Hold the Lion, Please

Chuck Jones directed this excellent cartoon in 1942, when he was still heavily influenced by both Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, and it shows. It has some extremely good "gags" and dialog and has a wildness to it that Mr Jones would (sadly) avoid in his later cartoons. Because of this influence this cartoon remains one of Jones' cleverest and most inventive.

Jones' humor would become drier and more satirical in his 1950s cartoons and, of course, they are wonderful. But when he was under the Avery/Clampett influence some of those 1940s efforts were great, like this one.

Bugs Bunny had not quite yet reached his perfect design (which would occur the following year) but that is no detriment here simply because the action, words and story are strong. I was particularly pleased with the overall color scheme, which has a very pleasing pastel-like quality (especially if you see a good film print of it).

The dumb lion character is delightful and beautifully animated. I am at a loss to explain why others who have commented didn't care for this character. The humor conveyed by the character is quite sophisticated.

As others have mentioned Tex Avery provided one of the voices, that of the hippo, and he is terrific. Very, very amusing.

I cannot recommend this cartoon highly enough.