Patient Porky

This was an all right Porky Pig short. Most of the jokes were not really stale and it had some really funny stuff here. The whole story is kind of interesting, not really at all boring. It wasn't excellent, but it was good. Thumbs up.

Even though I am always impressed with the magnificent color in these Looney Tunes Golden Collection cartoons put out in recent years by Warner Brothers, an old black-and-white animated short is a good change-of-pace. Those same people make this 1940 Porky Pig black-and-white cartoon look super, too. The blacks, whites and grays are excellent and this medium makes you concentrate a little more on the characters.

And what characters we see in this film, set in a hospital! From the elevator operator - a spoof on "Rochester" of Jack Benny fame - to , well, you'll see. I don't want to say too much.

Even though it's a huge building with a lots of floors, all the patients and personnel are animals. They have a maternity ward, of course, where you see it's almost all rabbits. One of the rabbits comes out and sounds and acts a lot like Daffy Duck. I wonder if they were testing some of his jokes on this rabbit first?

The head doctor is a wise old owl by the name of "Dr. Chris Chun." Hmm, that's interesting. All the patients have signs on the ends of their bed, describing their illness and symptoms. Of course, they are all corny but will draw smiles from you as you read them. (i.e. a sick small owl "doesn't give a hoot," )

Porky comes in about halfway through the cartoon and a nut-case patient pretends to be a doctor: "Dr. Chill-Air" (instead of Dr. Kildare - get it? - ouch - cornball humor ruled the day in 1940.) As he prepares to operate, the cartoon turns into a musical with funny lyrics, an audience, a guy selling popcorn and programs - total lunacy!

Anyway, what happens to Porky comprises the rest of this above-average cartoon. I liked Rochester the best as he announced all the ailments on each floor, all beginning with different letters of the alphabet.

One of the many relics from the days when Porky Pig mostly appeared in black and white cartoons, Bob Clampett's "Patient Porky" does contain a racial stereotype (in the form of an elevator operator). As in "The Daffy Doc" two years earlier, an excessively eager physician tries to operate on Porky (in the earlier one, it was doctor wannabe Daffy Duck).

Having seen many of Porky's cartoons from his debut until the US entered WWII, one can see that the studio usually cast Porky in rather sedate, pedestrian roles: fireman, pilgrim, bullfighter. Therefore, this one was pretty much representative of the era. "You Ought to Be In Pictures" may have been the one exception. Porky's roles got really cool once Chuck Jones started directing him regularly after WWII, frequently casting him as a foil to Daffy's craziness.

Anyway, this one isn't bad. Worth seeing maybe once.

Bob Clampett's cartoons often were high in energy and fun and displayed a uniquely wacky visual style that one can recognise immediately. Porky Pig is often likable and amusing, if at times overshadowed by characters with stronger personalities.

'Patient Porky' is not quite among Clampett's masterpieces, and Porky has also been in better cartoons. However, it is still enormously enjoyable stuff, Clampett's imaginative visual and wacky directing style is all over 'Patient Porky', and works brilliantly.

The animation is excellent. The blacks, whites and greys look absolutely beautiful, even nearly 80 years on, while also rich in detail and high in imagination. Carl Stalling's energetically high-voltage, luscious, rousing, dynamic and action-enhancing music score and inspired arrangements of pre-existing music shows off his genius. The lyrics in the more musical moments will make one laugh out loud.

It is an exceptionally funny cartoon as well, with some wonderfully cornball lines and names, some pretty inventive and brilliant kinds of illnesses and symptoms and shows a view of being in a hospital in a hugely entertaining but somewhat nightmarish way. Porky's screen-time is not large but he is still memorable and fun plus you do feel sorry for him.

Likewise the supporting characters are very colourful, the elevator operator is a racial stereotype, and a not particularly subtle one, but not in a way that's overtly offensive. The voice acting is terrific, with Mel Blanc once again showing the second-to-none ability to bring different personalities and voices to several characters.

Overall, not a masterpiece but still great. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Most of "Patient Porky" is set at a hospital and Porky arrives there with a stomach ache. Unfortunately, instead of seeing a doctor, a loony patient poses as Dr. Chilled-Air...and insists on doing surgery on poor Porky! As for Porky, he's having none of this!

I enjoyed this fun cartoon. I also was surprised to see an early incarnation of Bugs Bunny...who would soon become a regular in the cartoons. Here, he plays the early version--with a different voice and a Woody Woodpecker-style voice. But what really surprised me is that he was only in the film for a few seconds...as he or Daffy would have been good foils for Porky. Now this isn't to say the goofy cat posing as the doctor is bad...he isn't.