Inspector Question

[AardvarkDog]

This is something that's really annoying me. DFE's "The Inspector" Series always had Seargent Deux-Decx portrayed as a confused Spanish person as a French Policeman, which I thought was strange but still humerous, yet they completely changed his personality and voice in "La Feet's Defeat".

I hated this version of Deux-Deux, espicially as he took all the lumps in this particular cartoon. So why did they agree to this?

[doctoon]

I don't like it much, either. My guess is that DFE had a new writer (Jim Ryan) doing stories, instead of John W. Dunn. Maybe Ryan wanted to take "Inspector" cartoons to a new direction.

[Matt the Y]

Yeah... One things that's always baffled me about the Inspector series is how storyman John Dunn seemingly abandoned the series after "Sacre Bleu Cross" or so. Jim Ryan appears to have become the new head writer for the series starting with "Le Quiet Squad" and working all the way through "Le Ball and Chain Gang". You'll notice the disappearance of Deux-Deux in the series seems to coincide with Ryan taking story writing responsibilites in lieu of Dunn.

Jim Ryan was a good writer but was much too inconsistent. Some of the Inspector shorts he wrote like "Le Quiet Squad", "Le Bowser Bagger", and "Les Miserobots" are quite funny but he also wrote some real stinkers such as "Tour De Farce" (one of my least favorite Inspector shorts) and "Le Ball and Chain Gang" (there was no point to this short. It's just more or less about an angry husband and wife bickering while the Inspector himself is just a background character!). Even on the Pink Panther series, Jim Ryan was quite hit-and-miss. Again, he wrote some quite funny shorts in that series such as "Pink Posies", "Prefabricated Pink", "The Hand is Pinker Than the Eye", and "Psychedelic Pink" (which is actually a top favorite of mine) but also wrote some pretty terrible shorts such as "Come on In! The Water's Pink" and "Pink Sphinx".

Jim Ryan seems to have left the studio around 1968 or so but even after his leave, Dunn still seems to have been away from the Inspector series. His last story credit on the series is in "Transylvania Mania" and the last Inspector short, "Carte Blanched", is credited to Dave Detiege. Curiously enough, one short, "Pierre and Cottage Cheese", does not carry any story credit. Can anyone explain that???

[Douglas E.]

Yeah the Inspector series declined slowly when John Dunn stopped writing. By 1968 the Inspector series were no longer about a detective.

-Doug

[Matt the Y]

Originally Posted by Douglas E.

Yeah the Inspector series declined slowly when John Dunn stopped writing. By 1968 the Inspector series were no longer about a detective.

-Doug

Well, to be honest, two of the very last entries in the Inspector series, "French Freud" and "Pierre and Cottage Cheese", are, IMHO, two of the series' best shorts. In fact, I think "French Freud" is easily one of the funniest and most imaginitive shorts DFE ever produced (veteran animator Ed Love even serves as a "guest animator" on the short).

I do agree that some of the later period Inspector shorts are definitely garbage. "Le Ball and Chain Gang" moves very slowly, if at all, and the main character only plays a marginal role... the main role goes to a completely bland and uninteresting husband & wife couple (who aren't even French!) who spend all their lives feuding with one another. "Tour De Farce" is a lame cartoon with very few laughs. And "Cherche Le Phantom" is hands down the most unfunny DFE cartoon ever made. There are NO laughs at all in the entire short and the short in itself is dull, predictable, and flat.

Still, I've always felt the Inspector was the second best series DFE did after The Pink Panther. Most (tho, obviously not all) of the shorts are faster paced with more lively gags than any other 1960's cartoon, especially in shorts like "Great DeGaulle Stone Operation", "Napoleon Blown-Aparte", "Toulouse La Trick", and "Sacre Bleu Cross". I'd watch any of these over a contemporary Lantz or WB short any day.

[AardvarkDog]

"Tour De Farce" is a lame cartoon with very few laughs...

Hmm, true. But then again, it does show off some strong animation in some parts, partically for the criminal.

I think "French Freud" is easily one of the funniest and most imaginitive shorts DFE ever produced (veteran animator Ed Love even serves as a "guest animator" on the short).

Really? I never knew that, seeing as I always saw the version from "The Pink Panther Show" with no proper credits for each short. Still, it's been a while since I last saw that short.

I think "Canadian Can-Can" and "That's No Lady - That's Notre Dame!" are another two creative Inspector cartoons. "Can Can" mainly for the most unusual villian ever created (Two Faced Harry) and the absurd ending as well. The writing in "Notre Dame" was absolutely hilarious as well as George Singer's direction, too.


