Casse-noisettes et ses copains

I'm interested in how we imagine as a society, so study movies. I'm increasingly convinced that many of the cleverest folding ideas were introduced first through shorts, specifically cartoons. They were cheaper to produce and wouldn't drag down the bill if they failed.

1944 is a bit late in the game for the history of folding, so the experiments have to be outrageous.

This is. Superficially, it is a chase cartoon where the plucky small creature outwits and pummels the bigger, dumber one. I understand that the form was mandated by funders. Ignore it.

Much more interesting is how Tex wrapped that in a selfaware perspective.

It starts with a fight for control of the cartoon, one character saying: "what kind of cartoon is this anyway?"

Midway in the chase, the little guy — the squirrel — asks what the next scene will be, and literally lifts the page to see the cartoon underneath.

Near the end, the big dumb guy says that he's had enough and the cartoon is over. That shrinking iris effect begins, but the little guy begs for some more time. He makes a promise which is of course broken.

At the real end of the thing, the little guy comes on stage to talk to the audience and reveals that he was able to perform all those tricks because he had a twin. The final joke is that the big dog had one too (about which the screwy squirrel was unaware.)

Important stuff. Funny, engaging.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

This is the first of several Screwball Squirrel cartoons. It's a real shame that this Tex Avery character never really took off, as I would have really loved to see more.

The cartoon begins with a cute little squirrel talking about the film and all his friends in the forest. Screwball then walks him away from the camera and beats the stuffing out of him and takes over the cartoon. He then phones and insults a bird dog so that through the rest of the film this hapless dog gets tortured repeatedly by Screwball. The film ends with the appearance of the same cute squirrel and BOTH Screwball and the dog pummel him!

The film is great because of all the Tex Avery touches--great over-the-top sight gags (such as catching the street car inside the tree) and the completely surreal aspects of the film. While it's not the best Avery cartoon (that might be SWINGSHIFT Cinderella), it is pure vintage Avery and fun for everyone but complete stick-in-the-muds.

MGM asked Tex Avery to develop a running character to rival Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera's Tom & Jerry, and Avery, who was gag-oriented as a director, developed a character suited to his style of animated comedy, Screwy Squirrel.

The cartoon features Avery's brand of superbly-timed and edited gags revolving around the chase theme universal to cartoons, but two gags display Avery's aversion to running characters and also hurt the cartoon's quality. Both involve a saccharine-sweet squirrel straight out of Disney central casting who is viciously pummeled to death, first by Screwy, later by both Screwy and the dog who's been chasing him throughout the short. The gratuitous nature of these assaults is repellent and unfortunately common to cartoons of the 1940s; unlike the physical gags elsewhere in the cartoon, these scenes are not done for laughs, but for sadistic joy and as such are unnecessary and ugly.

This is not the best entry in the five-short series for Screwy Squirrel, but it is a good start.

Screwball Squirrel (1944) has to be the greatest single cartoon character ever created. If Tex Avery is forever to be remembered for one thing, it's this creation. He stretched the bounds of decency (and sanity) with this cartoon. No matter what came beforehand or afterwards, animation was never the same again.

This was the first in several animated shorts based upon Screwy a.k.a. Screwball Squirrel. The cartoon opens up with a thumper like character frolicking through the woods. He happens to come across the title character. He takes the rabbit by the hand and cold cocks him offscreen and hijacks the show. A collection of sight gags, pratfalls and a lot of physical abuse takes place during the rest of the show. A real funny short that has to be seen to be believed.

Take note that the show was created during the height of World War II so a lot of humor from that era is worked into the short. But besides the nitpicking it's truly a classic character and an extremely funny one at that. Watch Tex Avery change the face of animation forever.

Highly recommended!

A+

It's going to be real hard to find an unedited copy of this short. Just keep your eyes open and you'll find it!

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best he ever did. 'Screwball Squirrel' signals the first appearance of the short lived character of Screwy, and of his five cartoons it's one of his best. Despite being a compelling, much more anarchic than his sweet appearance and funny character, as well as being charismatic enough to carry his cartoons as a lead character (as he does here), it is somewhat easy to see why Screwy didn't click and didn't last long, being a brash character with few sympathetic qualities.

Tex Avery does a wonderful job directing, with his unique, unlike-any-other visual and humour style all over 'Screwball Squirrel'. The cartoon is wonderfully over-the-top, very creative in its violent nature and some of it is hilarious, avoiding the potential trap of being too cutesy despite the opening.

'Screwball Squirrel' as always with Avery is beautifully animated. The character designs are unique, Avery always did have creative character designs, and suitably fluid. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed.

Voice acting is very good. The ending is a little too sadistic for my tastes, one really hates the uncalled for treatment of the cute squirrel at the hands of Screwy and the dog.

Otherwise, this is great. 9/10 Bethany Cox