mouse cartoons were very violent. In some of the early ones (especially Steamboat Willie), Mickey abuses animals to a musical beat.
Disney (Errrr, well most of the cartoons I've seen are for lil tykes like the silly symphonies but I guess after the 1940s they got violent, like Hockey Homicide)
Just because something is not violent doesn't mean that it's for "tykes". In fact, violence mostly appeals to young children.

[Comicfan]

Sorry to ruffle any feathers-the last thing I want to do is encourage censorship.:shame:

If anyone wants to continue this thread, I intended to discussions to go in a somewhat different direction. Instead of talking about the output of the studios as a whole, I was wondering what individual toons ranked as a studio's most violent.

For example, Mouse Trouble gets my vote as one of MGM's most over the top, violent shorts. The bit with Jerry sticking the hatpins into the "suprise package" Tom hides himself in is particularly cringe inducing-especially when Jerry has to force the one hatpin in, while Tom makes painful yelping noises. :eek:

[Matthew Hunter]

Yeah, we used to not discuss such things...but nobody's airing the cartoons on TV anymore anyway, and there's nothing they haven't edited in the past already. At least MOST DVDs are uncut.

I'd agree that the Famous "Herman and Katnip" series is the most violent ever. That, and any time a character in an MGM cartoon gets their teeth knocked out...OUCH!

[Cartman]

Just because something is not violent doesn't mean that it's for "tykes". In fact, violence mostly appeals to young children.
And ironically, the studio that seems to be voted the most violent in this thread was the only studio that really did make cartoons primarily for kids.

[J. J. Hunsecker]

And ironically, the studio that seems to be voted the most violent in this thread was the only studio that really did make cartoons primarily for kids.
Well, their Casper cartoons were pretty tame.

[J Lee]

Well, their Casper cartoons were pretty tame.

Famous had so many head animators/directors over the years that while their cartoons weren't the funniest, they were the most varied because of the head animators' varied interests, which dates back to Myron Waldman's work on the Pudgy cartoons with the Fleischers and continued into the Casper and Little Audrey series.

Famous was still doing Disney-like shorts like the Raggedy Ann and Red Lantern ones into the early 1950s, and even their most violent director, Tendlar, could do a cartoon as Disney-like in story as "Pedro and Lorenzo" in 1956.