El caso del cerdo traumado

The current news about the firing of the eight US attorneys might make people think of attorneys in generals. The early Porky Pig cartoon "The Case of the Stuttering Pig" portrays one of the most unctuous lawyers ever to grace the silver screen. In this case, Porky, Petunia, and their siblings - whose names all begin with P - are sitting in their house one dark and stormy night (apologies to Charles Schulz), when lawyer Goodwill arrives with some news. Their Uncle Solomon has left them several things. But if anything happens to the porkers, the lawyer gets everything (hmm...).

So, right after the lawyer leaves, he sneaks down into the basement, where he cooks up and drinks a potion a la Jekyll and Hyde. After he turns into the ugliest version of a pig that I've ever seen, he warns the audience - and in particular that guy in the third row - not to intervene.

Then begins the real action: the lawyer (or whatever he's now called) turns off the power and kidnaps the siblings one by one. But good old Porky, he isn't so easy to catch! And when all's said and done, that guy in the third row turns out not to be so passive!

So, it's an interesting look into the early days of the Looney Tunes, when Porky was their only star. For that matter, I wonder why they suddenly identified him as a stuttering pig here, as people should have already understood that he stuttered. But either way, it's worth seeing. And the next time that you're in a movie theater, keep an eye on anyone in the third row; it just might help you!

I wonder what ever became of Petunia. It seems like she only appeared in a few cartoons in the 1930s.

While I am pretty sure the American Bar Association would dislike this short, I enjoyed it because its villain is an evil lawyer (am I being redundant?).

When the story begins, Porky's uncle (who looked a LOT like Oliver Hardy) has died and the lawyer is reading the will. The rich pig has left his fortune to his niece and nephews and the lawyer is the beneficiary if anything happens to these pigs...and you can guess where it goes next.

While they call one of the pigs Porky and another Petunia, these versions look little like these characters as we know them today. But the cartoon is clever and has a few laughs...so it's well worth your time.

My goodness, isn't that final line hilarious or what? I thoroughly enjoyed this early Porky Pig cartoon. It isn't my absolute favourite, but it is a lot of fun and pretty much perfect for Halloween especially. The animation is wonderful, the black and white really does add to the atmosphere much more so than the colourised version, and the music is also great, haunting, beautiful and sometimes tongue-in-cheek. The story is effective, and zips along quickly thanks to the fun gags, fast pace and the terrific dialogue. As much as I loved Porky and his siblings here, the best character was the Dr.Hyde-type villain Lawyer Goodwill who had the best lines(with the exception of the end line) and was animated really convincingly. Mel Blanc and Billy Bletcher both do brilliantly with the voices. Overall, great fun, well worth watching. 9/10 Bethany Cox

It is a stormy night. Six scared little pigs are waiting at home. It is Porky Pig and his siblings. There is a knock on the door. It turns out to be lawyer Goodwill who is there to read the will of the little pigs' Uncle Solomon. He has left them his home. If anything happens to all of them, the estate goes to Goodwill. Goodwill leaves them and drinks the Jekyll & Hyde juice.

It is a black & white Porky Pig cartoon. I really like this one with one exception. It seems obvious that they should be three little pigs. It is not necessarily to have so many siblings anyways. I don't even remember the four older pigs' names.

This is one of my favorite Porky Pig cartoons, directed by Frank Tashlin. I thought it was really funny-like it has scenes that you will remember off the top of your head.

I love the scene when the lights go out and the four brothers (Patrick, Peter, Percy, and Portos) disappear. And when the light is on, "X" marks the spot where each brother stands. I also love it when Porky gets scared; after seeing "evil" lawyer Goodwill, he runs down (or is it backward?) the stairs like a flash. Then he jumps right into Goodwill's arms, stuttering, "I just saw a..." This cartoon is also a great one for Halloween; I highly recommend it.