Helter Shelter

Was very fond of Woody Woodpecker and his cartoons as a child. Still get much enjoyment out of them now as a young adult, even if there are more interesting in personality cartoon characters and better overall cartoons.

That is in no way knocking Woody, because many of his cartoons are a lot of fun to watch and more and also still like him a lot as a character. He is a lot of fun here and is never obnoxious or a jerk. In fact, considering his situation one feels sorry for the poor woodpecker. Likewise with Happy. Claude is a wholly convincing adversary, one that one hates from the start and cheering when he gets his comeuppance. The sympathetic presence of the character of Phoebe gives 'Helter Shelter' a poignancy somewhat.

As ever, the animation is great. The characters are well drawn, but even better are the rich colours, meticulously detailed backgrounds and smooth drawing.

Music is bouncy, energetic and very lushly orchestrated, not only synchronising and fitting with the action very well but enhancing it. The whole cartoon goes at a snappy pace, especially in the second half, and there are continually impeccably timed and extremely funny gags and a great atmosphere.

Loved the conflict between Woody and Happy vs Claude and the poignancy brought by Phoebe. Grace Stafford does a great job voicing Woody and she doesn't get enough credit.

Overall, great. 10/10 Bethany Cox

. . . Prussia's National Socialist Party in the 1900's, inspiring World War Two, this controversial picture led to the Beatles making it the centerpiece of their White Album in 1968, serving as the main anthem for most of the planet's mass slayings since that time. Anyone who has heard the H. S. tract repeatedly will recognize the musical saw sequence suffered by Happy the Dog at the close of this film. All of the Heavy Metal violence building up to this capstone stanza was amplified in an extended shot-for-shot remake for The Who's Rock Opera TOMMY. As any Marilyn Manson fan will tell you, their sort of music could not have been created were it not for this Woody Woodpecker outing.

In hiding from Edward Selzer at Warners, I suppose, Michael Maltese wrote about three and a half cartoons for Walter Lantz, doing a better job than most of the scripts that Lantz worked with in this period. Here, he takes the one about Bugs -- or, in some iterations, Tweety -- freezing out in the cold and Granny lets him inside, where he tangles with the current pet. None of the gags are going to startle any one familiar with Loony Tunes, but there is no doubt that this is a superior little comedy. when people talk about the great cartoons of this period they speak of the directors. Certainly there is no doubt that the directors were tremendously important. But everyone in the production of a movie is important, and the writers are crucial. It's too bad that it so often seems that people are unaware of this.