Cartoon a Day: Hockey Homicide

Hockey Homicide
1945
Directed by Jack Kinney
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - The Complete Goofy

Well folks, life got crazy, so "Cartoon a Day" didn't happen for quite a while. But with the Winter Olympics going on, I just couldn't resist doing a review of a great cartoon that celebrates a great winter sport...the Goofy short, "Hockey Homicide." In my opinion, this may be the best of Goofy's staring vehicles.

Like many of the other Goofy sports cartoons, every character in this short is a variation on Goofy. This time it's presented as coverage of a hockey match with Doodles Weaver (of Spike Jones' City Slickers) as the voice of the play by play announcer. His fast-paced commentary alone makes this funnier than your average Disney short, but there's so much more to love here.

As usual, the animation is masterfully done. The artistry is really where the Disney animation studio set itself apart from the others, but here you also have a level of comedy not often seen from the mouse house. The comic pacing is more like a Warner Brothers short.

Through it all you can see that while the makers of this short poked fun at some of the odd aspects of the sport (the fights and such), that they also had a true appreciation for the sport. That kind of appreciation is often what makes for the best kind of comedy. So during a break in the games from Vancouver, be sure to check out this animated winter sports classic!

Cartoon a Day: Motor Mania

Motor Mania
1950
Directed by Jack Kinney
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - The Complete Goofy

Goofy is an interesting character if you look at his history. In many of his later cartoons he doesn't really play himself. He's used to play a variety of different characters. In fact, in several cartoons, every character is based on his design. One of those cartoons is "Motor Mania," a cartoon that addresses the problem of road rage before it was ever fashionable to do so.

Goofy plays "Mr. Walker" who is a normal, peace-loving member of society when he's a pedestrian. However, get him behind the wheel of a car and he becomes the maniac driver "Mr. Wheeler." This cartoon has it's funny moments, but it's a bit jarring to see the lovable goof as a raging menace of the highway. It's also interesting to note that Goofy doesn't have ears in this cartoon, which in some ways helps separate him from the lovable character he usually plays.

The art is very crisp looking. You can definitely see the difference between the Disney style of the 50's and the Warner Brothers style in this cartoon. There's nothing wrong with the WB style, but this is what animation looks like when every "t" is crossed and every "i" is dotted.

Cartoon a Day: The Art of Self Defense

The Art of Self Defense
1941
Directed by Jack Kinney
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - The Complete Goofy

Goofy really hit his stride when Disney began producing a series of shorts that featured him in various sports activities. Baseball, Football, Swimming, Golf, even the Olympics were all fair game for the Goof. In "The Art of Self Defense" he is training for a boxing match.

The short begins with a short history of one-on-one combat which takes us all the way from cavemen hitting each other with clubs up to the present day. There are a few good gags in this sequence, but in some ways it feels like padding.

The short really gets going when Goofy goes through some scientific training for his upcoming match. Our leading man does not speak at all in this short, he simply responds to the narrator. Though the Goofy voice is classic, the character works very well when done in this style. It leaves him to engage in more physical comedy, which has always been his strongest suit.

The highlight of the short is the shadow boxing sequence. Of course, the shadow does not confine itself to the wall and ends up having the upper hand in this sparing match. The sequence takes good advantage of the physical flexibility of the Goofy character. Though not as strong as some of the other Goofy sports films, this is still an enjoyable entry in the series.

Cartoon a Day: For Whom the Bulls Toil

For Whom the Bulls Toil

1953

Directed by Jack Kinney

Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - The Complete Goofy

There's still one classic character that hasn't participated in bullfight week yet. You just had to know that Goofy ended up as a matador once, in 1953's "For Whom the Bulls Toil."

Goofy is a tourist in Mexico when a bull gets in they way of his car. His efforts to move the bull, completely oblivious to the danger, convince some locals that he would make a great matador. They dress him up and throw him into the ring, which is when he realizes the trouble he's in.

The Leonard Maltin introduction to this short on the DVD points out the background designs of artist Eyvind Earle, which really are one of the highlights of this short. Earle would later go on to work on "Sleeping Beauty," which has some of the most amazing designs of any of the Disney features. This short gives a little bit of a hind to what was to come.

I also really like the design of the bull in this short. The bulls in the other four shorts we've looked at have their similarities. This guy, with his prominent chin, snarling jaw, and nasty eyes just looks like pure evil in bovine form.

Cartoon a Day: Lonesome Ghosts

Lonesome Ghosts
1937
Directed by Burt Gillett
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Living Color Vol. 1

It didn't occur to me until last night while reviewing "Hell's Bells" that I should've been doing Halloween appropriate toons all week. Oh, well, I'll try and continue the theme through the weekend.

"Lonesome Ghosts" is a cartoon I have fond memories of. When I in around kindergarten age, a friend who lived a few doors down has this toy that was kind of like a View-Master, except it played movies. You'd turn the crank and look through the hole to see the movie. It was cool! One of the cartridges I remember them having was of a few scenes from "Lonesome Ghosts." I loved watching that thing, not to mention turning the crank backwards so you could watch the film in reverse.

In this short, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are the original Ghostbusters (Goofy even utters the line "I ain't afraid of no ghosts"). They have a ghost exterminator business which isn't doing too well, until a bunch of bored ghosts call and send them off to their haunted house so they can have some fun.

The sequence in which Mickey opens a door to find a flood of water coming at him is a favorite. The ghosts floating through on surfboards is funny and the animation is pretty amazing. Goofy's Harpo Marx style mirror sequence with one of the ghosts is also a stand-out. My only real beef with this cartoon is the voices of the ghosts. They sound like the actors were speaking into soup cans and are almost unintelligible at times.



That little movie machine my friend had when I was a kid also allowed you to watch the movie frame by frame, which I did many times. This is a great cartoon to watch frame by frame. There's a alot of skillful animation going on here. Then remind yourself this was made in 1937, still pretty early in the grand scheme of things.