Filboid Studge

[collisionwork]

Yup, all snowed/iced in now, and, more than anything else, kinda bored.

So, I did indeed make up my list, as mentioned last post, of 50 Favorite Warner Bros. Cartoons to submit to Jerry Beck for his online poll, and as long as I made up the list, why not post it here as well as on his post calling for lists?

I've also included links to YouTube and Wikipedia/IMDb entries for each cartoon, where available. Some of the YouTube videos are of pretty lousy quality (one has French subtitles; one is cam-corded off a TV screen!), but so it goes (all but three of the following are available in the Warner Bros. Golden Collection DVD box sets).

In any case, if you're also stuck at home tonight, there's several hours of fine viewing here, from directors Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, Maurice Noble, Tex Avery, Robert McKimson, Frank Tashlin, and Alex Lovy (but especially Jones and Clampett - making this list sure showed me exactly where my tastes lie).

My Picks for Top 50 Warner Bros. Cartoons:

1. Duck Amuck (Jones, 1953)
2. Porky in Wackyland (Clampett, 1938)/Dough for the Do-Do (Freleng, color remake, 1949)
3. What’s Opera, Doc? (Jones, 1957)
4. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (Clampett, 1946)
5. Rabbit of Seville (Jones, 1949)
6. The Big Snooze (Clampett, 1946)
7. One Froggy Evening (Jones, 1955)
8. Rabbit Seasoning (Jones, 1952)
9. A Tale of Two Kitties (Clampett, 1942)
10. Feed the Kitty (Jones, 1952)
11. The Old Grey Hare (Clampett, 1944)
12. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves (Clampett, 1943)
13. Bully for Bugs (Jones, 1953)
14. Book Revue (Clampett, 1946)
15. Robin Hood Daffy (Jones, 1958)
16. Baby Bottleneck (Clampett, 1946)
17. Rhapsody Rabbit (Freleng, 1946)
18. Scrambled Aches (Jones, 1957)
19. Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (Jones, 1953)
20. Russian Rhapsody (Clampett, 1944)
21. Now Hear This (Jones/Noble, 1963)
22. Back Alley Oproar (Freleng, 1948)
23. Operation: Rabbit (Jones, 1952)
24. Porky’s Preview (Avery, 1941)
25. Rabbit Fire (Jones, 1951)
26. It’s Hummer Time (McKimson, 1950)
27. A Bear for Punishment (Jones, 1951)
28. Drip-Along Daffy (Jones, 1951)
29. The Daffy Doc (Clampett, 1938)
30. The Ducksters (Jones, 1950)
31. Bunny Hugged (Jones, 1951)
32. Scrap Happy Daffy (Tashlin, 1942)
33. Falling Hare (Clampett, 1943)
34. Buccaneer Bunny (Freleng, 1948)
35. Baseball Bugs (Freleng, 1946)
36. Show Biz Bugs (Freleng, 1957)
37. Daffy Duck Slept Here (McKimson, 1948)
38. Long Haired Hare (Jones, 1948)
39. Thugs with Dirty Mugs (Avery, 1939)
40. Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (Jones, 1953)
41. The Grey-Hounded Hare (McKimson, 1949)
42. Ali Baba Bunny (Jones, 1957)
43. Hare Brush (Freleng, 1955)
44. The Scarlet Pumpernickel (Jones, 1950)
45. Rabbit Hood (Jones, 1949)
46. Stop! Look! and Hasten! (Jones, 1953)
47. Little Red Riding Rabbit (Freleng, 1944)
48. Norman Normal (Lovy, 1968)
49. A Ham in a Role (McKimson, 1949)
50. What’s Cookin' Doc? (Clampett, 1944)

Phew! Happy watching.

Comments

[revme.livejournal.com]

I am one of the only people, apparently, whose favorite Tom & Jerrys are the ones Chuck Jones did. I got into an argument with a friend over that -- his favorites were the Deitch ones, which I hated. I was all "The Deitch ones are flat, ugly and make no sense!" and he was all "Yeah, that's AWESOME! Here is a Chuck Jones Tom & Jerry: Oh, Jerry Escaped. *cartoonish eyebrow raise*" And I was kinda "Yeah, that's AWESOME!" So I think we ended up agreeing to disagree. Though I did kinda look at the Deitch ones in a little bit of a new light; I still don't really like them, but I can kinda appreciate them for going all weirdly meta in a way.

To be honest, too -- I've never been a huge Avery fan. I know that's sacrilege in a lot of animation circles, but a lot of his stuff has never clicked with me. I like anarchy in cartoons, but a lot of his stuff seemed... formulaic. (I know that he kinda INVENTED said formula, but still.) I DO like the ones that he does -- and this goes for most of the short subjects -- that DON'T use the established characters, stuff like the "Home of Tomorrow" ones that are just series of disconnected gags. I like those ones a lot -- or even the one with the cab/plane that wants to be a hotrod/jet. (I know they're two different cartoons, but let's be honest, they're the same damn one. but I like 'em both.) But a lot of the established-character driven shorts leave me a little cold -- at least the ones that don't really put a twist on there like "What's Opera, Doc", which IS a great one. (And, again, our pal Chuck.)

I do like Clampett's stuff too, but there's just something about Chuck Jones' stuff that just hits me square. I love everything about them -- the wit, the heart, the soft look of the characters. My all-time favorite animation director/animator is Miyazaki and the Ghibli house, but as far as Americans go, it's Chuck Jones all the way.

[revme.livejournal.com]

(and your top 10 is very, very close to mine, too, though, as mentioned, Feed The Kitty would be #1.)

[revme.livejournal.com]

(and also, I got "What's Opera Doc" confused with "Rabbit of Seville", which is the one I was referring to. Not to knock "What's Opera Doc" any.)