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Director: Friz Freleng
Release Date: June 10, 1965
Stars: The Pink Panther
Rating: ★
Review:
In ‘Pink Ice’, the Pink Panther is reunited with what he was named after: diamonds. In this film the Pink Panther owns a diamond mine, which is stolen by two colonial Englishmen.
‘Pink Ice’ is a perfect example of how the DePatie-Freleng Studios struggled to hit the right mark in the early Pink Panther films. In ‘Pink Ice’ the Pink Panther behaves particularly unfamiliar. Not only does he wear a dressing-gown throughout the picture, but he talks, and a lot, too. As was to be expected, it’s not a success. The film is vaguely reminiscent of some of Friz Freleng’s Bugs Bunny-Yosemite Sam outings, but its abundant use of dialogue is annoying, resulting in a weak entry in the series. Luckily, this experiment with a talking Pink Panther was not to be repeated.
Watch ‘Pink Ice’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Director: Friz Freleng
Release Date: April 12, 1965
Stars: The Pink Panther
Rating: ★★½
Review:
In ‘Sink Pink’ a Texan hunter builds an ark to lure the animals of the savannah into it.
Sink Pink is the Pink Panther’s fifth film and the first to use dialogue. Unfortunately it’s a bad addition. The Texan hunter’s constant jabbering distracts from the pantomime humor. In the end even the Pink Panther himself speaks, which is even a worse idea. Nevertheless, ‘Sink Pink’ is noteworthy because it’s also the first film in which the Pink Panther shows his unique walk.
Watch ‘Sink Pink’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Director: Friz Freleng
Release Date: March 17, 1965
Stars: The Pink Panther
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
‘Dial “P” for Pink’, the Pink Panther’s fourth film, has nothing to do with calling on a phone. Instead, we see a burglar trying to crack a safe. Oddly enough, this safe is in habited by the Pink Panther.
This extraordinary, but very simple idea is worked out perfectly into a tight plot (by Bob Kurtz), which matches that of ‘The Pink Phink‘ (1964).
‘Dial “P” For Pink’ is the first Pink Panther film to use music from the Pink Panther live action film ‘A shot in the dark’ (1964). Besides the familiar Pink Panther theme, this would become the background music for practically every Pink Panther short to come.
Watch ‘Dial “P” For Pink’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Director: Friz Freleng
Release Date: December 18, 1964
Stars: The Pink Panther, The Little Guy
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
In his very first own short The Pink Panther nags a painter by painting everything pink that the painter just has painted blue.
This is the Pink Panther’s first film, and it’s easily one of his best. Its simple idea is worked out perfectly into a tight plot (by John Dunn) with a grand finale. Its pantomime animation is effective and its sober design supporting.
Although he never got a name, the “little guy”, the white, big-nosed, mustached antagonist, who resembles both his creator, Friz Freleng, and Inspector Clouseau, is very important to the success of the series: he is easily the best designed opponent in the Pink Panther cartoons. Like the Pink Panther he’s monochrome, and a silent character, allowing the animators to make the best out of pantomime animation. Moreover, he could be staged in all kinds of functions and settings. Nevertheless, he kept a consistent character, being normally kind and gentle, but getting puzzled, then frustrated and often in the end, very angry with the Pink Panther’s antics.
Nevertheless, it took the makers a while to realize his potential, for though the little guy would return as a janitor in ‘We Give Pink Stamps’ (1965), he would only become a regular from ‘The Pink Blue Print‘ (1966) on, after twenty films with other, often talking, and always less wonderfully designed characters.
Watch ‘The Pink Think’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Director: Friz Freleng
Release Date: April 10, 1937
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
‘She Was an Acrobat’s Daughter’ is a cartoon about an evening at the cinema.
