Porky's Pooch

If the average person thinks of a pesky dog trying to get Porky Pig to adopt him, s/he will probably think of Charlie, who invaded Porky's life in "Little Orphan Airedale" (which I interpreted as having the same gist as the Alan Bates movie "King of Hearts"*), "Often an Orphan" and "Awful Orphan". Well, a few years before all those, there was "Porky's Pooch", featuring Rover. As always, the wise guy mutt stops at nothing to try and become Porky's pet.

I noticed an in-joke: Porky's building is called Termite Terrace. Hard-core Looney Tunes fans probably know that Termite Terrace is the building where the Chuck Jones/Friz Freleng/Bob Clampett crowd created the cartoons.

Overall, I preferred the Charlie cartoons better, as this one had sort of an abrupt ending. But it still worked as brief entertainment. Worth seeing.

*"King of Hearts" shows that the people in the insane asylum weren't as crazy as the people behind WWI; "Little Orphan Airedale" portrays Charlie's friend deciding...well, I won't spoil it. As it is, I may have been the only person who interpreted a link between the two.

One of the better Porky cartoons, this one centres on Rover, a smart dog from the street who decides to find himself a master and fixes on our favourite pig, disturbing his bathtime and making himself a general nuisance.

Porky of course is eventually taken in after some riotous behaviour and manipulation by Rover, as the dog explains to down on his luck Scots dog Andy - Andy has just been hypnotised by the sight of fresh meat being cooked before his eyes but not offered as food.

Like Mickey Mouse with Pluto, it seems preposterous that a pig would own a dog, but that's animation for you! This Looney Tune is fun, snappy, and clever.

Basically, this is a tale in flashback of one dog, who now is well-fed and happy, telling a hungry, lonesome dog how he got a master to take care of him.

I wish we had more of him (the hungry dog) in this cartoon. Mel Blanc is just awesome with his different voices in this one: First, he's that lonesome mutt: a Scottish dog "Rover," who Mel exaggerates the way Scot's roll their "r's." Then he's another dog: "Sandy," the now-fed dog who tells the story. He has a strong NYC accent which is right up Mel's alley. And, of course, he's Porky Pig. I laughed at the Scot more than anything and wish his role had been bigger.

The artwork with the New York city buildings, inside and out, the sidewalks and streets is fantastic. Note: Porky's residence is "Termite Terrace," the place the Looney Tunes creators called their place of work.

Porky's Pooch (1941)

*** (out of 4)

A poor dog walks out into the street where he sees one of his buddies in a rich car. The rich dog then tells his friend how he got adopted by a rich man and then we flashback to him showing up on the home of Porky Pig.

PORKY'S POOCH is a charming B&W short that manages to have some nice laughs that will keep you entertained throughout the short running time. I must admit that the dog is so annoying that I really wouldn't have blamed Porky had he done something rather drastic. With that said, there are some pretty funny reaction shots of Porky who is obviously in over his head as far as this dog is concerned.

"Porky's Pooch" is a very unusual cartoon from Looney Tunes. This is because instead of the normal backgrounds, they are sometimes black & white photographs OR drawn to look just like them. It's a most unusual look...and you wish the studio had made a few more like it.

The cartoon is also a bit unusual because it was later remade by the studio as "Little Orphan Airedale".

The story begins with a hungry Scotty coming upon a dog waiting in Porky's car. Apparently, Porky didn't want a dog but the dog was persistent...VERY persistent!

This is a cute and clever cartoon...well worth seeing and very well made despite being one of the last black & white cartoons made by Looney Tunes.

By the way, the final line "I'm a bad boy" is taken from Lou Costello....from rival Universal Studios.