Director: Friz Freleng
Release Date: February 29, 1938
Rating: ★★½
Review:
‘Jungle Jitters’ is a cartoon about cannibals.
We watch them drumming, dancing and trying to cook a Goofy-like travelling salesman. Their white, bird-like queen sees a Clark Gable or Robert Taylor in him and wants to marry the salesman, but he prefers the cooking pot.
‘Jungle Jitters’ is an unsure mix of musical gags, spot gags and a rudimentary gag story. The voices of both the salesman and the queen are weak [see Yowp’s comment below for their origin], and the weird mix of human cannibals and these two animal-like characters is very unconvincing. And let’s not get started on the racist aspect of the movie. Besides, the scenes with the salesman are irritatingly slow, and the gags mostly trite. The best gag is when some cannibals dancing around a hut suddenly change into a merry-go-round.
On the positive side, Carl Stalling’s music is superb throughout, and enhances the action, even if it’s not much to look at.
Watch ‘Jungle Jitters’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Jungle Jitters’ is available on the DVD ‘Uncensored Animation 2: Cannibals!’
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 
3 comments
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October 17, 2017 at 18:07
Don M. Yowp
I imagine this went over better when it came out because people recognised the characters from the Al Pearce Show.
October 21, 2017 at 14:05
Gijs Grob
That explains a lot. I must admit my knowledge of 1930s radio is negligible. Thanks for the enlightment!
October 17, 2017 at 00:50
Jordan Richardson
I’m fascinated by these little pieces of cartoon history, not because they’re good cartoons or because they have something profound to say. But their reflection of societal considerations, in this case the notion of “cannibals” from some foreign land, is both instructive and frenzied in their almost paranoid context.
This one is just frankly bloody nuts, but you’re spot-on about the music.