416. Inki and the Minah Bird (1943)

Warner cartoon no. 415.
Release date: November 13, 1943.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Chuck Jones.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Story: ?
Animation: ?
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Inki runs into a hungry lion whilst hunting with a spear. However, the lion has difficulty when he encounters the mynah bird who challenges him.

Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

By the time Chuck Jones was achieving better comedy for his animated cartoons; he still hadn't quite withdrawn from his Disney-esque characters which held back his true talents during his first few years as a director. He previously attempted to broaden Sniffles in The Unbearable Bear, which worked fine by underplaying his position and altering his cutesy persona.

Chuck Jones' Inki cartoons remained firmly consistent during his reform - with the exception of his broader timing. Jones would continue to sporadically make Inki cartoons until 1950 - at a time when he was reaching the pinnacle of his powers. Inki is probably the least diverse character from Chuck Jones regarding formula. While the Coyote & Road Runner cartoons feature a great variety of hysterical gags within the same premise - the Inki shorts are restraint from that. The premise is almost entirely centred on Inki hunting a mynah bird whilst endangered by a hungry lion. Only occasionally does the locale change, especially in later cartoons like Inki at the Circus and Caveman Inki. For such differences is for the review to uncover.

The animation is far broader in Inki than Chuck Jones wouldn't dare to do in his earlier cartoons centered on the character. In the opening scene Inki attempts to stab a worm with his spear, but narrowly misses. The spear vibrates vigorously that once Inki grips his hands onto the handle - he begins to shake violently.


In a following close-up; Inki's shaking action is matched by some wild smear animation. By the time the spear relaxes; Inki's hair bun is unloosened with wild long hair falling over his face. For a character we're used to seeing in slower paced cartoons - it's a pretty farfetched gag.


Shortly after, Chuck Jones appears to channel the likes of Tex Avery in a scene of Inki attempting to hunt the mynah bird. Inki's hair bun appears above the water, signalling the bird's location. Upon finding it Inki's hair bun travels its way through soil and digs up the surface. Inki grabs out his spear lying by the ground and proceeds to follow the bird.

The gag itself has been used several times in Avery's cartoons like The Crackpot Quail and The Heckling Hare. It was also used similarly in the Donald Duck cartoon, The Hockey Champ.

The gag standalone might be a throwback to earlier animated shorts, but the action of Inki digging through soil goes up a notch. Inki's hair bun creating wild subtle twists enhances some charm to Jones' timing.

Carl Stalling's music typically requires a lot of direction from Chuck Jones for his Inki shorts. Most evident is the infamous motif for the mynah bird's hopping action synchronised to Mendelssohn's Fingal's Cave. Although Stalling took credit for the accompanying motif in an interview; he added, "it went over so well that we had to use it every time." While it's one of the few remaining identities surrounding the character - it magnifies the bird's vague nature.


Other uses of music timing blended into animation is utilised well in the cartoon's opening scene. A green worm hops rhythmically to Stalling's beats - including the worm's wriggling action. The hopping action continues until the worm has a close call to Inki's spear slammed to the ground.

It's a great showcase of how Stalling and Jones were both creative when it came to timing animated action through tempo. The scene itself has great staging and layout work - most likely by Art Heinemann. Keeping the worm the main focus until a spear shoots ahead of him is a nice case of unexpected delivery. The absence of Inki in the shot makes the spear all the more threatening. While the opening operates as a formula to previous Inki shorts - Chuck's pacing and use of dynamics had advanced to that point.

The sequence of Inki and the lion fighting inside a barrel showcases some of Chuck's experimentation with timing. Inki frantically hides inside a barrel after a close encounter with a hungry lion who antagonises Inki throughout the cartoon. The lion lifts the barrel upwards licking his chops, indicating he ate Inki - without realising he's now hiding on top.


This follows by a frenzy attack inside the barrel. The action is interpreted as frantic and wild as indicated by the barrel exaggeratedly twisting and changing volume, pulled off by Chuck's fun timing and the clarity of the cartoony animation.

