Speaking of Animals Down on the Farm

Oscar-nominated short has various farm animals, their mouths animated to look as if they are speaking, with various wisecracks, catchphrases and, in one case, an owl singing a couple of lines of a Bing Crosby song. More interesting for its novelty aspects, it's short enough to be amusing.

In 1941 Tex Avery started a series of cartoons 'Speaking of Animals'. These cartoons may not be among the best cartoons there's ever been and those with Avery's involvement are not among the best he's ever done, but they are very interesting and entertaining on the most part with a unique visual style.

The first of the 'Speaking of Animals' series is 'Speaking of Animals Down on the Farm', and to me it's one of the best entries. It may not be one of the best cartoons personally seen, but it's a great one and fascinating for a visual and historical perspective, very important and popular at the time. Anybody looking for any kind of plot are best looking elsewhere. On a story level, the 'Speaking of Animals' cartoons on a story level are pretty slight. With that being said, it's not about the story. It's the visual style and the humour that the series is to be seen for and both are done brilliantly here.

'Speaking of Animals Down on the Farm' has ingenious use of Rotoscoping, with animation being re-shot and matted into the animal footage, and its combining of live action animals and animated mouths similarly looks incredible. It's this that is the cartoon's, and for the series in general, most striking and notable asset.

As for the humour, it's classic Avery with his wonderfully wild and often hilarious puns, sight gags and slapstick jokes. There is a lot of energy, and also found myself being educated somewhat too by the farmer's narration and introduction.

Mel Blanc continues to prove how incredible and multi-talented voice actor he was. The animals are incredibly funny and endearing, especially the parrot and the fourth-wall-breaking stubborn mule. It's not everyday an owl croons Bing Crosby too.

Overall, great start to an interesting series of cartoon and great in its own right. 9/10 Bethany Cox

We had a television series in the UK called "Animal Magic" that followed the antics of a zookeeper who would try to humanise some of the animals with his impersonations, and that may well have been inspired by this series of short features. This one follows the creatures living in and around a farm whilst Mel Blanc gives them a few voices to deliver the punchline to some daft quips. It's easy to see why these films worked well as quite an engaging introduction for city children to a more bucolic life where animals lived. Of course, no mention at all is made of the fact that they are in captivity nor of the fact that many are soon to be food, but for a lot of the urban young at the start of the 1940s it may well have been their only exposure to the animal kingdom. My own personal favourite had to be the owl doing the impersonation of Bing Crosby, but there are other amiable efforts throughout.

All right, the actual short in the "Speaking of Animals" series I just watched on YouTube had the title of "Country Life" but nothing on IMDb has that title so I'm putting it on this entry called "Down on the Farm" since it has a similar synopsis. It starts with narrator Ken Carpenter telling of what life on the farm is about for various animals with a rooster singing about it being 5 in the morning. The lip movements of this and other animals throughout the short are animated to match the voices doing them. One of the animals says a famous line from a radio show when she says, "Tain't funny, McGee!". Another does a Jimmy Durante impression (or maybe that was actually him, who knows?). I'll just say that this short, which I will cite once again had as the title Country Life, is quite funny throughout.