Dumb-Hounded (1943)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Droopy knows how to make an entrance. He's a very memorable character here, more so than in any other classic short. The concept is great and would be used for many other cartoons, most heavily in "Tom and Jerry Kids" and "Droopy, Master Detective". I actually prefer this short to the 1946 remake because this features a larger variety of gags. Bill Thompson and Frank Graham do a wonderful job as Droopy and the Wolf. Droopy's sadness leads to a very funny finale where he goes crazy with happiness (this is also the final gag in the next two Droopy shorts). Side note: the Wolf didn't make his debut here, he starred in "Blitz Wolf" earlier.

This is the first Droopy cartoon, though he was referred to as 'Happy Hound' and he looks slightly different. However, his voice is Droopy (Bill Thompson) and the film is pure Droopy in style. If you get the 2-disk DVD set, it naturally is the first film in the collection.The short begins with the wolf escaping from prison. Soon after, the dogs are released to look for him. However, the entire episode consists of Droopy in particular chasing the wolf--and magically appearing where ever the wolf goes. Many of the gags are exactly the sort of thing you'd expect from Tex Avery and the silly way the cartoon pokes fun of the genre makes it a great cartoon. So, despite the Droop-meister not being exactly what you'd expect, it's great. Well written and wonderfully animated.

I love the opening to this cartoon; an introduction, if you will, to the great character named "Droopy." Here he was called "The Happy Hound" but that changed quickly into the name we Droopy fans are all familiar with. Anyway, we see a bunch of dogs racing out of "Swing Swing Prison," chasing an escaped convict. Trailing the pack is a very slow hound, who turns to us with his very downcast voice, asks, "Hello, are you happy people? You know what? I'm the hero." Then, he just slowly saunters away. That's his introduction to us. Bill Thompson does a fantastic job with our hero's depressing-sounding voice. One of the most endearing aspect of these cartoons is Droopy giving asides to us, the audience. They're almost always hilarious. An early example in here: he and another dog bark at each other and the other dog walks away. Droopy turns to us and explains, "Just dog talk" and moves on.The gag in this story is the escaped convict being dogged by Droopy everywhere he tries to hide from the cops. The dog appears out of nowhere, even hundreds of miles away - in a flash. (You really have to see it to appreciate the humor.)This isn't just a cartoon which provides sight gags. It has that, plus a lot of puns, funny "asides" to the the viewers, comments on people and society, a sexy woman who gives us a good song....just a ton of entertainment from start to finish. Even when the jokes are corny, they admit it on screen to us!

He inspired Kricfalusi and some plots on "I Love Lucy" as well as making kids and adults giggle he gave us all our ration of unlimited animation may Red Hot Riding Hood forever jiggle! This is my all-time favorite of Avery's MGM period..one joke, over and over, with the most incredible takes in the entire animation field..watch and see who REALLY was responsible for the icons at Warner's. You don't need Freudian analysis to see the raw sex and violence in everything he did, it's right out in the open, screamingly funny, unbridled by the mores of his day or any other. Evergreen, timeless, and inspirational.