Lights Fantastic

A weirdie. There are no characters in this cartoon, neither "humans" or funny animals. Its all sight gags and bad puns based on the Times Square billboards known as "spectaculars". The cartoon begins and ends with a "real life" shot of Times Square, red neon predominant. As another comment points out this was not an original idea in as much as it had been recycled from an earlier cartoon. However there might have been a powerful feeling of nostalgia behind this particular cartoon. The WW2 blackout turned off the juice to the Times Square spectaculars (the glow from the lights of big east coast cities was the perfect background for u boats to use to sunk allied shipping). Times Square was "dark". Seeing Times square as it once was and, it was hoped, would be after the war was won, was uppermost in movie audiences minds.

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.

A mix of real-life footage of New York and cartoon footage of the typical 1940s advertising signs coming to life, Lights Fantastic is a classic cartoon.

From such great gags such as the free eye test ("if you can read this, you are Chinese"), to the Chinatown bus carried by rickshaw boys, to the Egyptian Cigarettes picture of one Egyptian giving another a hotfoot, this is pure fun.

Plus, it's classic Freling.

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!

Not the most original of Fritz Freleng's cartoons, with a concept that later cartoons would explore later and perhaps at times to slightly funnier effect. But that doesn't take away from that Lights Fantastic is thoroughly entertaining and a delight to watch. The animation is lush and fluid, with great care evidently taken with the details and drawing, and the shots of Times Square are positively glitzy. The music is catchy, wonderfully orchestrated and full of energy, it has a remarkable ability to synchronise as well as it does with the action(like the best of WB/Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies) and also to add to it. Lights Fantastic is never less than amusing, at its best it's hilarious and has Freleng's style all over it. The play on words are snappy and smart and the eye test gag is really funny and inspired stuff. The pacing is crisp, never feeling dull, the characters are eccentric and fun and Mel Blanc's vocal characterisations are dead-on, bringing so much life and distinction to each character he played(in Lights Fantastic and every WB/Merrie Melodies/Looney Tunes he did). All in all, not quite classic but lights up in a fantastic way. 9/10 Bethany Cox