Ach du dickes Ei

Fun short with Porky Pig and Miss Prissy. This is Prissy's first cartoon before she would become a regular staple in the Foghorn Leghorn series. Farmer Porky scolds Prissy for not producing any eggs. Then she lays one (or thinks so) but doesn't want Porky to take it. He does anyway and from there things take a hilarious turn with Prissy rescuing her egg from a woman who bought it in the market, then getting mixed up with a gangster named Pretty Boy Bagel. It's a very funny cartoon, more for Prissy and the side characters than for Porky. My favorite scene is when the police are shooting at Pretty Boy Bagel and he "fires" back at them with his fingers. Priceless. Very nice animation. Love the colors. Great voice work from Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet. A fun short that should please most Looney Tunes fans, especially those who enjoy Miss Prissy.

Porky Pig's farm, home of "Hammond Eggs,: looks nice and prosperous to the point where our Pig is prancing around singing "Old MacDonald Had A Farm."

Each of the hens has a name and Porky collects their eggs each morning, talk to them individually. One hen, "Prissy," is "too embarrassed" to lay an egg so Porky threatens her to produce or else! ("Just bluffing," he tells us). Anyway, the other hens make fun of "square britches." They play a joke on her by planting an egg in her nest. We she discovers it, she goes wild celebrating, handing out cigars to everyone. The poor old girl thinks she finally laid an egg.

This is pretty funny stuff! Prissy is a hoot. However, the story turns dramatic when Prissy doesn't want to give up that egg, and follows it when Porky gives it to the trunk-driving delivering man. Prissy races into town to get that egg back

This cartoon really gets wild at that point, with two crime stories going on at once: a minor one with Prissy and a major one with "Pretty Boy Bagle." The two wind up both holed up in the same place with "the coppers" firing at them. A lot of crazy things happen, making this an outstanding Looney Tunes effort. (Porky winds up being a bit player in this story.)

"Prissy," by the way, was voiced by Bea Benaderet, who went on to become quite famous in television on "The George Burns Show," Green Acres," "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Petticoat Junction."

It is highly recommend and can be seen on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Three.

While I've usually seen Prissy cast as Foghorn Leghorn's love interest, here she gets a lead role. As one of the hens on Porky Pig's Hammond Eggs farm, she can never lay an egg. So, another hen sticks an egg under her and Prissy believes that she has finally laid one. Her elation melts, however, when Porky sends the egg off to get sold. Even after Prissy finds her egg, she ends up hiding out with a criminal! Will this woman ever find true happiness?! So maybe Prissy can't quite carry a cartoon like Bugs or Daffy can, but I would say that "An Egg Scramble" shows her to be more assertive than I've seen in her appearances as Foghorn Leghorn's love interest. Maybe she needed to be alone in the world to show her true strength. As for Porky, it seems like they actually could have cast a non-star as the farmer, as I like to see the porker's roles developed more so that he can really turn into his reactive self.

But overall, it's worth seeing, if only once.

Porky Pig is a farmer who relies heavily on his chickens laying eggs to turn a profit. One of his chickens doesn't seem able to produce the goods however and Porky puts pressure on her to do so. The other chickens lay an egg for Prissy and convince her it is hers. However, when Porky comes to take the egg away, Prissy is unwilling to give it away.

Despite the simple set up, the film does some interesting things - even getting Prissy involved in a James Cagney style shoot out in the big city! The material isn't exactly hilarious but it is still funny enough to entertain. The action is a bit forced at times but it is watchable throughout.

The lack of strong characters is a bit of a problem. Porky is not a great character where he is required to really carry the film - he works better in a solid partnership (ie Daffy Duck in full manic mode!). Here he has nothing to really do and isn't very funny - that leaves Prissy to carry the film. Prissy is OK but I didn't like her posh character and her material isn't that great either - only having one line that made me laugh out loud. The support characters are broad but the lack of leadership from Porky or Prissy is a big flaw here.

Overall this is an OK film but not much more than that I'm afraid. There aren't a great many laughs to be had here and it comes over rather average. More proof that Porky Pig, as is the case with most hams, should never be served up alone!

'An Egg Scramble', as with all Looney Tunes cartoons, is filled with talent, from its undervalued director Robert McKimson, the voices of Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet and its composer Carl Stalling.

While not one of the best Looney Tunes cartoons there are, and McKimson as well as Porky have been better, 'An Egg Scramble' is very enjoyable stuff. It's ever so slightly pedestrian to begin with, all the juicy stuff comes later. A bigger issue is Porky, a good and amusing character but works better in support or with characters with stronger personalities, here he does feel too secondary and is somewhat bland with his material not being much to write home about.

Everything else works however. 'An Egg Scramble', as is the case with most Looney Tunes cartoons, is beautifully animated. The colours are indeed gorgeous to look at, very luscious and vibrant, there are some lovingly detailed backgrounds and it's clear that a lot of care and effort went into the designs and drawing. Carl Stalling as ever provides an outstanding contribution to the music, love the beauty and cleverness of the orchestration, the constant energy and character and how well it fits and adds to the action. Another thing that Stalling excelled at was his use of pre-existing material and putting his own spin on it, especially good was the use of Liszt's "Symphonic Poem no. 3" in the shootout, giving the scene a tension.

The dialogue has the usual wit and freshness, getting increasingly wild (with Prissy having all the best and funniest lines), while the gags, mostly centring around Prissy and the egg, are just as effective with a climax that's both fun and tense. It's a very funny cartoon, and the story while not the most interesting in hindsight is still paced mostly very well. 'An Egg Scramble' is a case of the supporting characters making more of an impression than Porky, with a riotous Prissy stealing the show. Pretty Boy Bagel is also a juicy character.

Mel Blanc voices multiple characters as ever, being particularly good here as Pretty Boy Bagel, and he voices with his usual unparalleled virtuosity and ability to make his characters individual and different from one another. Bea Benaderet does a fine job as Prissy too.

In conclusion, very enjoyable and particularly worth seeing for Prissy. Anybody wanting to see it for Porky might want to see another cartoon of his however. 8/10 Bethany Cox