48. Bosko's Woodland Daze (1932)

Warner cartoon no. 47.
Release date: December 17, 1932.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Directed by: Hugh Harman.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko).
Animation: Isadore "Friz" Freleng and Paul Smith.
Musical Score: Frank Marsales.

The short starts off with Bosko playing the harmonica while Bruno is running around the woods with Bosko. He's playing the harmonica in a rather jolly way, while Bruno is just barking away as normal running like a happy dog. While Bruno is sniffing, Bosko decides to trick him, by shouting "Look Bruno", as he points at what is behind Bruno. Bosko runs off as a prank, by running away from Bruno and hiding under a rake of leaves.

Bruno doesn't spot anything behind Bruno's back, and is worried if Bosko is lost or something. There is suddenly a breeze, in which all of the leaves blow away, so Bosko's identity can be found. The assistant work on the leaves isn't great - just poor inbetweening. Bruno spots Bosko after the leaves have blown away. He then creeps up to Bosko, as he's lying down flat. Bruno bites the vine as he runs away, as Bosko can feel it on his crotch. Boy, it seems that Harman-Ising sure liked that painful gag - and it does very boring and dodgy when you keep on looking at it, but it tickles Bosko.

Bosko then decides on playing hide and seek with Bruno, as he hides behind a tree and starts counting. Bruno then starts to hide inside a tree, but then a woodpecker that resides there starts to peck Bruno, as he yelps outside in pain, as he's being pecked on the head. As he runs off, he lands in a river as the woodpecker floats in the air and flies away.

Bosko then turns around to see what was going on, and finds Bruno in the lake in which he laughs, and shouting that he's found him. Wait a minute, he just interrupted his counting as he heard the noise, didn't he? Bruno rinses himself, as Bosko says it's his turn to be "it". Bruno starts to count, and breaks the fourth wall - telling the audience something that I can't even understand. Bosko starts to run off, by sliding down vines and hides behind a tree. Bruno finishes counting and as he runs to find Bosko he gets distracted by a turtle, and ends up following it.

Much to the impatience of Bosko, he suddenly falls asleep assuming that Bruno hasn't found him yet. (Bruno still follows the turtle, as the turtle bites him on the nose, and walks off). Suddenly, a group of elves start to dance around Bosko while he's fast asleep on a tree. It seems that now Bosko is having a dream of pixies having a plot on him. The gnomes are then carrying a tub of bubbles with foam, and a bubble pipe.

The elves are now blowing a bubble inside Bosko while he is sleeping. The bubble gets so huge that Bosko fits inside there himself. Bosko starts to float, in which the timing of the bubble is done quite well. Suddenly, the petals of a flower start to open with a tiny human woman (who probably resembles Thumbelina) starts to sing a song - with flowers in the background having petals transforming into dresses, with ladies dancing. Bosko is still sleeping in the bubble, and doesn't even notice that he's up floating in the sky.

Bosko then wakes up inside the bubble and wakes up as though he is in paradise or something. Suddenly, Bosko starts to sneeze, and as he sneezes by accident - the bubble bursts, and he starts to fall down. The gnomes then start to rescue him by catching a spider web. Bosko does land on the spider web, but he falls down a gap in which he starts falling, falling, falling...

Bosko continues falling (and shouts "is there a doctor in the audience?") and he lands in the grounds of Hell. In Hell, he lands on a piano, as he's shrunk to small size. He starts to play the piano by using his feet, and he's playing it rather skillfully. All the other elves (you seemed to have arrived at hell, for some reason) all start dancing to Bosko's piano skills - as he continues to play some upbeat music. He even kicks the keyboards by sliding on one side, with all the other keyboards piled up, and kicks them back into it's normal position afterwards.

Suddenly a giant enters the scene (and not the devil - what is this Jack and the Beanstalk?) the giant starts to make a grab for Bosko in his greasy hands, but Bosko slips out of his hands, and is being chased by the scary giant. Bosko then climbs up on top of draws, and lands on the table part as he's sliding in grease. The giant then places him on a bun, and strokes him with a brush of mustard...

 

The brush of mustard that's stroking Bosko's face was actually Bruno licking his face - as it turned out that Bosko was dreaming all along. Bosko wakes up from the dream he had, as Bruno has found him. Although, that it's Bosko's turn to be "it" in hide and seek, he's still glad to be with Bruno again - and that's all folks.

This cartoon is rather strange to be in a reason. The elves sequence was rather strange, as it's sort of a fantasy land. Those flowers in which it shows lady singers were rather creepy looking to me. It's certainly not one of the best material produced by Harman-Ising, either. It was just a mediocre cartoon, much like any other Bosko cartoon. This is the last cartoon produced in 1932, and next we go to 1933 - in which later on it will become a completely different Looney Tunes afterwards.