Confusions of a Nutzy Spy

In one of the many WWII-themed Warner Bros. cartoons, Porky Pig is a cop working for Ye Towne Cooler (where the Long Arm of the Law is just that, and the "Wanted" photos include a pin-up girl). On this particular day, Porky and his dog have to look for a lynx - named Missing Lynx - spying for Germany and ready to plant a bomb (titled "Hallelujah, I'm a Bomb").

Like in many of their cartoons from this era, much of the action in "Confusions of a Nutzy Spy" centers on sight gags. But when Porky realizes that the spy has planted the bomb is when the action really takes off. Actually, the dog does more than Porky, but the stuttering swine has his share.

All in all, not a great cartoon, but worth seeing. Available on YouTube.

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 Pig has always been an endearing character, if more in support playing it straight than a lead (always worth watching but has been known to be misused and overshadowed by the supporting characters). Norm McCabe was overshadowed by very stiff competition when he was active, ones with more distinctive and imaginative styles, but he was a very competent director who never made it bigger (some of his work even relatively obscure), due to mainly never making colour cartoons (though this does have a vastly inferior colour version) and being responsible for some with racial stereotyping but also .

'Confusions of a Nuzy Spy' is one of McCabe's better and more entertaining cartoons on the whole. It's far from perfect, with a slow and very corny start, with a few of the corniest jokes falling flat and Porky being underused and bland (being barely in it and being overshadowed by the bloodhound and the lynx). The story is very slight but have come to expect that by now.

McCabe does direct very capably though and the cartoon very quickly gains energy and contains some very funny, well-timed and clever gags and fast-paced action. The bloodhound is an amusing character, even livelier and more entertaining is the lynx.

As to be expected, Mel Blanc is outstanding as always. He always was the infinitely more preferable voice for Porky, Joe Dougherty never clicked with me, and he proves it here. Blanc shows an unequalled versatility and ability to bring an individual personality to every one of his multiple characters in a vast majority of his work, there is no wonder why he was in such high demand as a voice actor.

When it comes to the animation, 'Confusions of a Nutzy Spy' is very good. Much of it is fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail. Ever the master, Carl Stalling's music is typically superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.

So summing up, nice and fun as long as a classic isn't expected. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Confusions of a Nutzy Spy (1943)

*** (out of 4)

Porky wants to hunt down some evil German spies but he's bloodhound is more than lazy. Porky finally gets the dog up and eventually they run into a nutzy spy.

This Warner short is obviously a take-off on their CONFESSIONS OF A NAZI SPY and for the most part it's entertaining. I'm really not a fan of this era of Porky shorts but I thought this one here managed to be entertaining because of the faster-paced action, which includes the spy taking quite a few beatings. This was obviously produced during World War II so it has that patriotic feel to it and of course everyone back in 1943 would get a kick out of seeing the spy badly abused.

First, I should point out that this cartoon was done in black & white and I assume that means that it was made to be shown to soldiers serving during WWII and not the general public. I know that black and white shorts DEFINITELY were made for the soldiers--such as the Private Snafu shorts. Because it was made for soldiers, the humor in the Snafu films (and the acronym itself is pretty off-color) can be adult. However, nothing I noticed in "Confessions of a Nutzy Spy" seemed off-color in the least and it's a pretty standard propaganda cartoon. However, the problem is that aside from Porky Pig, the other characters in the cartoon art pretty bland.

The film starts with some EXTREMELY corny jokes about law enforcement--the less said about them the better! Then you are introduced to the world's laziest bloodhound who Porky needs to help track down the evil Nazi spy, "Missing Lynx". I did enjoy the scene where Porky literally was shoving the dog on the trail because the dog was THAT lazy. However, otherwise Lynx is a very dull and uninteresting character--and you can see why he was soon dropped by Looney Tunes. An interesting curio but not a whole lot more.

Just watched this Leon Schlesinger cartoon on the This is the Army DVD. It has Porky as a detective with a sneezing dog helping find a spy called Missing Lynx, a fox. Plenty of hilarious literal sight gags abound in the beginning and director Norman McCabe keeps it funny throughout. I especially liked the way the fox keeps disguising himself and fooling Porky. There's also a funny Hitler mask in the bag. There was a disclaimer at the beginning that explains why the cartoon was the way it was but really, it didn't really seem that necessary to me. So on that note, I highly recommend Confusions of a Nutzy Spy. P.S. It was nice to watch this in the original black-and-white print and not the inferior colorized versions I remember watching in the late '70s.