You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘leprechaun’ tag.
Director: Paul J. Smith
Release Date: July 14, 1958
Stars: Woody Woodpecker
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
‘His Better Elf’ starts with Woody Woodpecker being poor, full of debts and living near a city dump.
Suddenly a four-leaf clove grows through the floor, which turns into a leprechaun woodpecker (a miniature green Woody) called O’Toole, who speaks in rhyme. First O’Toole demonstrates his powers, and then he grants Woody three wishes.
Woody’s first wish is, as expected, to become filthy rich. But O’Toole grants him the wish by placing him inside the National Bank, and soon a cop tries to arrest Woody for bank robbing. The rest of the cartoon is essentially a chase cartoon with the cop trying to catch Woody, and O’Toole sabotaging these attempts, using a lot of dynamite. In the end Woody uses his third wish to sent the little pest to hell.
‘His Better Elf’ is a genuine gag cartoon, but it’s a pity the wish concept isn’t used more, but instead taken over by a routine cartoon chase. There’s a shot featuring a moving background when Woody is caught by two policemen, a rare feat since the early 1930s.
Watch an excerpt from ‘His Better Elf’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Woody Woodpecker cartoon No. 85
To Woody Woodpecker’s debut film: Half Empty Saddles
To the next Woody Woodpecker cartoon: Everglade Raid
‘His Better Elf’ is available on the DVD-set ‘The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection Volume 2’
Director: Michael Lah
Release Date: July 4, 1958
Stars: Droopy, Butch (Spike)
Rating: ★★
Review:
In his last screen appearance, Droopy is a tourist with a few hours in Dublin, Ireland where he buys a leprechaun hat.
Then street bum Butch (Spike) thinks Droopy is a real leprechaun, and follows him into (non-existing) Shillelagh Castle to catch him. There Droopy mistakes Spike for the mad duke of Shillelagh Castle. What follows are several appallingly uninspired blackout gags, involving medieval instruments like an iron maiden, a catapult, and a crossbow.
Droopy is completely out of character in this cartoon: he’s no more than a helpless victim of Spike’s fancy, never in control, and constantly fleeing for ‘the mad duke’. Spike, too, has little of himself: he speaks with an Irish accent and has none of the trickster character traits of earlier Droopy films. The result is certainly the least funny Droopy film ever made. As ‘Droopy Leprechaun’ was also the last of the Droopy cartoons, this is a particularly sad farewell to the once so hilarious character.
Watch ‘Droopy Leprechaun’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Droopy Leprechaun’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Tex Avery’s Droopy – The Complete Theatrical Collection’
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 