To Catch a Woodpecker

. . . that the federal government's break up of "Ma Bell" back in the 1900's was inspired by a Grace Kelly vehicle titled DIAL M FOR MURDER, but viewers of TO CATCH A WOODPECKER will see that this is clearly NOT the case. CATCH deftly documents how a phone company monopoly will wreak havoc within our American Homeland. Standing in for Bell here is the Miracle Phone Company, which is depicted as being rank with shallow thinking, gross negligence and a callous disregard for customer service. The inept clowns supposedly running the Miracle show are revealed to be incorrigible nitwits keen on planning masquerade parties but destined to fail at anything meaningful. As Alexander Graham himself admitted, what a lot of rot.

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, and is closer to his manic personality here than the heroic or toned down ones adopted around this period. The conflict is also believable and it's a good scenario at playing to Woody's strengths as a character. 'To Catch a Woodpecker' may not be perfect, but generally is one of the better faring late 50s Woody Woodpecker cartoons.

Alex Lovy is sort of hit and miss for me. Really enjoyed most of his Chilly Willy cartoons, most of which decent to great, but he was also responsible for three of the worst Speedy Gonzales/Daffy Duck cartoons and also created Merlin the Magic Mouse (who went on to star in five of the worst Looney Tunes cartoons of the late 50s). He fares quite well however.

Sure, the story when it comes to the Woody Woodpecker action is typical and not much of one. Time and budget constraints shows in some of the animation, which is a little rushed looking in the drawing and detail wise it's on the simplistic and careless side like many of Woody's cartoons from this period continuing through to the 60s.

Not all the animation is applicable to that. It's brightly coloured with some nice if simple backgrounds. There are far worse-looking Woody Woodpecker cartoons.

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.

Gags are always very amusing and never less than that, some of it is actually very funny and timed very well, and Grace Stafford and Daws Butler typically do a fine job voicing.

Overall, a lot of fun. 8/10 Bethany Cox

A frequent occurrence in Woody Woodpecker shorts, including this one, was Woody doing battle with an opponent or opponents who aren't exactly the brightest pebbles in the pond. While Woody isn't a Rhodes Scholar himself, when your opposition has the mental wattage of a burned out 20 Watt bulb, they aren't that great a threat to you. Great fun, if a tad obvious at times. Worth watching. Recommended.