Thursday 10 September 2020

I'll Cut You Down to Size

Somehow, it’s a crime that Bosko was available on up-to-date home video way back when but only selected shorts can be viewed on DVD. Setting aside the fact that Bosko set up the whole Warner Bros. cartoon empire, his better cartoons are enjoyable. I certainly like the gags better than the ones Mickey was given in some of the Disney shorts at the same time.

Ride Him, Bosko! (1932) has the fun ending where live-action Rudy Ising, Hugh Harman (and Ham Hamilton?) can’t figure out how Bosko’s going to rescue Honey, so they all go home leaving Bosko looking perplexed at the camera.

A gag that seems slightly used but is still amusing is when a rifle (firing like a machine gun) cuts a walking wiener dog down to size. His ten-gallon hat remains aloft until he shrinks and then lands on his head.



In the meantime, there is a fight going on in silhouette in the window of the Red Dog Saloon.

There’s some reused cycle animation to keep the budget down.

Friz Freleng and Norm Blackburn get the screen credit for animation.

3 comments:

  1. IIRC, Bob Clampett would re-use that gag with one of the Indians for the Daffy-Porky "Injun Trouble" cartoon a few years later (as opposed to the '69 W& effort with the same name that ended the studio's run).

    ReplyDelete
  2. There's a variation of this gag that's even funnier in - believe it or not - a Sixties Bugs Bunny cartoon (The Unmentionables). A phone booth occupied by a stoolie is riddled by a hail of bullets causing the lower half of the booth and the snitch to fall out of frame. The operator on the dangling receiver informs the unfortunate caller he has been "disconnected". Always amazed that bit remained intact in airings on Nickelodeon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A slight variation on this gag was also used in BEEP PREPARED (1961), the only Oscar-nominated Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote short.

    ReplyDelete