227. The Mice Will Play (1938)

Warner cartoon no. 226.
Release date: December 31, 1938.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Tex Avery.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Berneice Hansell (Johnny & Susie Mouse / Mice) and Mel Blanc (Cat).
Story: Jack Miller.
Animation: Sid Sutherland.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: When the cat's away, the mice will play. After some fun, Johnny Mouse rescues his passion Suzy - whilst in threat of a black cat.

The last WB cartoon released in 1938 - as the total output had 40 cartoons released. Next year would consist of 44 cartoons. By around 1939 - there is a little decline in the quality in the cartoons as well as the directors: Avery takes a new and low level of creating spot-gags, whilst Jones is the outcast, Hardaway-Dalton make bland cartoons, and Clampett's Porky cartoons are considerably weak.

According to Joe Adamson, this is the cartoon which Tex Avery was dissatisfied himself, criticising it for being a "cutesy-cutesy...almost a Jones" because of the cute characters added here - but when I review it; we'll see if I agree...

The cartoon begins as we see the door outside which is the laboratory belonging to Dr. I.M. Nutts (Avery having pun with play-on words), his room is a experimental laboratory. As we pan inside - we look through his lab as we see he has many lab containers that spread through the overlay of that shot.

At the corner of the wall; we find a group of mice who open the door of their mouse hole to check if they are allowed out to play. The main mouse, named Johnny remarks, "This is a funny-looking joint".   The mice respond to that as, "Correct. Absolutely correct". They all step out of the mouse hole tiptoeing very carefully and quietly so they don't make a sound.

As Johnny continues to tiptoe very carefully - there is a bar above his shadow; and his shadow has a life and ends up bumping into the bar, then falls. This causes Johnny to jump and he hisses his own shadow. Now that was certainly a very funny gag Avery developed himself which shows he's very original with gags and already pulled one out of his bag.

They continue to whisper until they both shout out in their loud, low voices; "Hey, anybody out here!" until they rush back into their mouse holes; and quickly nibble through which forms the words 'Gone With the Wind' which is a fun pun to use; and a gag reused a few times. That whole gag sequence was originated from 'A Sunbonnet Blue' - perhaps, Avery felt using an old idea would save him time. Johnny Mouse steps out of the letter 'D' which he nibbled, and listens out for any further voices. None. He asks for all the other mice to step out and have fun in the laboratory - so all the mice follow out.

A group of mice then gather together towards a microscope so they can have some fun. A mouse then grabs out a bacteria slide (presumably there are bacteria living there) as they use the microscope to look at them and also to observe.

Their own observations are in fact made a gag out of - the first sighting are a group of germs where they are in an American football field playing a match - one red bug on the wing then grabs the ball and makes a touchdown.

The next group they spot some 'chicken pox germs' where they are germs shaped as chickens and we hear the 'Chicken Reel' in the background. The last gag then features 'whooping cough' germs where those germs cough. They are certainly very cutesy gags; they're the type of gags that are typical of Avery but presented in a cute form - even with the mice giggling at the germs which feels Disney-esque. Meanwhile - on the lookout at the window ceiling - we see a black cat who finds the rodents in the lab and licks his chop as he plans on eating them.

The next sequence we see some fun which I find to be very amusing to watch; gagwise and also animation-wise. We find that Johnny sees a stethoscope lying in the middle of the table. A group of mice then hold onto the bell of the stethoscope where it is placed on one mouse's heart. We see the mouse has some heavy heart beats where Johnny midly reacts to the heart sounds.

To make the gag even more entertaining and fun for the mice - a group grab out a box of heart pills and the mouse swallows them. Johnny, holding onto the stethoscope - then starts to react very wildly that it then combines with some very broad and loose movement in the animation which is very fun to watch. A bit of a innocent gag for sure, but I feel as though Treg Brown certainly has topped it with his creative sound effects. That small sequence with the stethoscope (at least with the wild reaction) is Irv Spence's own animation there.

As the sequence of the mice having fun pass by - we find as that as they are having fun - one white mouse in particular isn't having any fun at all. She is trapped inside a golden cage by the scientist who is planning on digesting her. She screams with tears as she is trying to shout out for help for any mice about to hear.

