Jungle Jitters

Jungle Jitters (1938)

** (out of 4)

Rather bland cartoon from Warner takes place in Africa and it starts off as a group of cannibals are dancing and then they turn into a merry-go-round where they then play a game trying to pull the nose ring out of one man's nose. From here the story focuses on a salesman who shows up at a home where the cannibal at first want to eat him before deciding to marry him off to an ugly queen. JUNGLE JITTERS is best remembered today for being one of the "Censored 11" from Warner, which of course got pulled off of television due to their racial content. Overall, this one here really isn't all that offensive but then again, that's going to be determined by the one actually watching since we've all got our own lines that we don't think should be crossed. Overall there are a couple funny moments in this one including the scene where the salesman shows up and the cannibals look at him and see him as a turkey. The ugly queen is certainly one of the ugliest creatures ever drawn in these animated movies and it makes for a fun ending. There's even a Clark Gable joke thrown in for good measures. Still, there's no question that there simply aren't enough laughs to keep this one from being better.

Merrie Melodies short, directed by Friz Freleng, notable today for being one of the Censored Eleven. For those who don't know, the Censored Eleven are cartoons that were withheld from syndication because they were considered to be too offensive due to their use of racial stereotypes and imagery. This one takes place in an African village populated with black people, except for the queen, who is an old white woman (or some kind of bird, I couldn't really tell). The natives are dancing and carrying on at the start of the cartoon when a traveling salesman shows up and gets himself into trouble. Not a funny cartoon and, yes, as politically incorrect as they come. At one point one of the African natives even does an Asian accent. Most of the jokes are dumb, including the dated parodies of Robert Taylor, Clark Gable, and the now-forgotten Al Pearce. The animation is actually quite nice, grotesque depictions of black people aside. It's colorful and the action is well-animated. The music is also good, including the Looney Tunes theme song used during the merry-go-round bit. But really there's no reason to see this unless you are an animation buff or curious about the Censored Eleven.

Putting the 'banned' label on this will bring it attention it doesn't really deserve.

The main reason for the controversy was the depiction of south seas' blacks as cannibals. That was a regular occurrence in these cartoons.

The humor is so dated that I truly believe anyone who sees it today won't get most of the jokes. It may belong in a time capsule, but it's only place is in history.

Did anyone notice the native guard suddenly talking like a Chinaman? Typical 30's cartoon. Filled with spot gags so it never gets boring, but it never takes off either.

The final line is the best. If you can find it, see for yourself.

I'd heard no end of horror stories about how 'Jungle Jitters' is allegedly so mind-bogglingly racist that it has been banned from polite society for all eternity. It turns out that this cartoon's major crime is that it isn't very funny. The single most racist gag involves a black man who looks like Stepin Fetchit but with enormous lips. He eats a persimmon, and his lips pucker until they're normal size. Elsewhere there are moronic gags involving African natives (all male) with nose rings and metal bands elongating their necks. (Apparently the gang at Termite Terrace have got African men confused with Burmese women.) I was surprised that there weren't any plate-lip gags ... but, really, most of this toon is just so stupid and unfunny that it's not worth the credibility of being called racist. Some other Hollywood toons from this same period are far more racist, maliciously so. Step forward, Chuck Jones's Inki.

After the initial gags, we get two interesting examples of Dorgan's Syndrome, a term I invented. Dorgan's Syndrome (named for comic-strip artist Tad Dorgan) is when a comic-strip character or cartoon character (almost invariably male) is drawn to look like an exaggerated human (fully clothed), but very minor details -- such as floppy spaniel ears or a black button nose -- indicate that he's actually a humanised animal, nearly always a dog. (Tad Dorgan drew comic-strip dogs who were so completely anthropomorphised, you have to look carefully to see they aren't comic-strip humans.) Into this cartoon jungle comes a commercial traveller who appears to be a white man, except that he has a dog's nose. The African natives (who are clearly human beings, at least by cartoon standards) want to put him in a big cauldron and eat him. Before anybody cries 'cannibalism', how can they be cannibals if they're humans eating a dog? The talking dog's flesh tones resemble a caucasian human's, so I guess he's 'white'.

Now we veer into H. Rider Haggard territory, as it turns out that all these black men are ruled by a white queen ... a very old queen, in fact, wearing Mammy Yokum high-button shoes. She too appears to suffer from Dorgan's Syndrome, as she looks nominally human but her mouth and nose are drawn to resemble a chicken's beak. (An old biddy?) She takes one look at the dog and starts screeching 'A man!'. She's surrounded by black men, but apparently she's been waiting for a talking dog with caucasian flesh tones. While the dog is talking, the hen imagines him morphing into Clark Gable (very unpleasantly drawn) and Robert Taylor. It shows how defeatist the makers of this Warner Brothers cartoon were, that they had to invoke two MGM contract actors as examples of male sex appeal. Couldn't they have used Warners actors Cagney, Raft ... even Dick Powell?

This whole toon is too dumb to bear much scrutiny. When the African men look at the dog, he morphs into a fried chicken. But their queen IS a chicken, so why don't they eat HER?

A previous IMDb reviewer, Randy H Farb, observes that the travelling salesman in this cartoon is a parody of a radio character named Elmer Blurt. He's correct, but Mr Farb has misspelt the name of the radio actor who invented the character: that would be Al Pearce, not Pierce. Al Pearce's radio character Elmer Blurt was nicknamed 'the Low Pressure Salesman'. As Farb notes, quite a few Warners toons featured parodies of radio or movie actors. Which brings me to the one good thing about this cartoon: the dog character (an imitation of Blurt) is actually fairly interesting in his own right, and could have been quite effective in a funnier cartoon. It's a shame that Warners never used him again. Maybe he'll show up in a Tiny Toon. I'll rate 'Jungle Jitters' just 2 out of 10. That's all, folks.

This is another of the "Censored 11" Warner Bros. cartoons that I found on Thad's Animation Blog. Thad thinks most of the gags are stupid but since Friz Freling directed this, there are at least a few clever ones like the Looney Tunes Theme-"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"-being depicted with these cannibals going up-and-down on a pole in a circle with a tent-like roof and a few others whistling in unison or the tall humanized salesman getting punched in the stomach. Besides that, however, the stereotypical characterizations pretty much defeats whatever entertainment value this short once had and dated references to old-time radio stars doesn't help. And what's with one of the natives speaking in a pseudo-stereotypical broken Chinese English? And why is their leader a white prissy queen drawn as a chicken? And why does she see the dog salesman as humanized Clark Gable and Robert Taylor? If you're a Warner cartoon completest, I'd recommend Jungle Jitters for one time viewing. Otherwise, stay away.