Pipe Dreams

This is a Hugh Harmon-Rudolf Ising Happy Harmonies cartoon distributed by M-G-M. In this one, three monkeys representing "See No Evil-Hear No Evil-Speak No Evil" sing those words before each takes a turn smoking a pipe and seeing things like three singing cigars, a matchbox horse, a train that is connected by matchboxes, and some dancing wooden matches dressed like Mexican dancers-both male and female! Beautiful animation and backgrounds throughout and while the smoking content here might make one give pause to show this to children, the hallucinatory result may make one want to not smoke at all if some of the images here bother them too much! Pipe Dreams is recommended to any animation buff curious about these pre-Hanna-Barbera and Tex Avery M-G-M cartoons.

The three little monkey tchotchkies come alive on the mantel of a tobacco-lover's den, where they have a musical interlude with pipes, plugs of chewing tobacco, and cigars (including three half-smoked butts, including one that talks like Ned Sparks) in this Harman-Ising Happy Harmonies cartoon.

There's lots of near-brand product placement, like "Ohi Matches" and other bits from this example of the "objects come alive when people are asleep" sort of cartoon. The color design is a bit simple, with many objects tinted a uniform color, particularly the brown tobacco products. It's a decent movie, but like many of the studio's offerings, way too cue for my taste.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. It was very bold to tackle smoking in animation, especially from this point of view back when attitudes towards it were different. 'Pipe Dreams' is not the only time Hugh Harmon, who did a lot of cartoons that had the cutesy factor, tackled controversial subjects in a darker way than usual, with it being done brilliantly in for example 'Peace on Earth'.

'Pipe Dreams' is not as good as that cartoon, but despite being a bit muddled tonally it is a very interesting cartoon that would have caused quite a stir in its ahead of the time portrayal of smoking. And is of quite good quality that is not near as sugary sweet as what is implied by the title and if you are familiar with Harmon's other work. Or anywhere near as preachy as feared considering the type of cartoon it is. Much better than what the rating suggests.

It is very well made visually, with it being beautifully detailed and a mix of vibrant and unsettling. It doesn't try to do too much while not being simplistic at the same time, the hallucinatory visuals being wonderfully surreal in a way seldom seen in other Harmon cartoons. The music is outstanding, lush, characterful with the odd haunting moment.

Also found it very interesting and informative, even when what is said is not much new through older eyes it is quite educational for younger viewers. As said, its attitude to smoking is quite bold and really does make one think about the negative effects about smoking, it may make smokers consider giving up and those with already strong views on it will not be converted (if anything their argument will strengthen). It is amazing though at how it actually managed to not be preachy or heavy handed, which to be honest was expected considering that it's a message cartoon and a lot of message cartoons have those problems (especially the ones tackling more controversial issues).

On the other hand, 'Pipe Dreams' isn't perfect. The story is best forgotten as there isn't one, basically it's visuals and action revolving around a message, and it feels over stretched at times.

The main issue is the inconsistent and muddled tone, with the shifts between cute and eerie not always being seamless which creates too much of a disjoint too often. Indicative of it trying too hard to appeal to a wider audience, laudable but doesn't quite succeed. The cuteness for my tastes did go overboard and 'Pipe Dreams' in all honesty would have worked better if either cute or eerie rather than trying to do both, with the latter being better as it would gel better with what goes on in the visuals.

Concluding, not bad at all and better than expected. 7/10.

It's the See No Evil, Hear No Evil, and Speak No Evil monkeys. They come alive as goody two shoes who have never done any evil. They get into the tobacco and it all goes to hell. They start having surreal tobacco-related adventures.

I'm sure these animators are all smokers. I can imagine their offices filled with smoke as cigarettes dangle from the animators' mouths. I understand their wish to throw all their smoking related material into this MGM Harman-Ising cartoon. When they first start smoking their first pipe, it's stuff of nightmares. That's the anti-smoking ad. Everything else is an afterthought.

This is an interesting take on the perils of smoking (done some 65 years ago) and is a very nice cartoon, particularly some of the visual sequences. But the cartoon is entirely too precious in spots for its own good. It isn't a bad cartoon, but the dichotomy of cute one moment and eerie the next is far too great a gulf for this short to work very well. Roger Corman pulled it off in some of his features simply by shooting for humor rather than sugary sweet, as they do here. Worth watching, though. Recommended to fans of the MGM Harman/Ising days.