Lights Fantastic (1942)

The Worst Film Ever

Just perfect...

Fresh and Exciting

best movie i've ever seen.

Directed by the great Friz Freleng, "Lights Fantastic" is a fine Warner Bros. cartoon that is quite unique. There are no heroes or villains. Aided by a great music score by Carl W. Stalling, this is merely a gag-oriented cartoon involving lights, signs, letters, product mascots, and (most importantly) advertisements. And that's it, folks! Just a really humorous opportunity for Friz and his animation unit to experiment. Nothing wrong with that, is there? My favorite gags from "Lights Fantastic": A chorus line of coffee cans performs a can-can dance revealing their "butts". A small group of gentlemen read Chinese on a vertical sign (thanks to the vocal talent of Mel Blanc). A clown cannot control his mounting hysterics as he sings "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" (again a credit to Mel Blanc's voice). And four neon string figures with bulbous noses sing some nice harmonies, with a fifth smaller figure adding his own little interjections (Blanc again).

Friz Freleng's 'Lights Fantastic' is one of the more unusual cartoons in the things-coming-to-life subgenre. Set in Times Square, 'Lights Fantastic' turns the neon advertising billboards into a series of spot-gags, some funnier than others. As is usually the case with such cartoons, many of the gags are dated and beyond the comprehension of modern audiences when once they would have brought the house down. This was often compensated for by the development of some sort of plot but 'Lights Fantastic' sticks to spot gags all the way through, simply ending when it runs out of time. The animation is certainly attractive and there are a few bits that still raise a chuckle (the eye test skit is particularly amusing) but overall 'Lights Fantastic' is little more than an interesting product of its time. While it's never boring, neither does it ever really light up or come to life!

Sort of an updated version of "Billboard Frolics", Friz Freleng's eye-popping "Lights Fantastic" depicts a bunch of billboards - apparently around Times Square - putting on various skits. This cartoon really shows off Freleng's penchant for synchronizing music and action (especially with the conga beat). Freleng also made ample use of this in "Pigs in a Polka" and "Show Biz Bugs".Mostly this was a place holder in 1942. By that point, Bugs Bunny was the undisputed Warner Bros. cartoon star, Chuck Jones had totally eschewed cuteness in favor of slapstick, and the United States' entry into WWII prompted a series of cartoons portraying the characters battling Nazis. But this was certainly a good place holder. Very similar to "Billboard Frolics", true, but I recommend it.

I was extremely amused by Lights Fantastic. Some of the plays on words were quite hilarious, like the Face and Sunburn Coffee (with the coffee cans doing the can-can), take-off on Chase and Sanborn. So was the typewriter sign used to advertise an upcoming movie, called Understood Typewriters (play on Underwood), which typed first "It's Sensational", then "it's Colossal", then trying to type "It's Stupendous" but first typing "It's Stupa", crossing out the typo, trying again with "It's Stoop", crossing that off also. (I thought it was going to be "It's Stoopid"! THAT makes little sense as how can a movie that is sensational and colossal also be DUMB?). The last line was "It's Swell!" The cartoon ended with a Win-a-Car conga line, opened up with tapping of Stucco House Coffee (Play on Maxwell House), shaking by peanut and jangling of cow bell for Darnation Milk, and the boy-and-whale "Oliver Oil". The other signs were funny, too; though I have not seen this cartoon in years, I remember it ever so well.