The Herring Murder Mystery (1944)

A man working in a fish cannery has a guilty conscience and begins to imagine he is a murderer. In his delirium/dream the fish try him for murder in a crazy court-room scene at the bottom ... See full summary »

Director:

Dun Roman

Storyline

A man working in a fish cannery has a guilty conscience and begins to imagine he is a murderer. In his delirium/dream the fish try him for murder in a crazy court-room scene at the bottom of the ocean, which incorporates the 'Information, Please" radio routine, and also has a fish-jury who sing a little ditty called "There's Nothing On the End of the Hook." Re-released to theaters again in 1954, before Columbia sold it to television stations.

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Plot Keywords:

fish | guilty conscience | ocean | murderer | cannery | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Family

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 January 1944 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

7 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"There's Nothing On the End of the Hook"

User Reviews

The Herring Murder Mystery is a rare Columbia cartoon that's nearly excellent

This Columbia Screen Gems cartoon begins with a fish screaming as she gets marinated and put in a sardine box. The man who does it feels guilty and as he starts to walk out he hears footsteps that he repeats a few times. Then smoke appears and when it fades a talking fish that's taller than the man shows his card that says "Sherlock Shad", a detective investigating a "murdered herring". He and a fellow fish put the man in a barrel and toss him underwater where he ends up in trial with other fish and a shark lawyer. The rest of the short is filled with bad puns (like "boiled lobster" or, oh, I can't remember) and a fish jury constantly singing, "There's something at the end of a hook...but it's shad roe/shad roe/shad roe to me/!" (shad roe basically meaning baloney) This is one cartoon from Columbia that has the kind of nuttiness that you expect from Tex Avery or Bob Clampett from Warner Bros. or MGM. In fact, there's an Avery-type gag of no sound coming out of the man's mouth with the judge and lawyer asking why and the soundtrack line basically saying there's nothing wrong and telling the man to just speak clearly! What a hilarious surprise that was! Found this on Daily Motion as linked from a blog by someone named Thad. Highly recommended.