What happens when the wicked prosper through a facade of nobility and grace? They almost never get the justice they rightfully deserve, and sometimes the good get left in the dust. Such is the case with the criminally underrated Chuck Jones directed Warner Bros. Cartoon from 1945, Fresh Airedale, which has gone down as one of the director's most misunderstood works in his long career. While hard to sit through due to its cruelly harsh approach in depicting the yin & yang of how humans perceive dogs, it is thoroughly fascinating from start to finish as a biting commentary on the injustice of rewarded selfishness.
The cartoon focuses on a seemingly humble dog named Shep who is incredibly conniving and gets rewarded for actions he does not commit. Although Shep is seen as the perfect dog, his owner is too biased to see the other side of the two faced mongrel, down to viewing his more altruistic pet cat as lowly scum. This allows for Shep to get away with infuriatingly manipulative tactics, including stealing his owner's food for the sake of it and taking credit for the cat chasing away a crook. Right from the get go, Fresh Airedale is an appropriately frustrating short film that details a subject that was not often tackled at the time of its release: evil may sometimes prevail when good is framed for the former's doings. It also helps that the cartoon is somewhat of a political satire on jealousy, since the story takes a dramatic detour once Shep enviously stews over the presidential dog being labeled as "No. 1 Dog." Obvious parallels to FDR's pet terrier aside, it's saying how timely the commentary is when a cartoon from the mid '40s reflects on themes and subject matter that we are still facing in our current climate.
As far as other notable qualities go, the decision to have most of the dialogue spoken by the owner allows for the audience to relate to him while also realizing that we may not be any better than a misguided human being who unjustly favors one pet over the other. In contrast, while Shep and the cat do not speak beyond vocal effects, their poses and facial expressions are so specific and broadly poignant that you'll get what they're thinking and feeling even watching this cartoon with the sound off, like the best work from Chuck Jones. On top of strong animation from the likes of Ken Harris, Ben Washam, Lloyd Vaughan and more, the occasional graphic transitions and bold albeit abstract layout compositions complete the mood whenever the scene comes for it, complete with Carl Stalling's hefty score that elevates the tone through and through. With a film as sharply biting as this one, a powerhouse animation director like Chuck Jones and a brilliant black comedy writer like Michael Maltese were always on fire thanks in part to the efforts of the crew following them.
It is easy to see people either liking or hating Fresh Airedale due to how different it is from most cartoons in the Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodies filmography, let alone of Chuck Jones' own filmography. That being said, there's no denying how daring it was to tackle subject matter as challenging as this between common enemies in such a cynically eye opening manner. Unless you rightfully can't take this kind of content, I highly recommend this cartoon for anyone dying to find something far different from what's expected in older animation, especially as it's one of the few WB cartoons left on Max.
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