The Early Worm Gets the Bird (1940) User Reviews

The Early Worm Gets the Bird is one of Tex Avery's cartoons for Warner Bros.

[tavm · 7/10 · 1 July 2010]

Just watched this Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon on YouTube. In this one, one of three kid blackbirds is trying to wake up early to catch a worm despite his mammy (yes, they're caricatured African-American stereotypes though it's not too obvious here) warning him of foxes. Anyway, the book gets thrown out the window and the worm gets a heads up...This was one of Tex Avery's cartoons for Termite Terrace before his more productive output at M-G-M. As such there isn't too much of his trademark wackiness. Still, there are still touches that seem unique to him at the time such as the fox's reaction when he thinks he sees blood. So on that note, I highly recommend The Early Worm Gets the Bird.

oh no

[lee_eisenberg · 5/10 · 3 July 2007]

Yes, "The Early Worm Gets the Bird" is one of the many creative cartoons that unfortunately is now hard to laugh at due to racial stereotypes. In this case, the blackbirds are caricatures of African-Americans. But as long as we understand that, it's not a bad cartoon, as a baby bird wakes up early to catch a worm, but the worm is ahead of him (and there are warnings about the hungry fox). The truth is, although Tex Avery directed this, it comes out a little bit flatter than most of his cartoons. But make no mistake, it does elicit a few laughs, especially with the surprise ending. I guess that it's worth seeing maybe once. Available on YouTube.

Blackbird's Morning Hunt

[theatrum-1 · 6/10 · 17 June 2007]

"The Early Worm Gets the Bird " is short animated movie from the "Merry Melodies" series. It is a story about one small blackbird inspired by the proverb in the title. One morning he wakes up early and he starts the "worm-chase". But there's another early creature - a weasel who wants to eat the blackbird. This classic is full of funny raids and scrambles where the worm appears more clever than little bird. Blackbirds are stylized as colored men, their faces have Negroid features and their cloth is similar to the mode of blacks in the South. There are many witty moments in this film like in the others from this famous series. But it lacks playful atmosphere which is characteristic for them.

Anyone can see that this brief cartoon is far too scary . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 23 May 2017]

. . . for contemporary tykes when it was released in the 1940s. However, entertaining these Depression-Era toddlers was NOT Warner Bros. primary objective with an offering such as THE EARLY WORM GETS THE BIRD. Rather, the final scene in which the protagonist blackbird youth and his green worm nemesis-turned-ally wind up sleeping side-by-side is intended to show Today's Americans of (The Then) Far Future that successfully fighting "The Villain" of this piece--drawn as a RED fox--will make strange bedfellows among We True Blue Loyal Normal Patriotic Average 99 Per Center Silent Majority Progressive Union Label Citizens. Warner Bros.' always prophetic Animated Shorts Seers division (aka, The Looney Tuners) clearly mean this nefarious fox to stand in for current U.S. strongman Red Commie KGB Chief Vlad "The Mad Russian" Putin. Now that the Rump/Kushner Crime Syndicate has let this Deplorable Putin Fox into America's hen-house, it will take every ounce of strength and gram of ingenuity to expel him and his 62 million treasonous enabling traitors from our shores forever, Warner is warning us here.

This brief cartoon starts out pretty much in Black & White mode . . .

[pixrox1 · 8/10 · 16 October 2020]

. . . and then segues toward color, not unlike THE WIZARD OF OZ. Though there are some lapses on the part of the cell painters here (such as depicting the fox with black-hued irises, when Mama Blackbird has clearly warned her trio of fledglings that this predator has GREEN eyes), this animated short is far more entertaining than the typical Disney Mickey Mouse outing (or even the not-so-Wonderful World of Color's average effort at Nature Documentaries). Now that most of America's kids are going to school virtually, it's easy to see how teachers could draw up one- or even two-hour lesson plans for Zoom classes focusing on the meaty content of THE EARLY WORM GETS THE BIRD.