Mm, the label which labels the white mouse as an experiment - I wonder if that could be referencing Alexander Fleming's 1928 penicillin discovery; even though penicillin wasn't used or even publicised until the Second World War.

As the mice are having fun; it feels as though there were a few scenes jumbled in together (like the X-Ray sequence which could have came before or after the stethoscope sequence). One mouse is visioned through X-Ray. Inside his stomach we see he has almost an entire block of cheese in his stomach - while up in his head we see his brain is working mechanically. Barely a gag, really. Meanwhile - as the mice continue to have fun; we appear to see shots of the cat entering the kitchen of the mouse in search for the white female mouse who is trapped inside the cage.

Meanwhile, Johnny continues to have some fun in the laboratory as he finds a bottle of neon fluid. After gulping the bottle of neon acid - he walks out feeling rather dandy - but the outlines of his body appear with flashing neon static around him. It's a rather cool effect; also animated by Spence.

Meanwhile - a mouse then approaches at an eye testing board. He grabs out a pair of glasses that is already standing in front of him. He sees the board where he already sees some selected random letters; (although the 'IOU' row at the top appeared to have been added as a joke).

As he grabs out the glasses - his vision is rather blurry but then the lettering fades as it reads: "$30 Every Thursday" which might be some reference to a diner, perhaps? The mouse makes a take from reading that and then quickly dashes off. Meanwhile, Susie Mouse is screaming from inside the golden cage for help but nobody is answering. In the following sequence - we find a pair of mice as find Johnny minding his own business. It appears that Johnny is almost the butt of these pranks. As they are about to jab him with an injection needle - after the count to '3' an audience pops out and bellows, 'DON'T DO THAT!' and they walk out with disgust, 'Aww, we never have any fun!' Now that scene with the audience is just pure comedy - and definitely pure Avery, if he considers that cutesy.

As the cat (already holding onto cutlery) is about to approach Susie Mouse for dinner. Susie is seen in the golden cage writing a rescue message to whichever mice finds the message. The message reads: I'm in the next room Save Me! signed Susie Mouse.

She folds the paper as a paper plane and the message even flies and feels controlled like a plane. The paper plane halts near the spot where Johnny is standing; and he reads the message. He reads out the letter through cursive writing and then he announces, "Gosh - she must be in trouble!" which is pretty obvious.

The funny part is just after that remark - some writing on the paper magically appears with a P.S. message, 'You said it! Big Boy!' so Johnny Mouse then does the honourable thing by saving her. That P.S. message was surely very amusing and even spontaneous. Johnny dashes out of the scene as he nibbles through the door to save Susie Mouse through that very short bit of action.

Johnny Mouse opens the cage like curtain blinds, as Susie Mouse steps out of her, immediately it is love at first sight for her.

Susie Mouse: My hero.
Johnny Mouse: Lay off the love stuff, lady. Let's get outta here.


He lets go of Susie Mouse as they both leave the scene before they are chased by the black cat. As they leave the mousehole - Johnny dashes back to place a cork through so the cat or any other mice couldn't get through. Meanwhile - the cat approaches at the scene where he is looking out for some mice to eat.

Meanwhile, Susie Mouse tries to convince Johnny and grab his attention. His response to that is, "What's eatin' ya anyway?" Her response to that is, 'Can't you see that I love you'. She turns on the X-Ray where she fully expresses her feelings and emotions as her heart is pounding with 'I love you' written on it. Cool lifework on the heart. Johnny has immediately fallen for her as they have not both fallen in love. "Aww, gee, Susie. Why didn't you tell me?" he responds flattered. Its a rather unappealing bit of dialogue spoken by Berniece Hansell as it feels like listening to puppy love in a cartoon through her child voices.

The next sequence appears to fade to even later, where there is a host of mice all dressed formally in tuxedos. There is a shot where we see a group of mice performing music through items in the laboratory (like a grand piano (formed from a cigar box) and the xylophone performed by using matchsticks and test tubes. I'm not so sure what the music they're playing to but I think its to Garden of the Moon but there is a repeated, catchy rhythm that is played by each mouse.

