You Ought to Be in Pictures

Friz Freleng's 'You Ought to be in Pictures' is a brilliant, atypical Warner Bros. cartoon. Beautifully combining animation and live action film (only Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Porky's car are animated), it stars many of the Warner staff, including Leon Schlesinger who, despite playing himself, manages to be hammier than the pig he's acting opposite! While the animators at the Warner Bros. studio are out at lunch, the newly drawn Daffy Duck convinces the newly drawn Porky Pig that he deserves better than a career in animation and sets him on his way to seeking a starring role in the movies. His motives, of course, are to get rid of Porky so that he can take his place as Warner's big star. An early glimpse of the greedy, narcissistic version of Daffy (as opposed to the crazy version of Daffy more commonly seen in these early black and white shorts), this is also another clear case of Daffy stealing the cartoon, something that would lead to life imitating art as Daffy really did replace Porky as Warner's most popular star. Porky's trip to a movie studio and his high speed chase through the streets to get his job back make 'You Ought to be in Pictures' seem more epically expansive than the average short of this era and the interaction between real life and animation is surprisingly smooth for such an early example of the two mediums coexisting. All in all, 'You Ought to be in Pictures' is a fascinating, entertaining short which is extremely easy to love. Ironically, having achieved his aim of replacing Porky as a comedy star, Daffy would be complaining of being typecast as a comedy player just ten years later in Chuck Jones's 'The Scarlet Pumpernickel'. There's just no pleasing some ducks!

I remember discovering this cartoon on TV when I was a kid, back when they still showed black & white Looney Tunes regularly, and even as a youngster I recognized it as something special. In the '80s I managed to get a copy on VHS and practically wore it out with re-plays; it's one of those miraculous little films you can go back to again and again, one that retains its charm and its ability to make you laugh no matter how many times you've seen it. If anything, I enjoy it even more as a grown-up, having come to appreciate the inside jokes about Hollywood, cartoon producer Leon Schlesinger, and the legendary "Termite Terrace" facility, seen here at the height of its glory days.

It's clear from the opening shot that this is no ordinary cartoon; in fact, it's primarily a live action short filmed on the Warner Brothers lot, featuring actors playing studio personnel. (Amusingly, almost every person we see aside from Schlesinger has his voice dubbed by Mel Blanc, which is not only a great inside joke but makes the humans come off like cartoon characters themselves.) After the animators have gone to lunch Porky Pig comes to life on his drawing board, just like Max Fleischer's Koko the Clown did in the '20s, and so does Daffy Duck, who initially addresses Porky from a portrait on the wall. Daffy urges his colleague to quit cartoons and go for a job in features playing opposite Bette Davis. Pushed by Daffy, Porky quits, and his confrontation with the boss makes for a memorable and oddly poignant scene. Schlesinger, an affable-seeming guy who looks a little uncomfortable playing himself, agrees to release him from his contract. After Porky's gone, however, the producer turns to the camera and addresses us with hard-bitten wisdom: "He'll be back!"

Predictably enough, Porky's venture into the real world of studio system film-making is a disaster. He is belittled and chased by a hostile security guard, sneaks onto a sound stage but ruins a take, and when he tries to flee he blunders into a Western set and is pursued by stampeding horses (a great effect, and a comic high point). Daffy, meanwhile, has been trying to hassle a visibly irritated Schlesinger into giving him Porky's former position. Porky returns to Termite Terrace in the nick of time, gets his old job back, and rewards Daffy with a vigorous beating. Thus, order is restored.

As a kid I didn't catch all the references to Errol Flynn, Frank McHugh, or Greta Garbo, although I certainly got the joke when Porky tries to sneak into the studio disguised as Oliver Hardy. Still, viewers don't have to be hardcore film buffs to appreciate the comedy. The animated elements in You Ought To Be in Pictures have a fascinating look, achieved by laying down cell artwork (representing Daffy, Porky, and Porky's car) on still photographs of the office, the studio, and other "real world" locations. This is inter-cut with live action scenes, but on several occasions the cartoon characters interact with the human ones, as when Porky shakes hands with Schlesinger, or, later, drives like a maniac through midtown traffic. There's an especially startling bit when the studio guard hoists Porky and his car into the air and flings them off the lot These effects may look rudimentary by today's standards, but they pack more humor and pizazz into each frame than a lot of the technically adept but soulless CGI work produced nowadays.

This is a great piece of work, and if you're a movie buff with a fondness for old time Hollywood it's guaranteed to make you happy.

As all the animators at Warner Brothers run off for lunch, Porky Pig has just been drawn on an artist's pad. He comes to life, only to hear the voice of Daffy Duck, who is in a picture on the wall. Daffy begins to coerce Porky into demanding to be in legitimate pictures. Porky goes to the boss's office and makes demands and ends up quitting. The boss wishes him well and off he goes to a different movie studio. Things don't go so smoothly. First of all, he's supposed to be a leading man, opposite stars like Rita Hayworth. Let's not forget he is a pig with a severe stuttering problem. He has an encounter with a security guard, who chases him across the lot. Anyway, the joining of actual film and animation is pretty interesting. Of course, once Porky is out the door, Daffy is in the boss's office trying to move up in the business. Nicely done little cartoon.

As part of his plan to eliminate the competition, Daffy Duck convinces Porky Pig to seek his fame and fortune in feature movies. After convincing producer Leon Schlesinger to tear up his contract, Porky heads out to a hollywood studio to look for a job, but all he finds is a lot of trouble.

The only animation seen in the film is Daffy, Porky, and Porky's car. This is not only unique for a Warner Brothers cartoon, it may at the time have been the most ambitious effort ever to combine animation with live action footage. Although extremely simple by today's standards, nothing done since can match the brilliant creativity and direction which makes this such a hilarious success.

The real strength of the film, however, is Porky. We might consider this the ultimate ensemble film, since Porky can only attain such incredible heights through the combination of efforts by Friz Freleng (director), Mel Blanc (voice), Jack Miller (writer) and Norman Cohen (animator). For 8 glorious minutes, Porky is every bit the comedic actor that Charlie Chaplin was at his very best.

I realized before I watched this cartoon it would have a live action appearance of Fred Schlesinger, but I did not realize there were other filmed characters and that the very new art of live action and cartoon together would be done so well in this episode! I was expecting to see quite a lot of Daffy Duck in this episode, but Porky Pig is definitely the main character here. In the Warner Brothers studio, Daffy, who wants to be as high as Porky is right now, does his best to convince his cartoon companion to rid himself of his cartoon contract and go to the "features". Well, if you know Porky, you know he'll do pretty much the persuasive Daffy will tell him to and he goes off to ask Fred Schlesinger if he could leave the cartoon studio. Porky feels very nervous, but is pushed by Daffy and Fred seems to accept Porky is going...

I really enjoyed the characters of Daffy and Porky in this cartoon (even though Daffy was a meanie), the plot, the premise of the cartoon and the way the cartoon was funny even though there were no real jokes. The whole thing was very entertaining and very well done, with good moments from the three main characters. :-) If there was anything I felt even slightly iffy about the cartoon it was the fact that everyone was unnecessarily mean to Porky, but it is a "film thing", the way it happened.

I recommend this to people who love old Looney Tunes and to people who just enjoy and entertaining cartoon. Enjoy "You Ought to Be in Pictures"! :-)

P.S Both LeeEisenberg and ccthemovieman said in their reviews that they thought it was amazing how they managed this cartoon with live action while Roger Rabbit was nearly 50 years away. That is what I was thinking as well!!