60. Beau Bosko (1933)

Warner cartoon no. 59.
Release date: July 1, 1933.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Director: Hugh Harman, Friz Freleng.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Friz Freleng and Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko).
Animation: Rollin Hamilton and Norm Blackburn.
Musical Score: Frank Marsales.

 The cartoon starts off with a foreign legion outpost in the middle of the desert, and the sun rises slowly as it is morning. One of the guards standing at the top of the outpost starts his wake up call by playing the "Revielle" tune.There are still animals in their barracks that are still sleeping and breathing in very heavily. There is a three-bunker bed in which they all breathe in that causes the mattresses to move up and down due to the stomach breathing. A funny gag is shown of a tough guy still snoring in bed, and he has a tattoo of a yacht on his chest. As he breathes in the wind blowing on the mainsail.

Then a bugler enters the dormitory shouting "Hey", as everyone is still sleeping in their beds. All of the troops in their beds sing altogether a verse of Good Morning to You, and then there is a Jimmy Durante type troop singing a verse "we're glad to see you". Then the commander is standing in the middle of uniforms in the center of the room. All of the troops crash in grabbing a set of uniform leaving the commander rather weary and inside a large hole on the floor.

Bosko, however, is still sleeping in his comfortable bed and is the last of the troops that is still sleeping. His uniform has to do the job by waking up and being animate. A reprise of the reveille is being played the second time, and the uniform continues to shake Bosko in his bed. As Bosko is still snoring, the uniform grabs out a trombone that was lying on a hook, and Bosko plays "Reveille" while still snoring, and wakes up as the verse was finished and rushes outside. We now know that Bosko's personality shows that he is a heavy sleeper.

Outside is an assembly of troops standing, and the uniform runs to where the troops are. Bosko runs as well, still in his pajamas and jumps inside the uniform so that he is all organized for the day. Bosko then opens up a troop's back pack where there is a small bath in there and he quickly rinses his face - but he's forgotten to brush his teeth. Then, the general walks through the headquarters and he has so many medals in his uniform. The general calls for Bosko and he arrives, and realizes that he's not wearing the appropriate uniform.

The general is assigning Bosko on a mission and shows him a wanted poster on who he wants to be captured. Bosko opens the scroll and finds a picture of an ugly face and his name is Ali Oop and he is tagged as The Desert Scourge, and orders Bosko to go and find the "scourge".

Bosko begins his search for Ali Oop, and he rides in his camel that he fetches from a stable. Bosko them goes riding on the camel and it is a rather "lumpy" ride for him. There are gags of Bosko riding the camel, as the camel jumps over a wall - while Bosko is only holding onto the reins. The camel then runs to the nearest lake to be seen and slurps the entire pond, with a fish suffering for water and complains to the camel. The camel spits out a bit of water for a fish so it can live - well, that's generosity for you.

Inside this desert market town we see that it is a very busy day there. There is a local snake charmer who is playing on oboe as the snake starts to dance, and then breaks the fourth wall by doing one of Jimmy Durante's "Ha-cha-cha-cha!" There is a homeless tramp lying down on a pavement who is snoring, and his front toes are twiddling each other, and there is a swarn of flies that are flying and nearly go into his mouth. But, as the tramp is snoring he breathes out that blows the flies away. There are a lot of snoring gags featured in this short already. There is also a fat, pompous man riding a camel and his body changes shapes as the camel rides.

Bosko continues to ride in his camel, and his attention is caught on a woman wearing a harem outfit, and that is Honey. Of course, the harem outfit is see-through and therefore it would be very inappropriate as Honey is nude - but hey, that's called the Pre-Code of 1934. Both of them kiss each other on the lips as they get warm feelings for each other. Suddenly, Ali Oop and his gang start to chase after Honey and Bosko and they both flee from Ali Oop's gang.

Ali Oop grabs out daggers that were on his jacket and he tries to aim them at Bosko and Honey - but misses. The daggers hit the walls, so both of them climb them up like going up the stairs - and they go through a window. Now, that is good thinking. Bosko then looks out of the window to see if they have gone, but they obviously haven't since a bullet has tried to aim Bosko's face but gets his hat instead.

As there are shooting going on, one of the soldiers is carrying a sniper, and as he shoots a bullet - there is a lump going through the gun and then fires. As he keeps on firing, the bullet then gets caught inside the gun, and he uses his hands to sqeeze it out and the bullet comes out. Bosko discovers a machine gun that he has, and fires outside, but misses the soldier but ends up shooting a pot that hits his head, and he tips his head, in which a row of pots start colliding with the biggest pot hitting a different shooter on the head. More gags are shown with the guns and including one with bullets going through pots of water, and the soldier grabs a figure with an umbrella to block the soldier from being soaked.

Ali Oop is then holding onto a palm tree where he is still firing, but Bosko aims at a coconut that hits Ali Oop on the head, and he lands on a donkey cart. Bosko then grabs out some spears and throws them at the cart that forms a cage where Ali is held hostage. Both Bosko and Honey jump onto the camel that leads the cart of a trapped Ali Oop - and that's all folks.

Overall, I did enjoy this cartoon and luckily that this wasn't even a reused cartoon in terms of reused animation. There were some fun gags that involved gun-shooting. I've also noticed that the animation looks much more realistic than before when it was all rubbery. The human figures is what I'm referring to in which it does look realistic. The name "Ali Oop" is a spoof of the word "alley oop" that people use when they are ready for something. Although I don't think that Honey's harem outfit was even censored and actually you can tell she's naked, but at least you can't notice anything.