Then it turns over to a singing mice group as they appear to be singing the popular song version of 'Here Comes the Bride'. There is a song sequence which goes on for roughly a minute, and of course - it turns out that it is the wedding of Johnny and Susie Mouse. There has literally been no story going on in this cartoon; and the relationship between those two (earlier on) is really the only climax of the whole cartoon.

As the song continues - the priest plays the clarinet to Johnny and Susie Mouse and both of them take their turn playing the tune. I really wonder what got Tex to create such a song squence which is just tepid and a way to promote popular songs? I thought he was off that by then - unless it was writer's suggestions.

The song already reaches its conclusion through these fast-pacing shots as the mice finish the song sequence (as well as the instrument players) and the black cat is about to approach. Just as the song finishes; and the curtains close - it is already the moment where "you may now kiss the bride".

After the couple both share their own kiss; Susie already talks about the future for both of them. She speaks: "Now we're married. By and by, maybe they'll be lots and lots and lots of little fat mice". At that exact spot - the black cat is has already got his own knife and fork - ready to eat the pair (which would be their fate). The cat then stops as he thinks to himself, "Lots of little fat mice? Hmm, I think I'll wait!" Now that is definitely a funny but rather dark conclusion to the cartoon - and at least that tone was made funny through the art of Mel Blanc.

Overall comments: Now to decide whether I agree with Avery's own opinions on his view of the cartoon. Whilst I see his point about the cartoon being all to cutesy, certainly but to state that it was "almost a Jones" is in fact a little bit of a stretch there. The mice are certainly very cutesy looking; but they are definitely Avery character designs. The fact that what probably makes then very cutesy is the added elements of the voices done by Berneice Hansell - when back then the directors didn't properly know how to cast funny voice actors well (like Mel Blanc was still fairly new and Sara Berner only started her voice acting for Warners). Apart from only a few gags where they looked rather cute and innocent - there were certainly some Avery gags that were pure and off-the wall. Like the cinema audience halting the action of an animated cartoon is certainly something - as well as the shadow being knocked down from a bar. With that said - I partly agree with Avery's statement of this cartoon; it certainly isn't a masterpiece and it sure lacks some of the charm he adds in his own cartoons.

Aside from that, my biggest concern of that cartoon is the quality of the cartoon's story. I find the storytelling for this cartoon to be very poor. The cartoon has a very thin narrative but there is really no story or hardly a climax that is going on in the cartoon. The main aspect of this cartoon's story are a group of mice having fun in a laboratory - sort of feels like a Harman-Ising or early Disney story. The dilemma of Susie Mouse is probably the only one in that whole cartoon; and yet it feels like an added element to the cartoon that really came out of nowhere. After the rescue of Susie, the sequence immediately fades over to the wedding day - which is really just a messed up storyline of that cartoon; as there is no climax, or even adventurous. The cat is really the only character who appears to try and make the cartoon rather exciting but even he did literally nothing until his comment at the very end (which is the only funny line of that cartoon). The song sequence was also rather pointless, as well as its story (even though the cartoon is rather short at length compared to most cartoons) and a lot of the screen in the film feels a little wasted. No wonder Tex wasn't satisfied with the result.

Now with 1938 all reviewed and published - the next step is 1939 as it will be 44 cartoons that year to review - and thus it will mean I would nearly complete the decade. I feel that 1938 (this year) has easily been the strongest year so far for the Warner Bros. cartoons. Tex Avery has turned out some very satisfying results, and even funny satires - Bob Clampett has had a perfect streak of very funny Porky Pig cartoons he has been making. Tashlin has been very unique and interesting that year - while we have newcomers of directors such as Hardaway-Dalton and Chuck Jones. Of course; 1939 is a year where Friz Freleng has no cartoons released (as he didn't return until around mid or late-1939) and of course the humour starts to deteriorate slightly. That is the year where the crew desperately needed Friz Freleng. Probably my favourite cartoon of that year is a toss-up between Cinderella Meets Fella and Porky and Daffy.

Have my sympathies when I will be reviewing a year - which I believe is going to be tough. Since I've reviewed a few cartoons which I've considered tough (I'll name a few: A Feud There Was, and some of the Hardaway-Dalton efforts) - then 1939 is going to be even tougher.