A very intriguing piece of timing follows immediately afterwards. The mynah bird suddenly hops out of the barrel and zips out of scene - leaving a cloud of dust. Then, Inki and the lion leave their clouds of dust as they zip out of shot.

But, the dust unveils to reveal the trio standing in their same positions - except this time the lion is ready to eat up Inki. The timing is wonderfully innovative in its presentation of speed. Very few directors like Chuck Jones could time a gag that requires so much subtlety surrounding the mystery of the mynah bird.

In previous Inki shorts, a hungry lion played an antagonist role. As a personality the lion was always intended to be fearsome and dangerous - likely a past attempt to make audiences take the lion seriously. For this cartoon, the lion is portrayed with a foolish characterisation; much in vein to the rest of the Warner Bros. product.


In one scene, the lion skids broadly to a halt upon seeing a juicy steak Inki holds. However, the mynah bird swallows the steak whilst hiding inside the jaws of the lion's mouth. Upon realisation that his steak is gone; the lion ends up bawling his eyes out, banging on the ground like a child.

Chuck Jones adds a hilarious touch by having the lion eyeing towards the audience - and quickly returns to his fearsome image - which is already tarnished. The gag works fine in creating an obvious contrast between size and behaviour.

Such characterisation remembered fondly by animator Shamus Culhane - a veteran animator who briefly worked at Schlesinger during this time. He recalls in his autobiography: "I especially working on the lion because he was a dumb, raggedy coot who didn't remember that he was supposed to be the king of beasts." Culhane's descriptions perfectly matches with the scene. Culhane also wrote that the majority of the animation was split between himself and Bobe Cannon. Cannon's animation adorns this cartoon but whatever animated scenes Culhane worked on, I'm not certain.

In several sequences; Chuck Jones' character layouts come to advantage - notably when Inki first encounters the lion. Animating pantomime is challenging enough in terms of capturing clarity, but in the hands of Chuck Jones it's put to good use. Chuck's posing works effectively during Inki's double-take when he glares directly into the lion's eyes.

Beautiful touches are added when the lion drums his fingers which delays Inki's take comedically. Inki's hair bun forming a question mark wonderfully communicates through pantomime. As the lion roars menacingly at Inki; he zips out of the shot - causing the lion to bump his head on the ground - adding character to his clumsy persona.

In a later sequence, the lion pounds furiously at a palm tree with child-like behaviour after failing to eat both Inki and the mynah bird. Coconuts drop from the tree but one drops in the lion's hands which morphs back to Inki's proportions.

Inki looks at the lion bashfully by which the lion responds with an even goofier grin. Inki leaves the scene - leaving the lion's hands empty. Chuck's expressions are fitting towards the lion's inept personality.

The mystery of the mynah bird typically becomes repetitive when the character sporadically hops into scene with the same Mendelssohn music and bringing curiosity towards Inki and the lion. In some cases; the mystery of the mynah bird actually becomes intriguing and ambiguous.


In one scene; the mynah bird hops inside a clump of hay whilst the lion anticipates a pouncing action towards it. As the lion follows the bird - the straw gradually reduces in size until it completely vanishes into thin air.

Later on, the lion encounters a single piece of straw hopping into scene, but gradually grows larger and larger until the mynah bird reemerges. It's an intriguing piece of ambiguity surrounding the character - indicating a supernatural force in a cartoon environment. Jones' cartoons never reveals the mynah bird's true nature - perhaps a deliberate suggestion that the mynah bird is an unknown power towards mankind that can't be understood. The greater the mystery the more illuminating.

The mynah bird soon plays a more active part at the cartoon's climax when the bird challenges the lion. Earlier cartoons never featured the mynah bird's actions when defeating a lion; as it took place entirely off-screen. In this occasion, we are blessed to see the mynah bird engage in an effortless fight with the lion.

He picks up the jungle giant by the tail and whirls him around until the lion falls inside a lump of hay - which dwindles until it vanishes out of sight. Soon afterwards; the lion reappears when the mynah bird gives Inki a few pieces of straws.

