The Mighty Termite (1961)

Professor Schmaltz captures a termite to study, and gets more than he bargained for when it wreaks havoc in his laboratory.

Director:

Seymour Kneitel

Writer:

Irving Dressler (story)

Storyline

Professor Schmaltz captures a termite to study, and gets more than he bargained for when it wreaks havoc in his laboratory.

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Plot Keywords:

termite | modern madcaps

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Genres:

Animation | Short

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

April 1961 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Famous Studios

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

User Reviews

A major freak-out among termite cartoons

I remember seeing this as a kid and I think it traumatized me. :) While most cartoon termites are shown to have "super powers"...i.e., destroying houses in seconds, eating through solid metal, etc., this one goes above & beyond the usual destruction.

The plot is similar to others of its genre... a cartoon termite terrorizes the main character, gradually causing greater and greater destruction. As with most termite cartoons, this creature seems capable of devouring any material-- wood, steel, flesh-- in seconds, without leaving any trace of residue or waste behind.

In this case, our protagonist is the arrogant Professor Schmaltz, occasionally found in other Modern Madcap cartoons. In this case, he brings the angry insect back to his lab for experiments, so it's arguable that he invites the destruction upon himself.

Since the only available version of this cartoon on DVD (the HARVEYTOONS Collection) is trimmed to less than half its original length as a "Toon Take", key plot points seem to be missing. There may be some explanation given as to how the termite acquired his "super powers" in the full length cartoon, but it is missing from the short version. So the only clue we're given about how a single termite can eat an entire automobile in 2 seconds, is that the Professor gave it some Wood Alcohol and got it visibly drunk (which isn't enough explanation, IMO).

(Spoilers) As far as I know, this is the only one that goes so far as to have its protagonist actually DEVOURED by a single termite in mere seconds as the final gag. Frankly, that freaked me out quite a bit. Why is it that in termite cartoons, our hero always loses to the indefatigable termite (which really acts more as a disintegrator ray than as a true insect)?

There is another, hard-to-find Seymour Kneitel cartoon, CHEW CHEW BABY, which apparently (I haven't seen it) contains similarly disturbing images of a cannibal eating whole people in one bite. All I can figure is that Mr. Kneitel was one twisted dude. It's surprising that these 2 cartoons (and others, I'm sure) were created for kids in the 1950's, when cartoon violence, even of the surreal kind, was generally tamer. I don't object to this in any way, as they are pretty tame cartoons anyway, but they may leave you feeling weirded out.