226. Count Me Out (1938)

Warner cartoon no. 225.
Release date: December 17, 1938.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Danny Weber (Egghead), Mel Blanc (Vinyl Record) and Tex Avery (referee).
Story: Melvin Millar.
Animation: Herman Cohen.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Egghead inspires to become a boxer - and uses an interacting vinyl record to help him.


The last cartoon where the original design for Egghead is seen in the cartoon; whilst the other design (or if you prefer to call him 'Egghead's brother') continues until 1939, and then later: Elmer Fudd.

The cartoon begins as we see a letterbox where it is Egghead's residence. We see the letterbox reads; "Air Mail" - I guess it is a dated reference meaning air mail was rare in that period whereas its very common. We pan as we find Egghead appears to be a rancher in a mid-western American life. He moves his head whilst reading the letter just like a typewriter - which is some neat timing.


Egghead receives a letter, supposedly from the cartoon company, "Acme" where the main heading reads: Are You a Man or Mouse? as Egghead receives a letter where he is encouraged to become a boxer and the letter suggests boxing lessons to become a fighter.

Egghead then declares: "I'll be a fighter! I'll be a REAL man", he walks over to the letterbox as he grabs out an air place as he uses 'air mail' to travel the plane towards the 'Acme' company's location. The airplane then leaves as a U.S. mail cart then arrives in about a millisecond (gives Egghead a fright) as the old-timer mail clerk hands in the package to Egghead:


Clerk: Here ya be, Johnny!
Egghead: That sure is fast service!
Clerk: I wouldn't have been here sooner but the bridge was out! Entirely gone!
Egghead: Okay, pop.
Clerk: Well, you can't please anybody, get up mammy.

The mail clerk leaves the scene, as Egghead walks back holding his package. That sequence with the mail delivery was some really good timing (still unsure whether Dalton or Hardaway did the timing of the cartoons). The use of speed was rather necessary for that; and it did make the gag work. Shows that those two were even capable for some fast-pacing. Love the Egghead take where there is a real use of exaggeration in the squash n'stretch animation.

Meanwhile inside the house - Egghead already has the boxing supplies in his desk where he will be caught how to box. He already has some punching gloves, as well as skip-rope for physical exercise. He then grabs out a vinyl record from inside the box where it is an educating record to teach you how to fight.

A very cool effect where we see the close-up of the vinyl record and it already starts playing from there - rather tough to have nailed down to make it look rather realistic. After the fadeout - we see Egghead is already in his own boxing outfit ready to practice. His first job in the program is to perform some correct poses for boxing.

Egghead performs a couple of attempt for his fighting poses -as the program continues the instructions. A really funny gag which is very Avery-esque is where the radio gets personal and shouts, "I said chest out!" and Egghead sticks his chest out.

Another gag is added but here I think Hardaway-Dalton get carried away with the gags; as it turns out the instructor answers the phone through the introduction. It's not particularly very funny, but the 'chest out' part was and even Egghead's deep breath getting more intense as he pants.

I love how his pants drops and we see his boxers. We then follow on a small scene where the record instructs to pace faster and faster until Egghead is merely an airbrush (boy - that print really needs cleaning) and Egghead puffs out from exhaustion. It's a repeated gag from Sweet Sioux but I have to say - the effect of Egghead pacing does look a LOT better. The instructor even makes some talk towards him by telling him off for panting and comments the audience are watching - which is rather amusing.

Egghead walks over to the next step where it involves the punching bag. He is informed to strike the punching bag rather firmly, but what happens is the punching gag somehow ends up stuck on where it is hung. Egghead turns around, wondering but the punching bag shoots out and whacks Egghead out of the scene. Okay, but I don't see how a gag like that works as it doesn't make sense to me. I guess its meant to be wacky but it doesn't feel it here

Egghead gets back up - as it appears that the record player is just watching what he is going through. Okay, but the 'chest out' gag was rather funny, but that record player is just making more remarks throughout the cartoon and it just becomes unfunny and tepid.