The cartoon's ending commences once the mynah bird takes down the lion again - but this only, interpreted by some elaborate drybrush work and Treg Brown's use of comical sound effects. Inki quietly exits the scene during the brawl.

Once the drybrush whirlpool wears off; the lion discovers his jaws are missing from his mouth. He turns his eyes towards the mynah bird furiously - who then reveals to be wearing the lion's teeth inside its mouth.

I don't consider myself a fan of the Inki cartoons, primarily based on its stale, repetitive formula. The cartoon's title itself doesn't strike me as anything different in comparison to The Little Lion Hunter or Inki and the Lion as those cartoons have a primarily similar structure. Although this cartoon might be another replica, it's much more engaging than the previous instalments. Chuck Jones' pacing and innovative use of timing makes the short a more intriguing viewing. It's evident that Chuck was attempting to utilise comedy for the Inki shorts; and to some extent it worked well for the lion characterisation. The minah bird's role in this cartoon adds some depth to the mysterious nature, and he's a lot more active than beforehand. This short doesn't represent the very best of Chuck Jones by all means, but it's certainly a step up from Jones' painfully slower cartoons.

Rating: 2.5/5.

335. Inki and the Lion (1941)

Warner cartoon no. 334.
Release date: July 19, 1941.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Chuck Jones.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
No cast.
Story: Rich Hogan.
Animation: Philip Monroe.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Inki, while on the hunt for the Mynah bird, he becomes endangered by a ferocious lion for attempting to spear its cub.

The Inki cartoons tend to show a patterned formula which is almost identical in every short. The shorts would begins with Inki hunting more vulnerable animals with his spears, but the Mynah bird catches his attention. The Mynah bird, whose leitmotif is Fingal's Cave, hops and walks in sync to the score.

The bird is symbolic in the Inki shorts, having a supernatural ability of being undefeatable. Inki would turn his attention towards the bird, but at some point in the short, he would face a more terrifying animal, which is usually a lion (an exception would be Inki at the Circus).

Despite having the exact same formulas, Chuck would attempt to make short slightly different whether it would mean using different scenarios or different deliveries in terms of gag approach.

This short, is mostly a repeat of Inki's first appearance, The Little Lion Hunter, in terms of story but Chuck invents some new situations and approaches along on the way. According to Mike Barrier's Hollywood Cartoons, the first Inki short happened to be successful amongst audiences, that Leon Schlesigner requested Chuck to produce another short. You could say this formula is almost prototype compared to the Chuck's Road Runner shorts, where the scenario and situations were no different each short, but just varying gags and ideas. This short is very much a repeat from its predecessor.

Watching the opening of the short, Inki is seen chasing after a monkey who hides on top of the canopy of a tree. Inki rushes to search for the monkey, relating to a gag where both heads are out but don't meet one another. Besides the opening formula being repeated, notice how Chuck Jones' timing and the animation being produced in his unit is becoming more liberal.

Jones shows a more comical approach for Inki such as the spear gag, where he vibrates rather jerkily.Chuck's timing is evident when Inki hears out for the rustling, crashing noises resulting in an appealing airbrush effect to emphasise his speed, when he rushes behind a tree.

When the rustling and violent effects from the shrubs continue, notice how the animation is much more broad and comical, which shows how Chuck is attempting to make his animation more humorous than Disney-fied. And so, the rustling from the bushes only lead up to a gag that actually pays off for Chuck. The Mynah bird approaches and does his hitch step, which only emphasises on the power he has, for such a tiny bird in comparison.

Chuck Jones also appears to try and find a comical approach in terms of power as well as force, which only pays off in some aspects. In the first part of the gag, Inki is seen hunting out for a baby cub who is licking its paws beside a tree.

Inki prepares to aim his spear towards the cub, but finds a larger lion's hands hold onto the spear, and knocking Inki over to the ground.

