The Bookworm and the unnamed crow return for mote hijinks. This time Dr. Jekyll convinces the crow that he needs a brain. He performs an experiment that leaves the crow and the bookworm too big for their britches.
Hugh Harman continued to produce very lush cartoons once he returned to MGM. He never mastered story telling and as a result the continuity of his shorts tend to be very uneven. He also resisted comedy and some have criticized his attempts.
This short however manages to wow with impressive effects animation while containing some nuanced comedy. Mel Blanc's performance and dialogue with the crow, moreso after he gets a brain, is hilarious. And unlike many of Harman's other MGM shorts, this one is solid from start to finish; No uneven conclusions. The crows last line is especially funny how the viewer almost anticipates him swearing.
Some sources arrtibute authorship to Friz Freleng, but he was long gone by the time production started.
The sequence of the bookworm going through the glass tubes is reused from an earlier MGM short titled BOTTLES.
Unfortunately, this has never been released on any video format. We must lobby WB for a complete collection of the Harman-Ising cartoons.