After a few punches with the punching bag and Egghead punching nice and easy - the vinyl record concludes today's lesson. As the punching bag still keep moving, the record player impatiently blurts, "I said that'll be ALL for today!" As the punching bag still keeps on banging - the instructor from the vinyl record shouts, "Stop punching that bag!". Now that was certainly funny - as it was well executed, with the tone of voice and all - but with those personal remarks being toned down (to avoid repition) it would definitely had worked much better. Its even funnier to me when Egghead grabs his shotgun and shoots the punching bag dead. Probably the only hilarious gag in that cartoon.

The next day - Egghead continues with the program as the next step involves some physical movement by dodging the punching bags shooting out. Mmm, just think if Egghead got punched in the crotch - it would be the most painful punch.


After managing to successfully dodge the punching gloves - the vinyl record then gives him a diploma as he has graduated from his boxing education. Egghead then shouts out in his Joe Penner voice, "It's AMAZING!" Egghead walks out in complete uniform as he is ready to pack and leave for his next stop at the boxing arena. He checks in the mirror where there appears to be a little reference (maybe Penner but a little unsure). He walks out but just as he walks out - the punching bag then ruins Egghead's luck as he socks Egghead in the face and his suitcase ends up flying. He is knocked out afterwards - as then the sequence then dissolves into a dream.

The dissolve begins as there are a crowd of folks entering the stadium for the fight featuring Egghead vs. Biff Stew. As everybody is settled - the referee calms the audience and makes his announcements: "Ladies and gentlemen! In this corner - the champion of the world -- Biff Stew!". The audience applaud as we watch a bulldog wrestler who is Biff Stew himself. Behins his robe is bright lights that read: Biff Stew World Champion.

Of course - the directors couldn't have gone for a better choice when they chose Tex Avery for the voice of the referee as he was certainly a great voice actor other than director. As the referee is about to announce Egghead in the other corner, he ends up breaking into one of Tex's notorious, and infectious laughs. A rather amusing sequence

He laughs as he is mocking Egghead's physique with sarcastic comments. He hangs onto the ropes of the canvas as he laughs, "You can have him!" and falls off. That gag would later he reused in Chuck Jones' To Duck - or Not to Duck. Egghead is standing at the corner as he turns on his vinyl record so he would successfully win the match. The bodyguards (or crew) of Biff Stew then crowd together as to how the match will play. Egghead crowds over to see what the discussion is before the group depart leaving him in the centre of the arena.

The fight begins as Egghead dashes out of his own rice and begins his attempt on fighting Biff Stew. Since Biff Stew is very muscular and huge compared to Egghead who is a twig - he feels no pain. With no result, Egghead comments, "It's unbelievable". A really cool effect where Biff Stew just blows on his thumb and his glove stretches and socks Egghead. Egghead is already losing as he is being drilled to the sound.

As Egghead rolls out - his own interactive vinyl record encourages him to keep on fighting - so Egghead dashes out. As the action continues, we find a commentator who looks rather tired and bored as he unenthusiastically talks in a very fast tone, and at that spot a fly crawls at his desk but he just grabs the fly and crushes it with no avail.

As the fighting continues - Biff Stew is already thrashing him as there is a cloud covering up the action. Egghead's neck stretches up as he hollers, "Oh no!" As the puff continues to flow around the canvas - the fighting stops as Biff Stew walks out with the job done. Egghead is standing rather dazed as he walks very wearily.

Egghead sits on Biff Stew's lap and sits there as though he is a puppet. He appears to be making a Charlie McCarthy reference as he chuckles, "Imagine meeting you here. Small world after all, isn't it" and appears to chuckle like him. As the bell rings for another round - the pair then get back to their positions on that edge of the campus. Egghead is about to use his fighting poses but Biff Stew just lets him have it by socking him out of the way and Egghead ends up crashing the vinyl record.

After the crash of his own vinyl record - he gets up as he weeps rather cowardly, "I don't want to fight anymore". He is just about to quit as he tries to escape through the ropes of the canvas. As he plans on escaping - Biff Stew grabs his own pants and asks, "Where do you think you're going?" He then grabs him as he has hold of him. He whacks him where Egghead just stretches in the arena in perspective. That is just some good perspective animation there.

After the stretch from the canvas - he flies back and ends up knocking out Biff Stew. Being flattened underneath a knocked-out Biff Stew - he then bites his leg which causes Biff Stew to scream in agony. Egghead then finds that the entire canvas is cracked (as Biff Stew made a terrible hole in the middle of the canvas).