The gag itself is a little clumsy in terms of timing, as the approach isn't delivered well, as Inki didn't use enough force in order to achieve that effect, making the gag not realistically effective. The other gag, however appears much later on in the short's ending shot. Inki and the Minah bird shake hands, but the Minah bird's hand show a very firm grip which takes complete control over Inki's body, and leaving him to the ground. This was a more better approach as this once again emphasised on the Mynah bird's power, and the whirling effect made the gag more believable in devilry, whilst the spear gag didn't.

Following from the spear gag, Jones uses a great opportunity which would make up from the poor gag delivery. Inki's encounter with the lion is artistically rich in terms of Inki's point of view shots. The lion faces him upside down, but as Inki turns his head, the lion turns 180 degrees to its normal angle, thanks to the geniuses behind Smokey Garner's department.

Both Inki and the lion then respond to one another with a sheepish expression which only Chuck could master. Inki responds first with a sheepish grin towards the lion, but the lion's grim shows a much more intimidating grin, due to the largeness of his teeth, and gums. Whoever animated the scene, certainly captured the fear of this perilous encounter, the lion's teeth are very intimidating in terms of proportions and realism, and there is a great contrast in terms of size between those two characters. Inki, standing up sweating with fear, then makes a little twirl his foot before he skids out of screen. Another trait from the Warner directors, especially Chuck, where a character would attempt to act innocent by curling their foot before leaving, it makes great character animation.

The following sequence is another equivalence involving a vulnerable character standing on top of danger, a formula that Chuck loved in his early years. This time, Inki is standing on top of the lion's head, unaware of the danger he is standing on top of.


Believing that he has escaped from the lion, he proceeds to climb down the lion's head, but finds that his foot is touching the lion's tooth from his mouth. The rich character animation and gloss is evident in the scenes, to add tension.

This is a challenging scene to animate, as Inki has to act through his foot. Inki grabs hold of the lion's skin where he places it over the lion's tooth, in hope that he would be able to escape easily, despite being in a perilous situation. Inki then turns towards the right and then exits on top of the lion's head. This time he is hiding on top of a log, with the Mynah bird standing on top of his head. Inki now turns his attention towards the Mynah bird, in hopes of capturing it with his spear.

The cave sequence, without doubt is one of Jones' longest-paced sequences, where the action occurs for "long periods of time". To start off with, Inki was following the Minah bird who ends up walking inside the cave. Trying to trap the Minah bird, Inki uses the huge stones to block the entrance of the cave.

After a series of crumpling up stones to block the entrance, Inki weirdly mistakens the lion's behind as a stone in which he attempts to  push his behind to the last gap from the cave. The gag itself is flawed because of the terrible contrast with colour between the rocks as well as the lion.

Had the cave and stones been painted like soil, then the gag would have probably worked better. Unaware of his danger, the lion looks Inki smugly, in which Inki's double-take leads him inside the cave.

Inside the cave, Jones only uses the eyes and teeth putting a lot of emphasis of black-and-white to emphasise darkness inside the cave. The animation itself is communicated well, when most of their body is in silhouette, and the sheepish expressions they make really work well. Inki then rushes outside the cave again, scrambling all the stones frantically, but finds he's been outwitted by the cunning lion. The scene then follows through a very confusing and somewhat incoherent sequence where the lion is attempting to entice Inki to walk inside the lion's mouth. The incoherent part follows when Inki ends up somewhat in a trance, and walks straight towards the lion's mouth. The gag itself doesn't pay off, having no indication or a source that casued Inki to almost go in a trance.

Only the Minah bird can stop Inki's trance from the lion's enticement. The Minah Bird breaks open the rocks from the cave, hopping to Fingal's Cave, and the lion stares at Inki out of curiosity. After the Minah Birds hops out of the scene, the lion turns towards Inki, cornering him by the wall. The lion, attempting to charge at Inki without mercy, finds however he has the inability. The supernaturalness and the power of the Minah Bird has prevented the lion, as his tail is revealed to be tied to a tree stump, therefore making Inki safe. Inki, realising the Minah Bird had saved his life, walks over to thank the Minah Bird who, as mentioned earlier, responds with a firm handshake to leave Inki whirling, emphasising his powerfulness. Though the Minah Bird doesn't have much other action other than his hopping routine, the handshake feels somewhat acceptable, and in character.

