The Hams That Couldn't Be Cured

. . . that Walnut Dizzy had railroaded Alger-Non Wolf during Wart's mendacious, prevaricating, slanderous hatchet job tellingly titled THE THREE LITTLE PIGS in 1933. Finally, nine long years later, Universal Movie Studio courageously stepped forward to set the record straight. As pork chops or a key ingredient of BLT sandwiches, pigs are generally acceptable. Pulled pork can be mighty tasty, if prepared properly. However, at best a LIVING pig can be described as a necessary Evil, to put it politely. Many cultures are afraid to consume pork, due to hogs villainous reputations. Any school kid can tell you that "Who's afraid of the big fat pig?" is the REAL way that tune goes. Don't forget that Dorothy Gale is nearly eaten alive when she falls into a swine sty in the opening black and white portion of the WIZARD OF OZ. THE HAMS THAT COULDN'T BE CURED really brings home the bacon when it comes to the Truth about A. Wolf.

This Really a common and known story, it's a simple story that we all know since our childhood, the story of the innocent who gets caught, charged and executed while the real criminal is like an innocent baby watching.

The creative mind of Walter Lantz has turned this old story into life in this genius short cartoon movie, The story of this movie starts with the scene that the Wolf is going to be executed in the charge of trying to kill and eat the three Innocent pigs, the Sheriff in charge of applying the execution is reading the charges statement while the three little pigs are watching the scene innocently, the officer asks the wolf if he has any comments before death, then the wolf cries in frustration and states that he has been framed and sabotaged and the real criminals are the pigs not him he says :"Do I look like a killer ?!" The pigs reply in a single innocent voice :"Well, you said it brother!!", the wolf starts in disappointment to tell the real story, this story is that he was a music teacher living quietly and peacefully in his house, one day his door knocked, he jumped from his chair and went to open the door to find the three pigs who enter roughly into his house and asked him teach them how to play music, he was so happy and started to teach them by asking them to follow his rhythm on their flutes and horns, he starts to play on the piano a simple rhythm, while they started to play a noisy and very loud rhythm, when he tried to stop them, they continued to play this noisy music, They badly hit him by their instruments, made a huge and unbelievable mess, hit and annoyed the wolf's pets and finally destroyed the wolf's house .. As the Sheriff realizes the truth, he shouts: "Catch these three pigs", at once the three pigs ran away while all the people ran after them, While the wolf breaths happily, he -by mistake- bush the execution lever and fells in the execution well but the rope caught his tail .. The end ..

Really a genius and symbolic story which has several meanings, Strategic, politic and event religious specially in our time .. finally I want to send a very deep tribute to the genius Walter Lantz .. Really Walt. you were genius and you have beaten your era by a long distance .. I think still a long distance even for our era to catch *** Lo'ay

Twists on famous fairytales and fairytale characters in animation was something done a lot in primarily the 30s-60s, namely Looney Tunes numerous times and Tex Avery (as well as Terrytoons every now and again). 'Jack and the Beanstalk' and 'Little Red Riding Hood' particularly. There were times where this worked and others where it didn't quite come off. 'The Hams that Couldn't be Cured' is a twist on the characters from 'The Three Little Pigs'.

And a truly great and clever one it is too. Of the very interesting Swing Symphony cartoons from Walter Lanz, 'The Hams that Couldn't be Cured' is up there among the best of them. It is not a novel concept, but the execution feels fresh and much more original than it sounds. The Swing Symphony cartoons were mostly plotless and primarily a series of sight gags, but there actually is signs of a story in 'The Hams that Couldn't be Cured' and an eventful one it is too by the series' standards.

Did think that the ending wasn't quite as good as the rest of the cartoon, not as fresh or as entertaining, and jarred slightly.

However, the music is again wonderful. Full of exuberance, lushly orchestrated and harmonised and the arrangements are remarkably creative and a lot of fun to listen to. The use of sound effects were clever too. The animation is fluid and vibrant, the attention to detail meticulous and far from sparse.

Gag count is very high, almost non stop when the wolf starts telling his story, and they range from very funny to hilarious. Especially towards the end, with the destruction of the house being imaginatively staged. The story sounds slight but to me it was actually full of energy and is one of the few Swing Symphony cartoons that shows signs of having a story. Loved its twist on the story and the characters, wonderfully energetic and anarchic. The interpretation of the pigs was unique and it was shocking to see them in this way, while the wolf has a more interesting personality that is funny, menacing and in the end oddly rootable. Was also shocked at the grim opening, easily the grimmest opening of the Swing Symphony cartoons.

Summarising, great and one of the best of the series. 9/10.