His movement then dissolve back into reality where he realises it was only a dream. First is first, he grabs the vinyl record and tosses it out of the windows as well as the rest of the boxing supplies. He dusts his hands, "I'm through with this - I don't want to fight anymore". As he walks out - the punching glove (from the machine) socks him in the face.

Overall comments: The gags in this cartoon at least show some hits there, but as well as misses. The vinyl record (I think) is the problem of the cartoon's humour as he ends up becoming an interacting record which I think isn't amusing and steals the humour of the cartoon. Much of the gags with the vinyl record (and even as a whole) is rather weak. It would only have been funny with about one or two comments that were directed directly to Egghead. With that aside - there were a few funny little gags like the gunshot gag which I think was definitely the highlight of the cartoon, or even the referee's infectious laughter. The voice choice for the referee was an absolute great choice for Tex Avery to play. With the gags aside - I must say that I consider this cartoon to be one of Hardaway and Dalton's 'stronger' cartoons even though they have a reputation for turning out mediocre or tepid material. I find that most of the gags actually work, and show some originality - that even some directors would be inspired from later.

Hardaway and Dalton were still only new as directors; and they borrowed Avery's original Egghead character probably as an attempt to make him a star; whilst Avery was using Egghead (the other design) as satire or the butt of other gags. Dalton has already used Egghead as a satire in A-Lad-in Bagdad which is similar to what Avery would do - but here they appear to try and make him a regular character.  Even though his evolution may have been very interesting and important; I feel both director's attempts on the character have basically the same personalities (probably because they both had similar story artists). With that aside; I find that Dalton (or Hardaway) are capable with a sense of comic timing that can actually be really amusing. The mail scene was a really good use of quick-pacing; but then at times (much like in the other cartoons) - the comic timing for the fighting scenes were a little sloppy, and way too slow.

225. Porky the Gob (1938)

Warner cartoon no. 224.
Release date: December 17, 1938.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Ben Hardaway & Cal Dalton.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Porky Pig / Captain / Sailors).
Story: Melvin Millar.
Animation: Gil Turner.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Porky works at sea in the navy - but found too incompetent to take part in capturing a pirates submarine - until he spots one, alone.

Last time we had seen 'Hardaway/Dalton' paired together since Love and Curses and this cartoon is where they are finally paired and Cal Howard was taken off.

The cartoon begins as we still see night in the sky - but then the sun rises as we see a navy ship standing in the near distance as the ship's vessel then blows. We hear the sounds of a sailor using the trumpet call for all the sailors to board the ship.

All the sailors then arrive at the harbour as we jump onto the lifeboats to sail across to the navy ship to return to duty. After sailing back to the ship - the sailors then aboard their navy ship carrying sacks needed for duty. We follow on with some montage shots of the sailors about to make its voyage - with one sailor pulling up the anchor and a shot of the anchor rising. The anchor rising was some reused effects animation from I Wanna Be a Sailor. Then we see a sailor underwater as we find he is in the engineering deck and he turns on the propellers; and these animated propellers then start to turn on as the ship sails and then the smoke from the funnel rises as they are ready for a new journey.

The cartoon then gets into action as the ship sails by and the crew are singing (out of their windows) to the traditional sailor song: Anchors Aweigh: as they start off by singing, "Over the seas - let's go men. We're starting right off, we're starting right off again!"

Porky then takes over singing the lyrics of the song for a while as he sings; "Nobody knows where or when - we're shoving right off again" and he also stutters while singing that part. Porky appears to be rowing (from the close-up) point but it turns out he's using a push-up machine (as it seems) to make it look like he's sailing but instead makes him a bit of a hick - which I don't find a funny gag. I have to say that the vocals of Porky singing there sound absolutely awful and it feels like they forgot to speed up Blanc's vocals there or that Blanc seemed to have his vocal strings tied up - but most likely the speeding up effect. Poor editing.

More navy gags appear as a flagman sailor waves (but as the tide comes in) a seal arrives at the spot and takes over - presumably he ate the sailor which is a rather dark but popular 1930s gag. The captain opens his door and sings his part, "We'll just be come for years and years and then..." and it sounds like Blanc is doing an impression of Candy Candido or Elmer Blurt from 'The Al Pearce Show' but I'm a little unsure.