The short is very much parallel towards the first shot, so it is nothing much different in terms of story, except just new gags along the way. It feels somewhat typical to name the short Inki and the Lion, as it's no different to the previous short's title. Artistically, Chuck Jones does manage to keep it rather fulfilling, not only the animation, but the use of camera angles like the POV shots, as well as the use of colour contrast, even though it worked well in some areas, and others it didn't. The opening sequence I felt showed a lot of promise of a much, improved Chuck Jones when looking at his comic timing and liberal movement in animation. After the opening, however, it felt too slow and much like Chuck's usual cartoons he was making around that era. Overall, the short is nothing new from Chuck in terms of gags and story, and it feels as though I've already seen this short only two years previously.

Rating: 2/5.

262. The Little Lion Hunter (1939)

Warner cartoon no. 261.
Release date: October 7, 1939.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Chuck Jones.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Story: Robert Givens.
Animation: Phil Monroe.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Whilst hunting through the jungle with his spear. Inki, a shy African boy is on the hunt for a lion but finds he is being followed by a ferocious one.

The first appearance of Chuck Jones' new character which he would create in his particular cutesy-era: Inki, who was a shy non-speaking African boy who was usually caught up in many surreal situations and also drawn with a lack of comic exaggeration. This is also the first appearance of the mynah bird; who of course is very memorable for his syncopated hop to Fingal's Cave by Mendelssohn. Of course, the mynah bird is represented as being mightier than Inki and the only supernatural character of all Warner cartoon characters, and stands out as more memorable than Inki.

This cartoon is another early example of non-dialogue acting: which he was the master of...though this is early days for Chuck, as that trait hanged on with him from very earlier on. Chuck's character is also probably one of the earliest examples of a non-stereotypical Negro. According to Mike Barrier's interview with Chuck Jones in 1969--Chuck considers his Inki cartoons rather a mystery, and in some aspects, hard to analyse. I suppose that's part of the fun in Chuck's notorious animation career.

The cartoon starts off where a parrot is seen focused on flying in the jungle as we hear Fingal's Cave. After the parrot has landed on a limb looking rather stern; a spear appears right at the spot and the parrot reacts. The timing of the parrot's reaction is a little sloppy; but the way the atmosphere of the scene has been delivered certainly adds suspense. Inki arrives at the scene to grab his spear.

After the camera fades to a different scene, a giraffe reaches his neck down to chew on some of the plants rooted in the ground. A spear hits the bark of the tree and continuously vibrates. The giraffe chews on the tree which also causes him to vibrate a little.

Chuck's plain facial expressions for the animals certainly make the anatomy of the animals as appear very realistic. Meanwhile there is also a butterfly flittering around a log. The spear (looks much smaller in scale) hits the spot and the butterfly vanishes out of the scene. Inki arrives at the scene with his spear; and the first thing he notices is mysterious foot-prints coming from a bird. He runs through to track any animal, but slowly runs in a attempt to hunt and track the footprints. The fact there are just footprints definitely create suspense and mystery, which I suppose was what the Inki cartoons were about.

As Inki continues to follow the track - he hears the sounds of rustling coming from a bush. He quickly hides inside a cave. After the rustling - we then meet the mynah bird. Who, notoriously, throughout the 'Inki' series hops along synced to the theme of Fingal's Cave by Mendelssohn.

According to Carl Stalling, in a Mike Barrier interview: 'it went over so well, we had to use it every time'. Meaning Fingal's Cave. Inki looks out and watches the mynah bird hop. The animation of the mynah bird's hop is of course: top notch and of course, is even funny as he only hops around.

The facial expression by Chuck is also very solid, and Chuck was already prestigious with facial expressions (in this era), and the mynah bird's expression really is mysterious, as its the only facial expression we practically ever see of him.

