One Meat Brawl (1947)

Disappointment for a huge fan!

Brilliant and touching

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The 1946 releases of the WB cartoons displayed a major shift in styles. Frank Tashlin and Bob Clampett had left the studio, but their presence was still felt by their successors.The short ONE MEAT BRAWL (title parody of the song One Meat Ball), directed by Robert McKimson was one of the first shorts he directed with two of Clampett's principle animators Rod Scribner and Manny Gould. Because of this, this feels like a toned down Clampett cartoon.The animation of Porky can also be easily mistaken for an Art Davis cartoon of the same period, especially due to its Blue Ribbon status (no on screen credits). But Porky's hunting dog, Mandrake, is an indicator that McKimson directed this, since that was one of his trademark character designs.Grover Groundhog is reminiscent of the early screwball Daffy Duck and proto Bugs Bunny of the late 30's. The way Grover heckles Mandrake and plays on his sympathies is also strongly reminiscent of shorts like DAFFY DUCK & EGGHEAD (1938) and HARE UM SCARE UM (1939). Considering those kind of shorts had not been done in several years, I wonder if McKimson was attempting to revive that formula by creating a new character with that personality. Although this was his only screen appearance, Grover certainly seemed like a promising character.

" . . . or 16 feet of snow?" croons Grover the Groundhog before facing a circular firing squad (due to America's national meat shortage immediately after WWII). Guns permeate ONE MEAT BRAWL. Grover even tries to commit suicide by squirt gun midway through this Warner Bros. animated short. And no wonder: The prolific mammal has 72 offspring and a wife hung up on wearing nylons, enough to drive any husband batty. Grover yearns to ditch the other 73 members of his family (not shown here) and play polo while smoking machine-made cigarettes. By the end of this story he decides that hanging out with the murderous duo of Porky Pig and Porky's hunting dog Mandrake is the next best thing to his nicotine-fueled polo dreams. After all, when one guy threatens to "put a couple slugs" in you, why NOT invite him into your secret bachelor pad? It's the American thing to do. (Dick Tracy's newspaper comic strip may have given rise to the Apple Watch, but Grover demonstrates a beta version of the Walkman here in ONE MEAT BRAWL).

One Meat Brawl is not one of my favourites from Looney Tunes. It starts off slow, with a nice if going-on-for-slightly-too-long song from the Groundhog. The story is also not much new, reading a lot like the Bugs and Elmer cartoons, which worked even with this formula with stronger characters and somewhat wittier humour, but with Porky, Mandrake and the Groundhog. However, after Mandrake meets the Groundhog for the first time, One Meat Brawl picks up significantly and the rest is a lot of fun. The dialogue is suitably witty, I did get a good laugh out of the Groundhog's aside "dogs are suckers for sob stories", and the gags are great especially Porky and Mandrake wrestling with one another and the Groundhog joins in, the shadows fighting for nothing at the end and especially Porky's hilarious reaction at the Groundhog making a sap out of Mandrake(Porky too gets this later on). Porky is better when he is working with Daffy with equal screen time, but he isn't shoved into the background, and while his material is not as funny as Mandrake or the Groundhog he does have some very good moments. Mandrake is a strong character, whether he is chasing the Groundhog, manipulating Porky into that he ate him or when he is crying his eyes out. But the star of One Meat Brawl was the Groundhog, even with his cute appearance(which can go either way in cartoons) this is one funny character. I love his asides, which are almost worthy of Bugs and Daffy, while what he says as he makes a sap out of both Mandrake and Porky, sad as some of it is, is hysterically funny. Mel Blanc as ever gives bravura characterisations. The animation is colourful with really beautiful backgrounds especially with the very opening with the Vienesse-waltz-style music accompanying it. Porky is not as well drawn as he has been before, but is still acceptable regardless. The music is both lush in orchestration and energetic in pace, which is what one would expect. All in all, definitely worth the look. 7/10 Bethany Cox

It's Groundhog Day and Grover Groundhog is preparing in his home for his big appearance in front of the cameras. However when he emerges he is turned on by hunters due to the meat shortage. Porky Pig and his hound dog go out to hunt the groundhog down and cook him up. However the groundhog proves to be a more difficult (and manipulative) prey that they first thought.A little slow to start, this cartoon soon becomes a little like the usual Bugs/Elmer cartoons but with the groundhog playing Bugs and Porky playing Elmer's character. Keeping the same sense of humour (e.g. the groundhog outsmarting the hunters) the cartoon works out pretty good and is quite funny at turns.Porky is an OK character and the groundhog is a good despite being a little too cute for it's own good. The downside of this is that I couldn't help but compare him to Bugs, a comparison that will leave even a strong character standing in the shadows. Of the three, the dog is pretty good and he covers for the weaknesses in Porky.Overall this is a good little short that takes the usual Bugs jokes and puts them onto new characters. Despite a little bit of a faltering start with the groundhog singing the short is a mix of witty game playing.