More sailors then dance through the song - but I find the gag a little amusing where the ship rocks and they almost slide out of the ship into the sea - and the gag is repeated a few times of that scene. They then end up losing their own balance as they all tip into the ocean - probably never to be seen again; as most sailors end up lost at sea.

The cartoon properly begins after the song sequence as we find that the captain is in his own cabin asleep. As we truck back we know that he is snoring and of course snoring his socks off. He snores violently that his socks almost blow away but are saved by suspenders.

As he is asleep - he has his own window open but the water ends up rising into his own room as he awakens and spontaneously gives out orders when he is actually confused. He then blabbers out, "Clear the decks out!" Then he steps out of his own cabin as he orders his sailors, "Avast - you swamps. All hands on deck! Full speed ahead. Ease the wheel!"

He walks up and down giving out those orders. As he is hammering with a mallet. The captain orders to his crew: "Batten down the hatches" and then shouts towards Porky for those orders but Porky responds the hatches were already battered down. The captain's angered response is, "Well, batten down again! I'll teach those hatches" - it appears the captain is rather out of control here. Porky surely looks rather fat in an unappealing way.

The captain continues to order orders until he finds a sailor rather sleepy in a hammock. The sailor doesn't respond - so the captain then starts to blow his whistle but produces no sound. With no sound - he uses the sailor's fingers for whistle; which I guess is funny since you use your fingers to often whistle - and its a rather nutty gag but certainly not a gag which is believable.

As roll call begins - all the sailors then gather together in a line where the captain is to see if all the sailors are around. From the close-up shots; he finds all but Porky and he shouts for his name. Porky dashes at the scene to catch up. The Captain then begins as he orders for all the sailors to, "Count off!". Porky, who is first in line, starts off by counting "one" with all the other sailors engaged in rhythm by rhyming almost every number they count off. The second sailor begins with, "two - over my shoe". "3...4...shut my door". "5 and a 6...pick up sticks!" A very lame gag I find as its rather childish and of course - an attempt for a looney gag but it certainly doesn't top of the gags Avery used - and hell, even Tex could knock it out better here.

The Captain is annoyed with the goofiness as he quietens the assembly line and slaps them all with his hand - the airbrush effect was certainly rather decent. The trumpet call is then heard which means the sailors are reported for duty. The Captain then announces, "Last one out is a softie" which is a gag that Hardaway would've got from Avery.

All the sailors then run out stamping him until the Captain orders for a 'halt' and the entire group then freeze - which is a cool technique and gag where they are put on held so the Captain can walk past the crew so he isn't a softy. What a cocky and arrogant personality. After that arrogant walk - he then zips out of the scene and all the sailors continue to dash through at the scene. Meanwhile - there is a wireless officer in the stateroom as he is asleep but awakens of the radio that makes the noise for battleships and code. The captain walks in as he is already scoffing at his hamburger and he scoffs; "What did they say?" he grabs out the wireless message and it is a mission to capture a 'pirate submarine' where the reward costs at $50,000. The Captain is awed at the reward as he shouts with excitement. Immediately enthusiastic on the mission; he shouts: "All hands on deck - all speed ahead!" and ease the wheel!

The news is announced as the same sailor (from earlier on the cartoon) makes the trumpet call to set on the mission. All of the sailors then start to board on a plane in search for the pirate submarine.

Porky tries to step on board but only to be kicked out by the sea Captain as he shouts, "Get out! You're rockin' the ship" which is a direct insult to Porky and then the plane leaves with Porky staying on board. The Captain then opens the door again as he breaks the forth wall, winking at the audience: "And I DO mean rocking" which is just an altered quote of the line, "And I do mean you!" It would just be funnier if he said the original Jimmy Fiedler quote as that quote he just said isn't even funny at all. Porky then walks out as he grumbles, "I never get to do nothing - all I hear is 'Porky do this and Porky do that', etc." and this scene doesn't feel very sympathetic enough as I can't feel his frustrations here. Porky then plans on giving up his own navy career as he then plans on deserting the ship.

