Porky's Preview

I used to watch Warners cartoons all the time when I was a kid, but it's a long time since I last saw one, and I'm pretty sure I'd never seen this one before. The reason I'm sure is because it's in black and white, and I didn't even know Warners made cartoons in b&w. The lack of colour is no doubt why it wasn't shown on TV.

Anyway, the film is enjoyable enough while being nowhere near the best of Avery & co's output. There's only one laugh-out-loud moment which practically every other reviewer on this page has already described. Although the laughs are scarce, the wild imagination of Avery is plain to see as Porky Pig presents his own cartoon show made up entirely of childishly drawn stick figures (complete with crossings-out when he gets things wrong).

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best he ever did. While not one of the best Porky Pig cartoons and Avery himself went on to better things once he properly found his immediately distinctive visual and humour style we know and love him for, 'Porky's Preview' is a very nicely done and interesting cartoon. Do agree that 'Porky's Preview' is not generally a laugh-out-loud funny cartoon, and rarely is it hilarious. Both Porky and Avery has done funnier, this is a little on the bland side for both.

That is not to say that 'Porky's Preview' is completely laughter-free because that's not the case. The bit with the skunk is the funniest moment and is actually very funny indeed. Also though the Mexican hat dance was quite cool. There is not much to the story here, mainly it's an episodic series of vignettes with some better than others.

On the other hand, the animation is very good with a lot of great attention to detail and fluid crispness. Standing out the most in this regard is the character designs, they are very creative and are unlike many other cartoons from back then.

Carl Stalling's music is lush, energetic and characterful (sometimes wonderfully weird, which suited the cartoon well), with clever orchestration and a mastery of not just adding to the action but enhancing it as well (Stalling was a near-unequalled master at this, though Scott Bradley gave him a run for his money).

As said, the skunk part is very funny, though generally 'Porky's Preview' would have been even better than it turned out to be with more humour. The pace is lively and even though it became more refined, inventive and wilder later Avery's directing has moments of imagination (mostly visually). The characters are fun and Porky is his amiable self.

Mel Blanc shows once again his unrivalled versatility in voicing multiple roles (including Porky Pig, taking over from Joe Dougherty and providing the more famous voice that is far more appealing than Dougherty's whose Porky voice didn't quite do it for me) and giving individuality and variety to each.

In summary, very nicely done if also a bit bland. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Porky's Preview (1941)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Porky Pig opens a movie theater and once everyone is inside we're treated to some of his hand-drawn cartoons.

I'm not going to lie, I think most of the early Porky Pig cartoons are uneven at best and that's certainly true of this one. The short starts off pretty good as we see an assortment of characters coming into the theater and I thought the animation itself was quite good and we got some interesting characters. From here the film went downhill and especially with the cartoons being shown. I just didn't find any of them all that funny and while the animation was nice the film just needed more laughs.

After nearly 30 years of knowing and seeing a clip of this cartoon, I finally got to watch the entirety of Porky's Preview as an extra on the Sergeant York DVD. Basically it's a series of spot gags of animal attendants going to see Porky Pig's short movie which consists entirely of child-like line drawings animated to a bare bones-version of Carl Stalling's score. Those drawings are amusing if not hilarious and kudos to Fred "Tex" Avery for presenting such a thing before he left WB for greener pastures at M-G-M. There is one really funny gag involving a skunk-well, maybe more than one though like the other animals, he's not really given much to do. So on that note, Porky's Preview is worth a look for any animation buffs out there.

While one might think stick figures are primitive, the way these move and interact is quite wonderful. The vehicle for things is Porky's contention that these are his seven year old drawings. Of course, the writers had to include a man in black face (why is this the only character that has move conventional features). I will put that aside, however, and just admire the risks taken and the success achieved.