Inki then decides to follow the mynah bird by carrying his spear. Look at the really solid three-dimensional animation of Inki as he follows through; the glossy look really adds the finishing touch.
I also love that little bit of personality animation of Inki also hopping in sync to 'Fingal'. I suspect this was by Bob McKimson.

Inki then finds the the mynah bird has hopped into a hole before Inki could catch him with his spear. In this really slow-paced bit of animation: Inki then reaches his hand inside the hole in a attempt to retrieve the bird. Afterwards; he fins he has pulled out a skunk. After Inki pulls out the skunk; there is a disturbed look on Inki which is a priceless Jones expression. He pulls the skunk back in the hole with a disgusted and unclean look on Inki's face which is extremely expressive for Warners in 1939. Notice the two facial expressions I've screen grabbed.

Meanwhile as Inki continues his hunting; he spots off-screen, before we pan, a tortoise walking along. The tortoise turns arounds, makes a take, and hides inside his shell as a spear rushes through the scene. The tortoise then pops out of his shell as he rushes for his life.

The tortoise makes his hide inside a log...Inki follows the tortoise inside. However, once he runs out the other side of the log. The mynah bird pops back into the cartoon again outwitting him supernaturally.

The mynah bird, once again, hops in sync to the music and trembles on top of Inki before he exits the screen. Inki watches the mynah bird's exits and then grabs out a spear to aim at him -- just as he is about to cross an edge of a cliff. After tossing the spear; it turns out the spear makes a small bridge for the mynah bird to hop across another part; which is very amusing.

The mynah bird then makes his way by hopping up a tree. Inki watches the mynah bird climb up the tree, and so Inki climbs up himself. After the climb, we find Inki on top of the canopy of the tree with the mynah bird standing on top of his head. Inki turns to search for the bird, and occasionally the mynah bird jumps on top of his head.

Inki look up, and attempts to grab him but the bird hops in which Inki forces himself to the ground with off-screen crashes and rustling on top of the canopy. Still a great mystery to me as how the mynah bird is expressionless, really is realistic and expressive in its own subtle form.

After Inki's fall we pan to the left where we find a suspicious-looking lion walking around the jungle. I always have that logical feeling of why lions are in a jungle when they live in savannah areas of Africa.

It turns out that Inki is placing his ears to the ground, listening out for the sounds of footsteps he just heard. He then asks for the lion to 'ssh' (perhaps the only voice in the cartoon?). The lion then uses his hands to pretend the footsteps are approaching and the hand animation was very cleverly animated.

Afterwards; Inki then uses his hands in a attempt to feel the lion, and uses his hands to feel the identity of him. It's a rather Disney-esque sequence where you would find innocent characters repeating the motion Inki is doing. As soon as Inki feels the lion's face; we see an excellent facial expression on Inki's face where he already looks afraid, and walks out of the scene scared stiff. Of course, according to Culhane in his book, Jones still had trouble with his designs of the lion...even until 1943.

Afterwards; Inki finds that he is still being followed by the fierce-looking lion...and so Inki speeds up the pace as well as the lion. After speeding up the pace, Inki manages to hide under the burrow of a tree, where the lion pauses and looks through inside. Being how cunning the lion is, he turns around to watch Inki escape from the other side.

The lion then turns to watch the lion make an attempt of escaping. The lion then places his finger on top of Inki's behind so he can be trapped from escaping. Inki realises he is being touched, and so he uses his hand to try and feel what is touching him.

In a close-up shot: we find Inki stretching out his hands to try and feel what is touching him. He squeezes the lion's finger and the nail is a little bit squished out; which is some really juicy timing on the animation. Inki realises it is the lion, and so he slots the nail straight back inside his finger. Inki steps out from under the tree, realising he is in danger of the lion. After he paces a few steps, he dashes out of the scene and the lion follows.

The lion is still chasing after Inki and so is on the lookout for his whereabouts. It turns out that Inki is seen hiding inside a tree stump. He even picks up the tree stump to move the stump a few feet. The way he is able to pick up the stump is probably one of the few indications in this cartoon of comic exaggeration: which much of the Inki cartoons lack.

