Rooty Toot Toot

John Hubley's Academy Award-nominated "Rooty Toot Toot" depicts the story of Frankie and Johnny (as heard in a traditional song) jazz-style, with Frankie - portrayed as a film noir femme fatale - getting put on trial for Johnny's murder. It's a clever story, even though the animation is nothing impressive. That whole sequence with the bullets must've been fun to animate.

Outside of this cartoon, I originally learned the song from Sam Cooke's version of it. I later heard a different version in the Jean Harlow movie "Red-Headed Woman". What a collection.

Anyway, it's a fun short.

It's a long time since UPA's cartoons shocked regular movie goers - an unprecedented break with the Disney tradition, bringing the departures we'd seen in newspaper cartoons, advertising art and strip comics to film. Some of their work looks like thin effort, now that we've seen the limited animation technique they pioneered used and abused in TV.

The seventies London NFT audience already had a short memory and booed the Mr. McGoos an American programmer included.

However ROOTY ROOT TOOT is not just a nostalgia trip. With it's delicate Hubley figures and unreal use of colour and backgrounds this is one of the most stylish things done in cartooning. Throw in clever gags and a great track - who are the vocalists? The dancing lawyer, the "Sordid Bar" sign and the leafy line on white setting for Frankie's back story are still evidence of an imagination which would prove capable of bringing us on going delight.

Rooty Toot Toot (1951)

*** (out of 4)

Fun UPA short has Frankie catching her man Johnny with another woman so she shoots him dead. The film starts off inside the courtroom and then we flashback to the events of that evening. I understand that many people truly hate the UPA form of animation and while I'm not the biggest fan of it, this short here is something I am a fan of. I must admit that I thought the musical numbers were quite catchy and especially the way the Frankie and Johnny song were played out. What I also loved with the use of color in the film. Again, this here is something that a lot of people can't stand but I thought it was put to perfect use here and I especially liked the way colors express either emotion or tone. The flashback sequence gets this beautiful dark grey look to it just like you'd expect to find in a film noir. After the verdict is read we get a beautiful dark red which could mean several things but the femme fatale look is certainly there. I also liked the dresses constantly being worn by Frankie. The story itself isn't the greatest but I still think there's quite a bit to like here.

Frankie and Johnny were lovers, but he done her wrong, so the bullets start flying. Based on the classic revenge-ballad, and structured like Rashomon (1950), this cartoon courtroom drama reflects a new look in animation, with stylised, geometric (almost cubist) backgrounds and sketchy, simplified but highly individualised characters. Classic noir characters abound: laconic bartenders, sleazy musicians, wronged dames, provocative femme-fatales, and shady shysters. With a great score and amusing visuals, this 'adult' cartoon has developed a well-deserved cult following and was voted #41 in the '50 Greatest Cartoons'.

So we know that "Frankie" has done for "Johnny" and so she ends up in court dressed as if she were about to dance a Flamenco! Her lawyer calls the barkeep, a rather dour fella - who regales us with the tale of the deceased's infidelities with "Nelly Bligh". Next, the sultry "Nelly" takes the stand with her own version but claims that they only tickling going on was on the ivories! It looks a clear cut case. Can the debonaire lawyer save her bacon? He portrays a completely different summation of the events. Which version will the jury buy? The narration is delivered via a lively and witty lyric with a great jazzy soundtrack and the sharp, almost stark, nature of the animation works well delivering a story with more than an hint of menace, the odd Freudian slip and... It's good fun this and stay tuned for the twist at the end!