The Good Egg (1945) User Reviews

Angel & Devil On His Shoulder

[ccthemovieman-1 · 5/10 · 12 November 2007]

This wartime animated short tells of the value of a person holding onto their War Bonds.

Navy seaman "Mr. Hook" is minding his own business in his bunk aboard ship with a little devil wakes him up and asks why he's wasting his money holding onto the bonds. He should cash them and have a good time. Well, the "angel" pops up, tells Mr. Hook what nonsense that is, and the two little imaginary "voices" begin duking it out. A speech from the victor follows.

This is one of those WWII messages produced by the U.S. Navy. You know it had a lot more meaning back then; now it's a little piece of history or maybe nostalgia for some who can remember this kind of cartoon message. I saw it as one of the added features on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Five DVD set.

Cute.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 12 May 2009]

This is a cute little WWII propaganda film that was made with American servicemen in mind. It is a cute little cartoon that extols the virtue of investing your monthly stipend in war bonds. Since it was not intended to be seen by the general public but only by servicemen, there are two things you'll notice. First, to save money, unlike other Warner Brothers cartoons, this one is in black & white--a money-saving maneuver. Second, as impressionable children wouldn't see it, the jokes are a tad risqué--at least by WWII standards. There are lots of hints at sex--which makes a lot of sense considering the soldiers were no doubt preoccupied with it!

The film consists of cute Mr. Hook's conscience (in the form of a cute devil and angel) arguing about the reasons to not invest or invest in war bonds. Considering the film was commissioned by the US Navy (and made by Warner Brothers), take a guess which wins this argument?!

During Peace Time, Dreams might be made of . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 31 October 2016]

. . . birdie statuettes, such as in Humphrey Bogart's live-action feature THE MALTESE FALCON, but in dire War Days Mary Astor's price might drop considerably, THE GOOD EGG suggests. "Seaman Hook" is informed by his Better Nature that a $300 War Bonds "Nest Egg" at Conflict's End will assure his Future Self of a Wife, a House, and a Starter Baby. (This comes in response to Hook's representative Everyseaman's Moist Dream as Stormy Weather tosses his U.S. Navy ship at sea, and his Libido suggests that he cash in the War Bonds then tucked into the waistband of his Tightie Whities so that he can splurge on a Professional Gal during his vessel's next port of call.) On the one hand, this piece of military propaganda churned out for a captive World War Two audience seems to be a desperate attempt by the U.S. Military Brass to finance their war on the Azure Beebees (aka, "teal orbs") of rooster-blocked enlisted men, thus keeping all the Trumpettes (to use Today's term) for themselves. On the other hand, maybe Seaman Hook is better off than Marion Mitchell Morrison's "Sgt. Stryker" character in that cynical post-war feature film--THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA--who winds up high but dry after cashing out HIS "Nest Egg," which winds up becoming part of a Professional Gal's "accidental baby" formula fund.

The Good Egg was another amusing Mr. Hook cartoon made for the Navy

[tavm · 7/10 · 12 July 2015]

This is the second Mr. Hook cartoon. There are several differences: Like instead of the Walter Lantz Studio producing this, it's the Warners one with Chuck Jones directing. Instead of Georg O'Hanlon, Mr. Hook here is voiced by Arthur "Dagwood" Lake. And instead of color, this one is in black and white. This one has a devil and angel debating in Mr. Hook's dreams about the worthiness of war bonds. Pretty funny with the familiar Carl Stalling music throughout. Lake made these cartoons between a one and a half year hiatus during the Blondie movie series. This voices he employed here didn't sound too different from his Bumstead voice. So on that note, The Good Egg is worth a look for any animations buffs out there.

Scrape up the most you can!

[slymusic · 16 May 2011]

"The Good Egg" is a fairly decent Warner Bros. World War II cartoon starring a bumbling navy private named Mr. Hook, and this ultra-quickie attempts, in its own wacky way, to answer a big question: What good is a war bond?

My one favorite sequence in this film involves Hook's good & evil consciences; the former beats the hell out of the latter!

And what about the musical accompaniment? Carl Stalling did his usually masterful job with this cartoon; it just saddens me, as a professional musician myself, that the maestro never received the credit he deserved. Among the popular songs I recognize in "The Good Egg" are "Yankee Doodle" during the aforementioned fight scene, "Any Bonds Today?" when Hook's good conscience tells him to keep saving, and "We're in the Money" when the good conscience shows Hook a pile of spending money for his nest egg.