Porky's Poultry Plant

(From LT Golden Collection V4D2) Frank Tashlin's cartoons always have a great setup - think of Porky and Daffy trying to escape the hotel manager. This one is a bit more basic but still fun, with Porky the owner of a poultry farm and a bunch of hens. A run-in with a chicken hawk quickly turns into a pre-World-War-2 dogfight when Porky, still very chubby in 1936, takes to the skies in his equally paunchy airplane. Really solid short with some very cool action shots. The creative black & whites often are the best surprises because they're so often overlooked, and this one is no exception.

A 10 line minimum for a 7-minute short does seem a bit steep, doesn't it?

In "Porky's Poultry Plant", farmer Porky has a big problem...the hawks are killing off many of his chickens. So, he does what anyone would do in this situation....they buy an airplane and attack the hawks in their own turf!

This is a cartoon with lots of action and a VERY dark but enjoyable ending. Compared to many other Porky cartoons of the era, this one has more laughs and is more enjoyable. And, like other early Porky Pig cartoons, he looks nothing like the more trim and less homely 1940s and later versions of the character.

By the way, if anyone cares, the airplane Porky flies looks highly reminiscent of a Gee Bee Racer--a stubby but very fast plane built for racing in the 1930s.

A remarkable cartoon for the period. First, it was Carl Stallings' debut as Termite Terrace's musical director, a position he would hold for twenty years, producing a remarkable body of work. Second, it was Frank Tashlin's second directorial credit -- his first was three years before for Van Beuren -- and his mastery of directing is already obvious. Notice the long panning shot that opens the movie, and the POV (Point Of View) shots from the chickenhawk's perspective. Or perhaps it is a vulture; species are not rigid in the cartoon universe.

This is not, I should add, a very funny cartoon. The situations are handled dramatically and the number of gags is not very high. But it is worth your time.

Porky's Poultry Plant is interesting from a historical perspective for Frank Tashlin and Carl Stalling at the start of their Warner Brothers/Looney Tunes careers. But it does deserve to be known for more than just historical value. Tashlin and Porky have done much better since, but Porky's Poultry Plant is entertaining, sometimes cute and a decent enough start for Tashlin. There is the sense that he was finding his feet(which is normal really), the cartoon does lack energy sometimes and the ending is too cutesy and abrupt. It is unexceptional story-wise with a routine structure, and Joe Dougherty's voice work is very uncontrolled and not very dynamic(Mel Blanc is missed here). However the animation is great, detailed, crisp and beautifully shaded, plus there is evidence of directorial mastery with Tashlin in the camera angles, the opening shot is simply gorgeous. Stalling's music is similarly wonderful, it is lushly orchestrated and lively with Stalling's style all over it. The dialogue is witty and amusing, and while never hilarious the gags are also decent. The airborne chase is exciting and Porky's Pultry Plant's highlight, the snake charmer bit while a somewhat predictable gag is funny too. Porky despite the lack of Mel Blanc voicing him is a decent lead character, if not the most charismatic. The chickens are cute and the vultures are appropriately antagonistic. All in all, not great but fun and interesting. 7/10 Bethany Cox

With some of the early Porky Pig cartoons, it seems that the people creating the cartoons often didn't go for outright humor (that may have started when Daffy Duck came along). For example, "Porky's Poultry Plant" has a rather simple plot line: Porky runs a chicken farm and has lost some hens to a pernicious hawk/buzzard; the hawk/buzzard kidnaps a chick, and Porky flies after the villainous bird, resulting in an aerial version of football.

Usually, I would expect Frank Tashlin's cartoons to contain a lot more in the way of sight gags, but this one sticks to its simple plot. Maybe it was sort of a place holder while they were creating some of the more famous cartoons (1936 also saw the release of "I Love to Singa"). Still, it is worth seeing as a look at the early days of the Looney Tunes. Just understand that they don't go for the really wacky stuff that would soon characterize their work.