Meanwhile at sea - there is a submarine periscope on the lookout - and we see that the windscreen wiper cleans up the scope. Below we find that a pirate captain is below and spots a navy ship. Of course - we know that his plan is of course to blow up the ship. He then pulls the knob (like we see in pinball) where the undersea bomb is about to shoot directly to. That pinball knob gag was rather useful.

The pacing of the bomb shootings straight to the ship is certainly some terrible pacing. The bomb then arrives at the spot and stamps a target on the ship so it can be targeted. Of course you can hear Franz Schubert's popular piece: "Erlkonig" which is even a very popular Carl Stalling piece for action scenes that are stirring up.

The bomb then starts to make a step back before shooting straight through where the ship is therefore collided. Very confusing as to why the ship did not explode and it clearly shows through the effects animation that it looks as though the port of the ship had exploded - and yet it is still standing with Porky on board (unless the water is sucking through the exploded part - creating a 'Titanic' moment - wait and see). But still - there's just no other way it would survive.

Porky feels the eruption on the ship as he removes the ropes covering him and he scatters out of the way noticing it was the pirates. He then finds a cannon and he aims it at the pirates' submarine. There is a sequence that goes on where it involves Porky firing cannons towards the submarine but there appears to be an extended hand that reaches over and places a cigar inside Porky's shirt pocket. I don't even understand the gag where the glove just takes the cigar back - its all just stupid.

A pirate of the submarine then fires with a machine gun towards the ship. Then there is an explosion of the pirate afterwards where his machine gun is destroyed. He then plans his next trick where he grabs his slingshot and he shoots his own bubblegum directly towards Porky's cannon. With that effect the bubblegum stays on his cannon and that is just very sloppy movement of the gum.

 Porky fires the cannon but the cannonball is caught on the chewing gum - and ends up exploding Porky's gum. As lame as gags get, how on earth could chewing gum be so strong to stop the cannon. May work elsewhere but its just unexplained. After the explosion - the cannon has exploded and Porky has a lifebelt on his head rather dazed.

After the explosion - the pirates continue to fire at Porky where all he has to do is attempt to dodge bullets that are shooting straight towards him. He then runs inside a cabin but there is a little gag where the bullets shoot windows diagonally where we see the bright lights reading: "Bingo" which would be a bright lights reference.

Porky then escapes as he grabs hold of a rope and he kicks the pirates attempting to climb aboard, out of the way. Porky then grabs out a plunger as he then aims it at the pirate's submarine. Porky then pulls the submarine up as he has captured the pirates single handedly.

Afterwards - Porky is therefore given a medal and of course - the $50'000 prize as he is a proud member of the navy. However, another trumpet call is given as the Captain bellows, "Last one out is a rotten egg" - everyone dashes out of the scene - let alone the bag of money. Porky dashes back and then catches up with the rest of his crew.

Overall comments: It feels as though that after the Frank Tashlin unit was disbanded - Chuck Jones was given his unit and was allowed to direct all-colour cartoons. The 'Porky' cartoons that were also directed by Tashlin appeared to have been given to the Hardaway-Dalton unit but alas they also directed colour cartoons. They have directed a few characters with the pig character - but I do find that even they are a bit incompetent with handling the character. The story of this cartoon featuring Porky in the navy story is in fact a recycled story idea from Little Beau Porky which was made two years earlier. Much of the gags in this cartoon are very lame and they're anything but solid - but there were a few I thought were so silly that it was mildly amusing - like the sequence where the sailors were doing the counting off.

Most of the gags in the cartoon are very weak that you just wouldn't find it believable and many of them appear to be very 'weightless' like the bubble-gum gag, the bomb gag and also the plunger gag.As directors; this cartoon had some pretty poor pacing as you will notice that the cartoon really doesn't have a story going on until around half-way through the cartoon as you will notice that they had about half a minute to set up the sailors to board on the ship and sail, a minute of the sailor's singing and then a minute of the captain doing his duty with the sailors - and nothing happens until around the point in the wireless room. What I have forgot to mention which was a great gag - and not even used before in the Warners cartoon was the 'freeze' gag where the crew have just been frozen as the Captain walks past them to get into the lead - I admit at least some good came from Hardaway and Dalton where they had some original ideas that were going on.