The Honduras Hurricane

In the late 1930s, MGM bought the rights to the Katzenjammer Kids comic strip. They entitled the series 'The Captain and the Kids' and the series turned out to be a mistake...as they only made a few cartoons and they did not do well despite the strip being quite popular. I think much of it is because the chemistry of the comic strip just isn't evident in the cartoons...and it's as if the cartoonists never saw the strip.

In the case of "The Honduras Hurricane", it's directed by Friz Freleng...a man known more for his work with Looney Tunes after leaving MGM. And, like most non-Disney cartoons of the 1930s, it's in black & white.

In this cartoon, a pirate and his crew arrive and take the Captain prisoner. They then force his fighting rooster, The Honduras Hurricane fight against their champion chicken...knowing the scrawny Hurricane will lose. Well, to help out the Captain, the kids substitute a baby eagle for the chicken midway through the match...and no one seems to notice.

The cartoon is well animated but bad because it simply ISN'T like the comic strip. In the strip, the kids torment the dopey Captain and his dopey friend...but here they are out to help him, which makes no sense. Despite this, it's not a bad cartoon...but I can see why audiences disliked it as it just wasn't what they expected or wanted to see.