It makes very clear that in the 1930s the experience of going to the movies was way more elaborate than nowadays: we watch newsreels, the audience singing to the title song and a feature, ‘The Petrified Florist’, a satire of the Warner Brothers film ‘The Petrified Forest’ (1936), with caricatures of its stars Leslie Howard and Bette Davis. During the cartoon we’re confronted with several movie theater annoyances, like people changing seats, people passing by in the middle of a film, popcorn sellers and bad front row seats.
In this cartoon, Friz Freleng really caught up with the new spirit at Warner Brothers induced by the coming of Tex Avery and Frank Tashlin in 1936. Gone is any resemblance to cuteness or children stars. Instead, there is an annoying duckling asking questions in an irritable voice, and causing havoc in the cinema. There’s no story, just gags, and the film ends rather unexpectedly. But the whole film is a sheer delight, aimed at laughs, and succeeding in it, too. Also featured is an early caricature of Adolf Hitler.
Watch ‘She Was an Acrobat’s Daughter’ yourself and tell me what you think:
http://www.supercartoons.net/cartoon/757/she-was-an-acrobats-daughter.html
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Release Date: April 26, 1947
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★★★ ♕
Review:
In ‘The Cat Concerto’ Tom unexpectedly appears to be a star pianist, playing Franz Liszt’s second rhapsody in concert, and doing it with enjoyable flair.
Unfortunately his playing awakes Jerry, who sleeps inside the grand piano. This leads to a hilarious chase in and around the piano, while the playing of the music continues.
‘The Cat Concerto’ almost looks like a remake of Friz Freleng’s ‘Rhapsody Rabbit‘ from 1946. However, it shares only two gags with the earlier film: that of the mouse suddenly interjecting a boogie-woogie theme and the final gag in which the mouse steals the show. The main difference between the two films is The Cat Concerto’s higher sense of realism and its integrated story, in which every gag follows from the one preceding it in almost continuous action.
‘Rhapsody Rabbit’, in contrast, is more absurd and contains more totally unrelated black-out gags. In the end, ‘The Cat Concerto’ is the better cartoon, because of its great characterization, its outstanding animation, its perfect timing. Indeed, it won an Academy Award, and together with ‘The Band Concert‘ (1935) it can be considered the best concert cartoon of all time.
Nevertheless, there seems to be something fishy about ‘The Cat Concerto’, when compared with ‘Rhapsody Rabbit’. For more on the controversy about these two all too similar cartoons, see Thad Komorowski’s excellent blogpost on the issue.
Watch ‘The Cat Concerto’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 29
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Part Time Pal
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse
Director: Friz Freleng
Release Date: November 11, 1946
Stars: Bugs Bunny
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
A very deft Bugs Bunny plays Franz Liszt’s second Hungarian rhapsody on a piano. This classical piece was director Friz Freleng’s all-time favorite, and it appears in several of his films.
In ‘Rhapsody Rabbit’ it is played out full. The cartoon consists of spot gags and it has a small story about Bugs having problems with a mouse. This story element is not well-developed and dropped halfway the cartoon, only to return at the end.
The idea of a battle between the pianist and a mouse was perfected by Hanna & Barbera only five months later in their Tom & Jerry cartoon ‘The Cat Concerto‘, which has exactly the same subject, and which uses exactly the same music by Liszt. Unlike Freleng however, the duo swept the Oscar… There seems to be something fishy about this fact, which is analyzed in detail by Thad Komorowski in his excellent blogpost on the issue.
Compared to the latter cartoon, ‘Rhapsody Rabbit’ is less consistent, but more absurd. The gag in which the mouse makes Bugs play an infectious boogie-woogie may be the highlight of the film.
Watch ‘Rhapsody Rabbit’ yourself and tell me what you think:
http://www.220.ro/desene-animate/Rhapsody-Rabbit/RnRu8v7HIK/
This is Bugs Bunny cartoon No. 41
To the previous Bugs Bunny cartoon: The Big Snooze
To the next Bugs Bunny cartoon: Rabbit Transit
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 