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Director: Robert McKimson
Release date: February 29, 1964
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
‘Bartholomew versus the Wheel’ is an oddball cartoon in both the Warner Bros. Canon and in Robert McKimson’s oeuvre. Narrated by a little boy the film tells about a dog, Bartholomew, who hates wheels, and bites them all. But things change when he tries to bite an airplane wheel.
‘Bartholomew versus the Wheel’ is a sweet little narrative directed at children and knows very charming cartoon modern designs that are unlike any other Warner Bros cartoon. Bartholomew himself has a very handsome rounded design, and the humans are often of a monochrome cartoon modern design. Also striking is the background art, which emulates children pencil drawings. This film thus is another pleasant surprise out of the studio’s last days.
Watch ‘Bartholomew versus the Wheel’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Bartholomew versus the Wheel’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Six’
Director: Hamilton Luske
Release Date: June 21, 1961
Stars: Donald Duck
Rating: ★
Review:
‘Donald and the Wheel’ is an educational special lasting almost 18 minutes.
The short features two ‘spirits of progress’, an old one and a junior, who are depicted by grotesque looking live actors, of whom we only see their silhouettes. These spirits are voiced by The Mellotones, who provide the rhyming dialogue, and who sing two swinging songs by Mel Leven: ‘Wheels of progress’ and ‘That’s the Principle of the Thing’. Donald Duck is only a pawn in this cartoon, and throughout the picture he’s depicted in his stone age appearance, introduced at the beginning: wearing a bear skin, and suddenly bearing a red scalp.
The educational value of this short is very limited: we watch how wheels are used in all kinds of transport, and in various machines – that’s about it. Thus soon the tiresome dialogue and the irritating duo of spirits wear out their welcome.
The short is further hampered by ugly colored live action footage of cars and industrial wheels, looking forward to the cheap look of Ralph Bakshi’s features from the late 1970s.
Watch ‘Donald and the Wheel’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Donald Duck cartoon No. 118
To the previous Donald Duck cartoon: How to Have an Accident at Work
To the next Donald Duck cartoon: The Litterbug
‘Donald and the Wheel’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald Volume Four 1951-1961’
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 