This short is one of Frank Tashlin's better efforts as a director, though not his absolute best. This (and many other shorts) show that Tashlin approached animated shorts with the eye and sensibility of a director of live-action features, which he generally did, because that's what he ultimately aimed to be and later became-a director of live-action features. Because I want to discuss some details of this short, there will be minor spoilers:
This short succeeds as an animated short, but has the "look" of having been shot like a live-action feature. The director used a lot of the conventions of both animation and of feature film. It's a beautifully laid out piece of work, with two separate setups which later have montages of the scenes to speed up the action-first, early on, we see squirrels gathering and storing nuts in a number of short and very effective vignettes, which are then superimposed in a small section, one after another, in a montage to indicate lots of activity without using up a great deal of the short's running time and then, later in the cartoon, we see the main character, a young squirrel given more towards gambling, rather than working hard, as a means to gather nuts for the winter, who is being systematically fleeced in a series of games like roulette and craps, which play through once at normal speed and then are depicted rapidly in a montage.
The basic story is fairly straightforward-it's summer and the squirrels are busy gathering and storing nuts in preparation for the coming of winter. One young enterprising fellow sees no percentage in working, when he can just win the nuts of other squirrels with a pair of dice. His father does not share his viewpoint and is less than pleased with his son's attitude. No amount of persuasion or punishment can get through to the young squirrel.
At the onset of winter, the father sends his son to get the family's stash of nuts from the bank, with orders to go there and return home immediately. Junior decides to engage in some games of chance with a stranger he meets on the way home. He, of course, loses everything but the sense of taste in his mouth and trudges sadly home to answer to his father, whom he tries to fool with absolutely the worst cover story ever committed to celluloid. The end of the short is wonderful, so I won't spoil it here.
This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and is well worth watching. Recommended.
This short succeeds as an animated short, but has the "look" of having been shot like a live-action feature. The director used a lot of the conventions of both animation and of feature film. It's a beautifully laid out piece of work, with two separate setups which later have montages of the scenes to speed up the action-first, early on, we see squirrels gathering and storing nuts in a number of short and very effective vignettes, which are then superimposed in a small section, one after another, in a montage to indicate lots of activity without using up a great deal of the short's running time and then, later in the cartoon, we see the main character, a young squirrel given more towards gambling, rather than working hard, as a means to gather nuts for the winter, who is being systematically fleeced in a series of games like roulette and craps, which play through once at normal speed and then are depicted rapidly in a montage.
The basic story is fairly straightforward-it's summer and the squirrels are busy gathering and storing nuts in preparation for the coming of winter. One young enterprising fellow sees no percentage in working, when he can just win the nuts of other squirrels with a pair of dice. His father does not share his viewpoint and is less than pleased with his son's attitude. No amount of persuasion or punishment can get through to the young squirrel.
At the onset of winter, the father sends his son to get the family's stash of nuts from the bank, with orders to go there and return home immediately. Junior decides to engage in some games of chance with a stranger he meets on the way home. He, of course, loses everything but the sense of taste in his mouth and trudges sadly home to answer to his father, whom he tries to fool with absolutely the worst cover story ever committed to celluloid. The end of the short is wonderful, so I won't spoil it here.
This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and is well worth watching. Recommended.