From what I can tell, Inspector definately has been hit-n-miss, but IMO, I thought that his last cartoon, "Carte Balanched" didn't seem like a proper send off for him. (Though strangely, if you think about it, it does kind of tie in to what happened to Inspector Clouseau in "Son Of The Pink Panther" )

I reckon my guess that John Dunn abandoned Inspector was because he was busy creating newer characters for DFE to use. After all, they have been using Pink Panther and Inspector for about 4 years and probably wanted to create new cartoons to keep their audiences intrested. That's my Two Cents anyhoo.

[Matt the Y]

Originally Posted by AardvarkDog

Hmm, true. But then again, it does show off some strong animation in some parts, partically for the criminal.



Really? I never knew that, seeing as I always saw the version from "The Pink Panther Show" with no proper credits for each short. Still, it's been a while since I last saw that short.

I think "Canadian Can-Can" and "That's No Lady - That's Notre Dame!" are another two creative Inspector cartoons. "Can Can" mainly for the most unusual villian ever created (Two Faced Harry) and the absurd ending as well. The writing in "Notre Dame" was absolutely hilarious as well as George Singer's direction, too.

Yeah, "Canadian Can-Can" is good. Another Inspector short I love that takes place in "The Great White North" is "The Shooting of Caribou Lou". That one is hilarious; a lot of good gags and a big closing finish, plus one of the series' funniest lines of dialogue (Caribou Lou: "That Inspector ain't such a bad guy after all. Just for that, I won't shoot him.... I'll just stab him quicklike!"). Incidentally, both "Can-Can" and "Caribou Lou" were written by John Dunn, two among the last shorts in the series he worked on.

Regarding "French Freud", you can find the list of titles from it at Dave Mackey's DePatie-Freleng cartoons filmography. I agree; those "substitute titles" that they invented for the shorts when shown on The Pink Panther Show are a pain in the ass! Just one quick title card with just the title and REALLY annoying theme music dubbed over in its' place. The shorts with their original titles should be found and then have the substitute Pink Panther Show titles taken away and burned!!!!! (But, I'm ranting... )

[Der Captain]

What were "Tour De Farce", "French Freud", "Le Quiet Squad", and "Bowser Bagger" about?

[nickramer]

Originally Posted by Matt the Y

Even on the Pink Panther series, Jim Ryan was quite hit-and-miss. Again, he wrote some quite funny shorts in that series such as "Pink Posies", "Prefabricated Pink", "The Hand is Pinker Than the Eye", and "Psychedelic Pink" (which is actually a top favorite of mine) but also wrote some pretty terrible shorts such as "Come on In! The Water's Pink" and "Pink Sphinx".

Actually, I happen to like those two Pink Panther cartoons that you listed as "terrible". Then again, I'm so open minded, that I enjoy every cartoon that Hawley Pratt directed starring the panther.

[Matt the Y]

Originally Posted by Der Captain

What were "Tour De Farce", "French Freud", "Le Quiet Squad", and "Bowser Bagger" about?

Allow me to transcribe...

TOUR DE FARCE - The Inspector is assigned to transport a dangerous criminal to Devil's Island. Unfortunately, the Inspector sends him to a "deserted" island, not Devil's Island, and, moreover, ends up trapped in the island with the convict who makes several attempts on the Inspector's life. Fortunately, all ends well when the criminal is flattened by a rock and the Inspector uses his body as a makeshift raft to row himself and the convict to Devil's Island.

FRENCH FREUD - The Inspector suspects that someone, or several people, may be out to get him when a series of strange disasters beings to occur around him. He sees a psychiatrist who tells him his theory is correct; someone IS after him and the Inspector, having been assigned to guard a valuable gem, is determined to keep a sharp watch out. As it turns out, the psychiatrist he visited is really a jewel thief in disguise who teams up with another jewel thief, a sexy movie star, to off the Inspector and pilfer the diamond he is guarding.

LE QUIET SQUAD - The Inspector is assigned to look after the Commissioner who is so stressed out from a recent crime wave that he requires 24-hour bed rest. Any disturbance (especially a NOISY disturbance) will result in the Commissioner experiencing fits of anger (usually directed at whoever he blames the disturbance on) so the Inspector is determined to keep things quiet. Alas, a noisy alley cat completely ruins everything as all of the Inspector's attempts to silence the feline result in more noise... and more wrath from the Commissioner! In the end, the Inspector (using a gun silencer) shoots the feline dead but his problems are far from over... the cat's musical 9 lives live on in spirit and the Commissioner's plans for quiet are now completely destroyed. Veteran WB director Robert McKimson directed this short.

LE BOWSER BAGGER - The French police force experiments with a new type of law-enforcing system... having their policemen use "police dogs" as partners. The Inspector attempts to "train" his dog (Pvt. Bowser by name) into apprehending a notorious pickpocket who is on the loose. It turns out that Bowser apparently already knows everything he needs to learn as he is much more adept at capturing the criminal than the luckless Inspector who is even "de-pantsed" by the mutt at one point.