Porky's Double Trouble

I'm no connoisseur of cartoons meaning I haven't seen thousands of them, but this was a big surprise to me because this was not really funny nor does appear to be made to be funny. It's more like a seven-minute crime story that is animated.

Public Enemy Number One escapes from jail, sees that Porky Pig, a dorky bank teller, looks just like him so he kidnaps him. The scheme is to pretend to be Porky so he can go to bank and then rob it. The ensuing gun-play is astounding.

Although not humorous, this was fascinating. The black-and-white artwork is tremendous and the story very interesting. Even the ending is very strange for a cartoon.

With the rise of gangster movies in the '30s, it was inevitable that cartoons would spoof them. While the most famous examples involved Bugs Bunny making mincemeat of the most witless ruffians, there was also this somewhat perplexing story of Porky Pig having a run-in with porcine hoodlum Public Enemy #1.

In the cartoon, Public Enemy #1 (that sounds more like a rap star) escapes from jail and discovers that Porky Pig - employed by the Worst National Bank - resembles him exactly. So, while I could predict most of the sorts of things that were going to happen, then ending was a real surprise! I noticed that they backed off on humor for this cartoon and made it slightly more serious. Maybe since it was kind of a place-holder between the really great ones (1937 also saw the release of Daffy Duck's debut "Porky's Duck Hunt"), they decided not to spend excess energy on it. But no matter, I thought that it was worth seeing. Petunia Pig may not have starred in very many cartoons, but her few appearances were some neat ones. Of course, my favorite gangster-themed cartoons from Warner Bros. featured Bugs Bunny messing with the thugs.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

'Porky's Double Trouble' is a very different cartoon for Frank Tashlin, Porky Pig and Looney Tunes in general. Due to it being more dramatic and film-noir-like than the usual norm and focusing far less on the comedy, this is definitely more serious than funny. People may not like this change of pace, but while it is hard not to miss the humour 'Porky's Double Trouble' handles this change of pace really well and it's pretty fascinating.

Didn't think that Petunia was anywhere near as interesting as Porky and the villain or the dynamic between those two characters and the ending is a bit strange.

However, the voice acting is solid with Mel Blanc showing as ever why he was the infinitely more preferable voice for Porky and his multifaceted talents as a voice actor. Sara Berner also fares well.

Animation is excellent and has that crime drama atmosphere. It's fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail.

Carl Stalling's music score as always is outstanding. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.

The cartoon's more dramatic tone is executed in a way that's taut, suspenseful and full of tension and energy. Porky as ever is endearing and the villain injects a lot of menace.

Overall, very good indeed even though a change of pace. 8/10 Bethany Cox