The Rude Intruder

Chilly Willy's best cartoons were perfect examples of how a potentially one-joke character and concept could end up actually being a perfect mix of the cute and the funny with a lot of colour and good comic timing to go with it.

Like 'Airlift a La Carte', 'The Rude Intruder' is an interesting cartoon. It is the last pairing of Chilly and Maxie the Polar Bear of the Walter Lantz era, and even more so the last Walter Lantz Studio Chilly Willy cartoon. Personally thought that Chilly was a very good character and deserved a far better final cartoon than 'The Rude Intruder'. It's not a terrible cartoon, but is a lesser effort for Chilly and certainly not a high point for Lantz or Paul J. Smith. Smith does have some good cartoons but also some weak efforts to his name, 'The Rude Intruder' is a pretty weak one.

Chilly is adorable and is also a lot of fun, with his actions speaking far louder than words. Prefer him when silent but he still makes an impression. His anarchic personality is hardly toned down and he is still the exceptionally clever and brutal penguin we know and love. Maxie partners him well and endears enough, though the concept doesn't allow him to show his comedic chops.

The two charm together and the voice work professional. Walter Greene's music score is lively and rousingly, cleverly and beautifully orchestrated and fits very well. Love the opening title credits music.

However, the more serious subject matter is well-intentioned but does come at the expense of the gags and humour and it ends up feeling a little heavy-handed in delivery. Chilly and Maxie's antics do feel a bit tired and over-familiar, and some of the pacing was in strong need of a big kick, energy tends to lack.

Story is very thin, hardly any, and at times random. The animation is scrappy. Despite some nice colours it's very simplistically detailed and even more carelessly drawn. Both Chilly and Maxie have been better drawn and the bland supporting characters look odd and their material too weak to be a believable adversary. The "humorous" lines are barely there, even the narration is lacking. Once again, Chilly's voice is far too much of a mismatch, Chilly just doesn't sound right when not with a sparingly used high-pitched voice and made to sound older than he looks, it's like a mouse trying to sound like a tiger or something.

In conclusion, pretty weak and a lacklustre end to a very mixed but sometimes very good series of cartoons. 4/10 Bethany Cox

The last Chilly Willy release has him and the polar bear in an environmentalist fight with a man on an icebreaker who wants to drill an oil well in the arctic. The point of the movie is admirable, although, understandably in a short cartoon aimed at children, hardly balanced; certainly few adults make serious efforts to be balanced in their positions.

The animation is, for the era fairly good, although the story is limited to a few relatively unadorned efforts at mutual destruction. Although Chilly Willy was never a great cartoon character, this was the end of the line for Lantz and a weak, although serious coda to a long and happy career.