Cheap Cartoon Craze Presents: Porky Pig: Porky's Cafe (DVD) (Porky Pig) Price

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Customer Reviews of Cartoon Craze Presents: Porky Pig: Porky's Cafe

The Early Days of Porky Pig, and More
The Porky Pig episodes in this DVD are all from the early '40s, and from the Schlesinger Studios, with original music by Carl Stallings. Porky Pig made his first appearance in 1935, and used the voice of Joe Dougherty from 1935-1937, and the amazing Mel Blanc from 1937-1989. Some of these episodes show their age, but are still interesting for the animation aficionado. Though a few are known to have been colorized, all except for "Pigs in Polka" are shown in b&w. I find cartoons of early vintage fascinating as cultural markers. In many ways they show where we were at that time as a society very clearly, and make for interesting comparisons with contemporary life. <
>Total running time is 64 minutes. <
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>1: "Porky's Caf?," 1942. Directed by Chuck Jones, animated by Rudy Levine. <
>Porky serves up the meals with a Rube Goldberg type machine to help him, while chef Conrad the Cat is preoccupied making pancakes. <
>2: "Porky's Prize Pony," 1941. Directed by Chuck Jones, animated by Ken Travis. <
>The pony (an early incarnation of Conrad the Cat) drinks some liniment that is 125% alcohol, which makes his performance at the racetrack a little erratic. <
>3: "Ali-Baba Bound," 1940. Directed by Robert Clampet, animated by Vive Risto. <
>Full of hilarious visuals, like Porky going to the U-Drive Rent-a-Camel, and many jokes like the old Los Angeles Brown Derby restaurant as the "Brown Turban," this has Ali-Baba and his Dirty Sleeves chasing Porky with all kinds of devilish schemes....and very up-to-date, there is even a suicide squad bomber, with a bomb strapped to his head. <
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>4: "Confusions of a Nutsy Spy," 1943. Directed by Norman McCabe, animated by Izzy Ellis. <
>This is rather sepia colored, and features Bloodhound Eggbert helping Porky track down a spy who is a master of disguises. <
>5: "Pigs in Polka," 1943. Directed by Isadore "Friz" Freleng. <
>This one is in Technicolor, and is adorable, and a telling of the wolf and the three pigs story. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject. The characters are all choreographed to Brahms' "Hungarian Dances." <
>6: "Joe Glow the Firefly," 1941. Directed by Chuck Jones, animated by Phil Monroe. <
>Life as viewed from a bug's perspective, where everything is massive by comparison to his size. Music is derived from Felix Mendelssohn's "Midsummer Night's Dream." <
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>7: "Notes to You," 1941. Directed by Isadore "Friz" Freleng, animated by Manuel Perez. <
>Porky is driven nuts by a singing cat, who keeps him awake with a vast repertoire including "Figaro," "When Irish Eyes are Smiling," "Umbrella Man," and "Jeepers Creepers." The final ghost chorus of the cat's 9 lives sings a marvelous rendition of the Sextet from Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." <
>8: "Gay Gaucho," 1933. Directed by Rollin Hamilton & Tom McKimson, animated by Hugh Harman & Rudolf Ising for the Van Beuren Studios. <
>Cubby Bear (who was later re-named Brownie Bear), is marvelous as he does a turn at being Valentino, singing and dancing, Latin style. Songs include "Quiereme Mucho." Cubby and the huge Pedro vie for the affections of Se?orita. <
>9: "The Booze Hangs High," 1930. Produced and directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising for Vitaphone Pictures, animated by Isadore "Friz" Freleng and Paul Smith, with music by Frank Marsales, using an adaptation of songs from the musical film "The Song of the Flame." <
>Presented with sepia tones, this one is very primitively drawn, but cute. The pigs find a bottle of booze in their trough, which results in a lot of dancing. Not politically correct in this day and age, but alcohol was often used as a comedic device in the early days of animation. <
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