A Sleepless Night (1948) User Reviews

My sympathies are largely with the bear here

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 4 September 2006]

I intend to discuss details from this particular short, so let this be your spoiler warning:

This is a relatively early Heckle and Jeckle short with a fairly straightforward premise-Heckle and Jeckle wind up blowing out a tire on the car they are in and go up to a bear's cave to try and find a place to stay for the night. There is a large sign requesting quiet because someone is trying to sleep. Naturally, this sign is ignored and they start knocking loudly, waking the bear. Even after the door is opened, they continue knocking on the bear himself. He refuses to let them in and slams the door on them. They spy through a window and see a full refrigerator, so they pretend to be Mounties in pursuit of "Killer" to gain entry. The bear figures it out and the chase is on. The remainder of the short is one sight gag after another. The short ultimately ends up badly for Heckle and Jeckle, as quite frequently happens when their adversary is a sympathetic one.

Most entertaining cartoon with some humorous bits. Well worth tracking down. Recommended.

Heckle and Jeckle anger a sleeping bear!

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 21 August 2012]

This short opens with Heckle and Jeckle driving along a snowy road in a motorcycle and sidecar; they get a puncture just outside a bear's cave. The sign on the door says not to disturb but the two magpies don't pay any attention to it and start beating on the door. The bear wakes up and comes to the door; not surprisingly he isn't pleased to be awakened and quickly slams the door on them. They see the food in his fridge through the window so try again... this time they pretend to be a couple of mounties chasing a dangerous criminal; this gets them into the cave but the bear soon sees through their disguise and from then one he chases them with a cleaver while they try to get the better of him. Eventually it looks as if they have got rid of the bear but they go a little too far and get their comeuppance.

This was a fun 'Heckle and Jeckle' short; the two magpies are as funny their fans would expect and they are helped by having a good adversary. Unlike their usual foes the bear isn't affected by their trademark mallet to the head attack and only once do they really get the better of him. The gags are the sort one would expect but that isn't a bad thing as some times it is fun to anticipate a gag. As always Heckle and Jeckle make unlikely protagonists as they are antagonists who seem to torment anybody they meet.

Bearly asleep

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 9 July 2021]

In my opinion, the Heckle and Jeckle theatrical series is generally the best of Terrytoons Studios' regular character theatrical series (do like enough cartoons from that of Gandy/Sourpuss too). Which generally were interesting watches, if more the earlier ones than the later ones, but not all of them did much for me. It does help too that Heckle and Jeckle themselves are compelling lead characters in the way that some of the studio's other recurring characters weren't.

1948's 'A Sleepless Night' is towards being one of their best and another example of the earlier Heckle and Jeckle cartoons being consistently good, the best of them very good. 'A Sleepless Night' is one of the very good ones and one of the better 1948 Terrytoons cartoons. It does deserve to be better known, as does the whole series (although not all their later outings were great they were still better than most of the other Terrytoons theatrical series at their worst).

'A Sleepless Night's' story admittedly is not very original and at times does feel a little too much like a series of gags. Some of which being quite familiar.

So much works in 'A Sleepless Night's' favour though. Despite their low ratings, personally have found not an awful lot to fault most of Heckle and Jeckle's cartoons and think that they have a lot to like about them. The music, a consistent good thing, is so lovely to listen to and there is such an uplifting vibe hearing it because of the snappy character it has. The animation is every bit as great. It is vibrantly coloured, quite smooth in drawing and transitions, doesn't look static or simplistic and the attention to detail is good.

When it comes to the gags, 'A Sleepless Night' scores very highly. The cartoon is filled with them and they all range from amusing to hilarious. While the ending is very predictable it is also a lot of fun and classic Heckle and Jeckle. The dialogue avoids being too corny and the action is deliciously anarchic, sometimes darkly so when the two get more malicious. The pace is fast and furious and the action and increasing anarchy is wonderfully chaotic, yet remarkably it doesn't feel too much of an overload. The story is not novel, but the character interaction, constant entertainment value and eventful content helped always make it interesting still.

Once again, Heckle and Jeckle are highly entertaining characters, their movements, the way they talk (in the use of language and the voices themselves) and their expressions make them quite unique characters for Terrytoons. The bear is one of their most sympathetic adversaries and is an interesting and amusing one as well, sympathy is almost entirely with him. The interaction between them is great and has tension even though it's not much different from similar conflicts.

Concluding, very well done. 8/10.