Cartoon a Day: Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan
1958
Directed by Les Clark
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - Disney Rarities
In keeping with the theme of so-called "one-shot" cartoons, let's look at one from Disney. "Paul Bunyan" is the studio's take on an American legend, and let's face it, nobody does faerie tales and legends like Disney. I can remember watching this film in the library at school one day, I had to be in kindergarten or first grade. It's strange to think now, but that was less than 20 years after this film was made.
This is a great example of the 50's style of design that is so much fun. Other Disney shorts such as "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom" and "Pigs is Pigs" also employed this style. It's hard describe, but there are a lot of hard angles to the characters, some minimalist techniques used for background elements, and interesting uses of color.
This style seems perfectly suited to a story like this to me. In some ways it creates the look of another world, but at the same time it's a world that is based in what is familiar to us. Which is sort of the point when it comes to legends like Paul Bunyan.
Some folks get a little down on Disney for being too cutesy. This is an example of Disney doing a cute story but with a very stylized artistic approach.
With these cartoons it's always a mixed bag. Some of the jokes are still as funny today as they were when the short was made, while others fall flat now because the pop culture references are not familiar to modern audiences. In general the opportunities for humor seem to be not as plentiful here, I mean there's only so much you can do with a neon sign.
The gag featuring a sign advertising typewriters was funny (what's a typewriter?), as was an elaborate sign that ends up just saying "eat at Joe's." But in general, I think most of these gags would've worked better in the context of a short with a story, as a side gag of sorts.
This is an odd cartoon that doesn't feature any of the Looney Tunes stars. The fact that one of it's main characters is the most inebriated stork you've ever seen probably keeps this one off of Cartoon Network as well. The premise is that this drunken stork accidentally delivers a giant baby to an average suburban household rather than to the giant family at the top of the beanstalk.
The gags are mildly amusing. The bit where the baby uses dad's new tires as teething rings was a good gag. But where this short is really interesting to watch is in it's very stylized look. This is the same kind of look that the makers of the "
The semi-documentary format of this short doesn't really fit though. Having a narrator setting up many of the gags is somewhat annoying. But visually, this short is a treat.
In this short Donald is south of the border and he comes a courtin' ridding on a burro. The burro ends up causing all sorts of trouble so Donald trades him in for a car, which Daisy goes nuts for. Now, some Disney fanatics would probably have a problem with me calling her "Daisy" in this short. Some folks refer to this version of the character as "Donna" and see her as a completely different character. This version is more of female version of Donald than Daisy would become. This character has a temper to match Donald's, though the later Daisy had a temper too, she was a bit more controlled with it.
The animation of Daisy (or Donna or whatever) is very well done. The animators seem to capture a bit more femininity than they had even achieved with Minnie Mouse previously. I also really enjoyed the interesting backgrounds, southwestern in style but also very unique when compared to other cartoons with a similar setting. A brief sequence with some cacti come to life is also a highlight.
In this short a killer (the Wolf) has escaped from prison so the authorities send out the hounds, with Droopy bringing up the rear. The Wolf runs from Droopy but every time he turns around the little hound is right there waiting for him. Pretty much the same premise was used in another Droopy short, "
This, like many Avery shorts, can best be described as innovative. The gags were original, though many of them have since been used by many other cartoon makers. The reactions of the Wolf each time he spots Droopy are completely unique each time, though they aren't quite as extreme as Avery would make them in some later shorts.
The characters realizing that they are in a movie was also an different twist. Droopy addresses the audience at the beginning of the film and tells them he's the hero and the Wolf runs completely off of the film in one of the film's best gags.
In this short, 
Many of the shorts featuring Marvin are known for the wonderful design elements. The look of the moon, the spaceships, and even the desert where the rocket is launched from have a simple yet unique look. I wonder if some of that may be driven by the look of Marvin himself.
The short is more cute than funny but I never tire of this one. 74 years old and still a classic!
It's always a little strange to see the debut of a famous character because they are never quite the characters we've come to know and love when they first appear. It takes times for characters to develop. One of the things that is so great about Yosemite Sam is that he is a character of pure rage, but he's not quite there yet in this cartoon.
There are plenty of great moments in this short, the scene where Bugs fills in for Sam's hat is one great scene in particular, but Sam's reactions just aren't quite what we think they should be yet. This is a great cartoon and a wonderful introduction for Sam, but I love it when Sam is just so angry that his little body shakes so much he levitates, I love how he gets so steamed that he creates his own vocabulary...the animators and writers hadn't quite hit on those things yet in "Hare Trigger."
This is a great introduction to the series. It gives a brief back story on the blue boy's Kryptonian origins before going into a story about a mad scientist terrorizing Metropolis with a huge laser. The great angles and layout design that can be seen throughout the other Superman shorts is here in all it's glory. Just check out that great shot above, which is our first introduction to the villain.
There's also another sequence with Bugs as a girl which not only improves on the previous film but also has Daffy pretty much admitting that the bit has been used before by screaming, "you're not going to fall for that old bit!"
