You Ought to Be in Pictures (1940)

hyped garbage

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Crappy film

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Warner Bros' "You Ought to Be in Pictures" is what Daffy tells porky in this mix of live action and animation we have here. But of course, Daffy wants Porky's place and Porky, naive as he is, believes him right away. This film runs a couple seconds under 10 minutes, so it is 3 minutes longer than these films usually are. It is in black-and-white and the most interesting thing here for me was not really the slapstick comedy, but how they mixed live action and animation. As a result of this we have the only acting credit for the influential Leon Schlesinger, who plays himself in here. And the funniest thing about it is how it actually turned out so true. Poor Porky. His star was fading quickly, even if he stayed somewhat relevant for a long time still. But the stardom of (Bugs and) Daffy is something he never managed to achieve. I feel kinda sorry for him. This film has its good and bad moments, but overall it's a really interesting take in terms of film on film. I recommend it. Oh yeah the voice acting is strong too of course, but that's a given with Mel Blanc on board I guess.

. . . more Real. From HER to EX MACHINA, film history is full of one- or two-dimensional screen personalities yearning to strut around in full 3D. (A few actually made the difficult transition, such as John Wayne, who phased from eight flicks as "Stony Brooke, the Cowboy with a Magical Horse" to a fully-functional Horse's Rear.) In Warner Bros.' animated short YOU OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES, Daffy Duck prods Porky Pig to ask Real Life Looney Tunes Producer Leon Schlesinger, who plays himself, "What's Errol Flynn got that I Ain't got?" When this cartoon first came out, many answers to that question sprang to the tips of viewers' tongues (and not all of them were G-rated). Cartoon physics prove a tougher nut to crack than Quantum String Theory, full of brain-twisting conundrums. Though one of Porky's sneezes proves stronger than any Real Life "Achoo!", it's no problem for studio bouncers to toss the wayward porker around (car and all, when necessary). Though Daffy Duck has the versatility here of any framed portrait at Hogwarts, as of this writing there's been no word of Warner Bros. suing J.K. Rowling for copyright infringement (something that Disney certain would, in a similar position).

Wow, this is different, and way ahead of its time, that's for sure. You have a 1940 cartoon that mixes live characters with cartoon ones, such as Porky Pig. This is almost a half-century before "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" came out!We are at the artist's studio where Porky Pig and Daffy Duck are drawn and when everyone goes to lunch, Daffy comes alive and asks Porky, "Say, you want a good job?""I know where you can get a good job in features as Bette Davis' leading man," says the duckster. Porky is reluctant, saying he already as a good job and a contract but Daffy, sounding the Devil pouring bad advice into Porky's ear, advises him to go up and tell the boss that "I quit." Unfortunately for Porky, Daffy's advice wasn't very good.I loved Porky's line to the boss: "What's Errol Flynn got that I haven't?"Notes: It was interesting to see Looney Tunes producer Leon Schlesinger, although he wasn't much of an actor, and the voice behind all these famous characters, Mel Blanc, who plays both a security guard and a stagehand......This cartoon runs almost 10 minutes, which is several minutes longer than normal.

This is a really cool cartoon. It begins with Daffy trying to convince Porky that he's too good to remain with Looney Tunes and he should try for bigger things! So, Porky walks out of the cartoon and into real life--similar to what you later saw in WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. Porky first goes to Looney Tunes chief, Leon Schlessinger, and asks if he can have his contract. Mr. Schlessinger agrees and Porky is now a free agent. However, he finds that life outside of cartoons is a lot tougher than he thought and he finally returns to Mr. Schlessinger to beg for his job back! This cartoon is so inventive and shows so much behind the scenes material that it is a must for old movie buffs. A delightful film and way ahead of its time.