The Leghorn Blows at Midnight

The misadventures of Foghorn Leghorns usually follow the same pattern: rooster hurts dog, dog maims rooster, rooster meets somebody (in the early years Henery Hawk) and uses him to pester dog, dog then does the same to strike back at the rooster. It is ironic that while Henery was originally the star (being the hunter, at least he has a reason to be on the attack), he would soon have to make way for other visitors to Old Macdonald's farm.

In their fifth feature together, Chickenhawk Henery still can't tell a chicken from a dog (or a pheasant for that matter). He does however know the lyrics to `A hunting we will go' and joins Foghorn for a duet. Foghorn has also broadened his range from the usual "Camptown Races" to give us his rendition of `Old Macdonald'. Between all this merry farmyard singing, there is some serious mutilation going on.

Foghorn's schemes normally involve a certain dispensation of disbelief, like telling the little hawk that Barnyard Dog is a pheasant, or selling him some vanishing cream. The Dog on the other hand likes to use elaborate traps to get his own back at Foghorn. When he instructs Henery to built his latest rooster trap, Foggy not only falls for it, but helps set it up! How typical. When both parties have exhausted their bag of tricks, rooster and dog get into an old fashioned fist fight. However, the winner remains undecided.

5 out of 10

Hilarious Foghorn Leghorn short. Yes, if you've seen a lot of his cartoons this might seem like typical stuff. But, keep in mind, at the time this one was released there had only been a handful of Foghorn shorts made and none were quite like this. So this wasn't typical in its time, it was pretty fresh. As for the plot, it's Henery Hawk out looking for a chicken and finding himself as a pawn in the never-ending feud between Foghorn and Barnyard Dog. As is often the case with shorts featuring him, Henery steals the show here. He's as adorable as ever with many funny lines. My favorite part of this one is when Foghorn is trying to pump Henery up by telling him about great chicken hawks of the past who refused to quit. With each example Foghorn gives, Henery's little thought bubbles show a childlike drawing of how he imagines the heroes. It's just too cute for words. The animation is beautiful in this one with deep, rich colors and well-drawn characters and backgrounds. Great music from Carl Stalling. Mel Blanc's voice work is terrific, although he had still yet to perfect his Foghorn voice at this point. Foghorn sounds a little too nasal here. It's a very funny short with likable characters and plenty of good lines and gags. One of my favorite Foghorn or Henery cartoons.

I do agree that the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons follow a very similar formula in terms of story, that in mind I quite like them still, finding them entertaining. The Leghorn Blows at Midnight is not an exception to the somewhat formulaic concept, I admit the story here is by the numbers and the cartoon is a little on the short side. On the other side, I quite like the character of Foghorn Leghorn, sure he is not the best Looney Tunes character(Bugs or Daffy in my opinion) but he is with his distinctive voice and catchphrases, zany antics and his ability to trick the other characters especially Henery(not only tricking him in this cartoon into thinking that Barnyard Dog is a pheasant but in another cartoon of his, Crowing Pains I think, he tricks him into thinking Sylvester is a chicken using ventriloquism at the end) a memorable character in his own right. The animation is quite nice, the colours and backgrounds are colourful and the characters are well-drawn, while the music is lively, the writing witty and the gags well-timed. Mel Blanc's voice work further adds to the fun. All in all, formulaic but fun. 8/10 Bethany Cox