The Film Fan

You see corny (and often funny) signs on old cartoons that really make them fun to watch. For instance, this cartoon wastes no time getting its gags in early as we get overhead shots of a movie house, which is making its grand opening today. It's showing the film, "The Broken Leg" which is "surrounded by a large cast." The side marquee advertises "We Change Our Shorts Every Day" and "It's Cool Inside: 103 Degrees."

A snooty woman and her snooty poodle walk by the theater with their noses in the air, with the old bag saying, "We nevah go to movies, do we Cuddles?" However, "Cuddles" loses his dignity when he sees an ad for a film featuring a lot of trees, and drags his master into the theater. Yes, cartoons in the 1930s are a bit bizarre.

Anyway, the real story deals with a buddy Porky Pig walking by and seeing "kids admitted free" and literally racing into the theater. From there, we really get the corny materials and we see parodies of the newsreels of the day, such as a story about "from the town of Eightnine, Tenn., we hear that a scientist discovers short-tempered doctors always lose their patients."

There is a funny bit showing germs under a microscope followed by "J. Pretzel Pumpernickle, Retired Baker, Never Spends A Penny Although He No Longer Kneads The Dough."

You get the drift of the humor! As someone who loves puns, I still laughed at this ridiculously corny story about an afternoon at the theater watching coming attractions and the like.

One of the many short cartoons from Porky Pig's early days has him sneaking into a movie theater chock full of every pun imaginable. I should identify that these puns are basically groaners that one would expect to find in math homework or in crossword puzzles. But you gotta admit that there are some funny ones in there.

Even beyond word jokes, the cartoon never misses an opportunity for a sight gag. Whether it's the guy's legs, or what happens in the Lone Stranger movie, they keep the surprises coming at you at full speed. So, even if "The Film Fan" isn't the greatest cartoon created by the Termite Terrace crowd, you should still at least watch it for some laughs. It's sure to elicit at least some.

Bob Clampett's 'The Film Fan' is one of the early Porky Pig cartoons in which Porky is still cast as a little boy. Sent on an errand by his mother and told to come straight home, Porky can't resist going to the cinema. So begins another of the many cinema-set Warner Bros. cartoons. 'The Film Fan' has some nice moments in it, especially the visual gags involving sardine-can-like public transport, a deflating building and an arcade crane machine, but for the most part it is overshadowed by Friz Freleng's 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' from two years previously. 'The Film Fan' borrows a few gags from that cartoon but doesn't pull them off nearly as well and, overall, it doesn't evoke a sense of being in the cinema like Freleng's cartoon did so well. Also, as is the case with many of his early starring roles, Porky is almost completely unnecessary and barely features between the gags. His sole purpose seems to be to set up the closing gag and to provide the cartoon with a star name, even if that star spends the majority of the cartoon off screen. Nevertheless, Porky fills the role as well as any other character could have done and there's enough good material here (including a very funny spoof of The Lone Ranger towards the end) to make 'The Film Fan' worth a watch, if not exactly worthy of ecstatic recommendation.

Porky's mother has sent him to the store to pick up some things but instead of coming home, he's distracted by a sign in front of the local theater. It seems it's 'Kids Admitted Free Day' and so he heads inside to watch free movies. However, he never actually sees any movies...such a parody of a Lowell Thomas newsreel and some coming attractions.

This is a modestly funny and enjoyable black & white film. Looney Tunes made a few others like it but they all are great fun and help recreate what it was like, in a way, to go to the movies back in the day.

'The Film Fan' may not be a Bob Clampett classic, but it is still a lot of fun and is a good showcase of what made Clampett's style so unique and imaginative.

Porky is a bit bland and is so underused that he's mostly pointless. The story is a tad rushed and a touch silly. 'The Film Fan' is however well worth watching, with some knowing, easy to spot and affectionate spoofs (The Lone Ranger), endearingly silly and deliciously witty puns and extremely inventive sight gags. The ending is similarly a riot, as is the germs under the microscope.

On top of that, the animation is remarkably pristine, detailed and fluid for an early black and white cartoon, with the characters being well drawn and with imaginative range of expressions. The music is lushly orchestrated and rich in energy and character, not just being dynamic with the action but also enhancing it.

Rest of the characters are a lot of fun, and the voice acting sees very talented prolific voice actors having a ball with their material.

All in all, a strong if not classic cartoon elevated to a higher level by the humour. 8/10 Bethany Cox