This is one of my favorite early Porky Pig shorts, with the right mix of drama, suspense and humor. As I want to talk about the short in some detail, this is a spoiler warning:
This short manages to both show the attributes of a good live-action suspense/thriller film and the free-wheeling "anything can happen in a cartoon" nature of an animated short. Director Frank Tashlin, who wanted to eventually move to directing live-action features (and actually did so quite well later on in his career) must have watched a lot of the 1930s horror films, because this short looks and feels like the best of them. This is particularly true of the original black and white version, which is superior to the colorized version.
Porky, Petunia and several other relations (whose names also start with "P") are the heirs of their late uncle, Solomon Swine (whose portrait resembles Oliver Hardy, drawn as a pig), although the terms of the will state that if anything were to happen to them, the estate would go to Lawyer Goodwill (signed, "Love and Kisses, Unkie Sollie") who prepared and reads the will to the porcine posse. Taking his leave, Lawyer Goodwill assures them, "Nothing will happen to you-I hope." Once out the door, Goodwill skulks down to the cellar under the house and mixes up a concoction meant to turn him into a monster-it doesn't work until he uses a milkshake mixer to bubble it up a bit and he changes appearance and begins telling the audience his plot and taunts them, particularly "the guy in the third row", saying they can't do anything to save the pigs. Personally, I find the unctuous and rather smarmy Lawyer Goodwill a good deal creepier than the monster.
One by one, the pigs start to disappear, until only Porky and Petunia are left. We see the fiend has put the purloined porkers in a long stock, with two spaces reserved for the final pair. The monster taunts the audience again, with special emphasis on "the guy in the third row".
He grabs Petunia and at one point is holding hands with Porky. When Porky looks back after he realizes it isn't Petunia's hand he's holding, he takes off-just a giant blur. He eventually ends up finding and freeing his loved ones, just as the monster breaks down the door and moves towards them menacingly. That's when "the guy in the third row" exacts his revenge for all the taunting. After all, anything can happen in a cartoon, right? This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and it and the collection are well worth having. The Tashlin disc alone is worth the price of admission and the other three discs are all worthwhile. Recommended.
This short manages to both show the attributes of a good live-action suspense/thriller film and the free-wheeling "anything can happen in a cartoon" nature of an animated short. Director Frank Tashlin, who wanted to eventually move to directing live-action features (and actually did so quite well later on in his career) must have watched a lot of the 1930s horror films, because this short looks and feels like the best of them. This is particularly true of the original black and white version, which is superior to the colorized version.
Porky, Petunia and several other relations (whose names also start with "P") are the heirs of their late uncle, Solomon Swine (whose portrait resembles Oliver Hardy, drawn as a pig), although the terms of the will state that if anything were to happen to them, the estate would go to Lawyer Goodwill (signed, "Love and Kisses, Unkie Sollie") who prepared and reads the will to the porcine posse. Taking his leave, Lawyer Goodwill assures them, "Nothing will happen to you-I hope." Once out the door, Goodwill skulks down to the cellar under the house and mixes up a concoction meant to turn him into a monster-it doesn't work until he uses a milkshake mixer to bubble it up a bit and he changes appearance and begins telling the audience his plot and taunts them, particularly "the guy in the third row", saying they can't do anything to save the pigs. Personally, I find the unctuous and rather smarmy Lawyer Goodwill a good deal creepier than the monster.
One by one, the pigs start to disappear, until only Porky and Petunia are left. We see the fiend has put the purloined porkers in a long stock, with two spaces reserved for the final pair. The monster taunts the audience again, with special emphasis on "the guy in the third row".
He grabs Petunia and at one point is holding hands with Porky. When Porky looks back after he realizes it isn't Petunia's hand he's holding, he takes off-just a giant blur. He eventually ends up finding and freeing his loved ones, just as the monster breaks down the door and moves towards them menacingly. That's when "the guy in the third row" exacts his revenge for all the taunting. After all, anything can happen in a cartoon, right? This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and it and the collection are well worth having. The Tashlin disc alone is worth the price of admission and the other three discs are all worthwhile. Recommended.