Gold Diggers of '49

At the time this cartoon was made, Porky Pig (of course to be one of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies biggest stars) and Beans (the Boston cat who sadly didn't catch on), had been introduced to viewers as schoolkids in 'I Haven't Got a Hat'. That was a charming cartoon with strong characterisations.

'Gold Diggers ...' makes both characters into adults, and not only that, Beans wants to marry Porky's daughter (who appears to be another cat, and not a pig ...). To do this he needs to get into Porky's good books by finding and guarding gold.

Some fun gags (Beans driving a car so fast he turns into a blur of lines) and the interest factor of seeing another embryonic version of Porky Pig - still not quite the classic version we know and love - makes this film more important that it perhaps would have been without those associations.

'Beans' is a golddigger in '49 and to many surprise he actually finds something, just as the sleepy town he's living in had no high hopes anymore (as we see in the introduction).

Beans instead of keeping the gold (that comes in coins, very handy indeed) for himself is telling everybody in town, including Porky Pig whose daughter he wants to marry. I love it when they find a book called 'how to find gold', it says 'Start to Dig!'.

Then enter a villain who steals what appears to be a sack of gold (but really was only Porky's lunch) but Beans gets it back in his supercar.

Not a lot going on in this cartoon, a bit racist at times but nothing to get too excited about on all accounts. 5/10.

Tex Avery has gone on to far better cartoons since, but 'Gold Diggers of 49' is not a bad first cartoon at all, while not great it's decent.

Wasn't crazy about Porky here, really like him as a character but his taller and slobbery look is nowhere near as appealing as the design that we're more familiar with, pretty crude from personal opinion actually. Nor with Joe Dougherty's voice work, Mel Blanc's Porky stutter is much more natural while Dougherty's sounds annoying and overdone. One gag misfires too, and that's the racially stereotypical gag with the Chinese dogs.

However, while Avery's animation style became more refined later on there are some really imaginative and beautiful visuals here, especially in the chase sequence with lots of fluidity, crispness and meticulous detail. The music is no Carl Stalling, but it's lively, charmingly orchestrated, rousing and dynamic enough. There are some good gags, though Avery's succeeding cartoons were more consistent in humour and were sharper and wittier, especially the barber shop gag and the chase sequence, the latter being the highlight of the cartoon. There are some cute moments too, and the whole stuff with the gold makes for good fun.

Beans is not one of the funniest ever characters and there are more interesting ones too, but he is compelling and amusing enough and he's likable. Kitty is adorable, and the villain is suitably dastardly. The chemistry between the characters is also enjoyable, and apart from Dougherty the voice acting from Bernice Hansen and Billy Bletcher is very good but the lack of Mel Blanc is much lamented.

All in all, a decent first cartoon for Avery but he went on to do better. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Gold Diggers of '49 (1935)

*** (out of 4)

Beans is out digging for gold and hits the big one. He rushes into town and soon everyone is out there digging. Porky Pig is helping Beans when their bag of gold is stolen so Beans must go after it.

GOLD DIGGERS OF '49 is a fairly entertaining short from Tex Avery and it features that wonderful animation that he is known for. There are a lot of good gags scattered throughout the running time but for me the highlight is simply the animation. This is especially true during a sequence where Beans feeds his car some extra fast gas. Just look at the detail as they go zipping by various things including picking up Porky. Speaking of Porky, this here was his second short and he's bigger than he's ever been, weight wise, and makes for an interesting father.

This is a Warner Brothers cartoon, made with Porky Pig, less than a year old.

In this cartoon, in the 1800's, a cat called Beans has found gold. After kissing his love (the cat who is Porky's "daughter") goodbye, he head off and with Porky and townfolk, he mines for gold. He seems to be doing very well. Then, along comes a robber, who has his eye on one bag of gold - but he did not count on Beans coming along...

This is a very interesting cartoon in a historical and plot-wise point of view. It is historical because of the way it is made, which is old and the humour, which is old. The plot is interesting, partly because it was unlike the plots of many of the Warner Brothers cartoons in the future. I like the cartoon because of this and I also like it because of Beans the cat (who for some reason reminds me of Mickey mouse), Porky (who looks a lot different) and Beans' sweetheart. Some parts of the cartoon are very cute.

Well worth a watch - especially for people who like historical cartoons and exciting old cartoons! Enjoy "Gold Diggers of '49". :-)