Watching this sequence; you can certainly tell from looking at the lion that he already looks rather underdeveloped through character design and isn't as pinched or constructed properly.

Wonder if this design is attributed to Charlie Thorson (who also designed Inki). As the lion doesn't realise where on earth Inki is, he then is about to lean on the tree stump--but Inki makes an escape that causes the lion to trip to the ground with his elbow. Inki continues to hide holding onto the tree stump. The lion follows Inki and so makes sure he can't escape any further. Inki looks out from the stump to check if the lion has disappeared. After he turns his head, he finds that he is face-to-face with the lion. He grabs his skin and sinks inside the tree-stump.

At that moment, as the lion is about to get all grizzly with Inki; the mynah bird's cue enters again and he jumps out of the tree stump. As the mynah bird hops away; the lion turns towards the bird and roars at it. As they exit off-screen; we watch off-screen violence where there trees are falling as well as the camera shaking.

After the eruption; the mynah bird walks out completely harmless, and we discover that the lion is in fact is completely tied to a tree (tail tied up on a limb). Now that is a funny scene in its own natural ways.

The fact that the mynah bird's supernaturals can harm any brawny animal. This is really Chuck's new way of exploring subtle off-stage comedy. I guess this is supposed to be an exaggerated way of 'brain over brawn'...except it doesn't take the mynah bird any skill to defeat his enemies. Afterwards; the mynah bird walks out of the scene, and he notices Inki's eye peeping through the hole of the tree stump. The mynah bird uses his finger motion to entire Inki. Inki steps out and wishes to shake his hands for saving his skin. The mynah bird orders for Inki to turn, just to kick him in the behind--refusing to accept anything.

Overall comments: Being how Chuck still hasn't established himself yet--I feel as though this cartoon was finally the turning point where he was more than the average director. It's a complete unique cartoon in terms of the Warner cartoons. Watching the Warner cartoons of the 1930s: they're main focus was parodying jokes from the radio, movies, celebrities, etc. as well as creating wacky stories. In some aspects, I would interpret that Chuck was probably proud of his unique talent than the other directors, and the ego is already there. I guess the fact that Chuck was given complete freedom of what cartoons to make really gave him a shine to show off his talent. Chuck's use for facial expression really do feel revolutionary, for a Warners cartoon in 1939. Its Chuck's amazing talent which combines wonderful personality animation here. I do feel this is one of the earliest examples of one of Chuck's many impressions, and to even show that the facial expressions show Chuck has guts! The Inki cartoons are an early example of his talents. Though being Disney-esque, it's all performed through pantomime--a trait which Chuck was the master of; though Chuck managed to present comedy through pantomime. The cartoon is completely voice free; and yet, the cartoon really does have a subtle appeal to it. I'll admit, I find some of the Inki cartoons to be rather boring and uninteresting, but the first cartoon Chuck made is pretty striking.

It really does not have much of a story at all, but the subtle charm I guess is the fact the cartoon in its own ways creates suspense and mystery. The mynah bird, itself, is a mystery. The bird always has an expressionless face, and the only action he does is to either provoke or just hop in sync to Fingal's Cave. I always like the anecdote from Chuck hearing about how Leon Schlesinger and Warners were always completely baffled about the mynah bird, but of the time of the cartoon's release...it had an impact with the audience. I guess, the fact the staff being baffled is exactly the point--we're not supposed to know more about the mynah bird, creating the bird as a rather mysterious bird. You've just got to accept that his supernaturals are really funny--funny in a way that is too complicated to analyse. Of course, the cartoon is rarely seen on US television because of the caricature of the Negro, and definitely not because of being a stereotype. As for my overall views on the cartoon: I really do understand the appeal through the audiences, and I will admit I find many of the Inki cartoons very interesting--though personally, I do find the atmosphere of the cartoons to be a little boring. They're the type of pantomime cartoons that really haven't been performed before. As Chuck has put it, a little like Little Hiawatha but replaced with an African boy.