An Egg Scramble

While I've usually seen Prissy cast as Foghorn Leghorn's love interest, here she gets a lead role. As one of the hens on Porky Pig's Hammond Eggs farm, she can never lay an egg. So, another hen sticks an egg under her and Prissy believes that she has finally laid one. Her elation melts, however, when Porky sends the egg off to get sold. Even after Prissy finds her egg, she ends up hiding out with a criminal! Will this woman ever find true happiness?! So maybe Prissy can't quite carry a cartoon like Bugs or Daffy can, but I would say that "An Egg Scramble" shows her to be more assertive than I've seen in her appearances as Foghorn Leghorn's love interest. Maybe she needed to be alone in the world to show her true strength. As for Porky, it seems like they actually could have cast a non-star as the farmer, as I like to see the porker's roles developed more so that he can really turn into his reactive self.

But overall, it's worth seeing, if only once.

Porky Pig is a farmer who relies heavily on his chickens laying eggs to turn a profit. One of his chickens doesn't seem able to produce the goods however and Porky puts pressure on her to do so. The other chickens lay an egg for Prissy and convince her it is hers. However, when Porky comes to take the egg away, Prissy is unwilling to give it away.

Despite the simple set up, the film does some interesting things - even getting Prissy involved in a James Cagney style shoot out in the big city! The material isn't exactly hilarious but it is still funny enough to entertain. The action is a bit forced at times but it is watchable throughout.

The lack of strong characters is a bit of a problem. Porky is not a great character where he is required to really carry the film - he works better in a solid partnership (ie Daffy Duck in full manic mode!). Here he has nothing to really do and isn't very funny - that leaves Prissy to carry the film. Prissy is OK but I didn't like her posh character and her material isn't that great either - only having one line that made me laugh out loud. The support characters are broad but the lack of leadership from Porky or Prissy is a big flaw here.

Overall this is an OK film but not much more than that I'm afraid. There aren't a great many laughs to be had here and it comes over rather average. More proof that Porky Pig, as is the case with most hams, should never be served up alone!

Robert McKimson's 'An Egg Scramble' is a run-of-the-mill cartoon. It's fairly cleverly plotted (aside from the final twist, which doesn't really make sense) but the gags are thin on the ground and not particularly top-drawer. Porky Pig (in his oft-filled role as farmer) makes an empty threat to Miss Prissy that if she doesn't lay an egg, he'll slit her throat. The other hens hatch a plot to convince Prissy she's laid one of their eggs by slipping it underneath her. The scheme works but Prissy refuses to hand the egg over and when it is taken from her she goes to extreme lengths to get it back. McKimson tells his comparatively complex story fairly well but once you've seen 'An Egg Scramble', there's little incentive to watch it again. While the story is OK, the laughs are few and far between and the whole production feels a little too pedestrian. 'An Egg Scramble' is a fair cartoon but not one I would go out of my way to recommend.

'An Egg Scramble (1950)' is a 'Looney Tunes' short about an old hen who finally produces an egg (or so she thinks) and decides that she isn't going to hand it over to farmer Porky Pig. After he forcibly takes it from her, she soon finds herself on a citywide adventure to recover her baby and keep it safe. The short is a little on the light side when it comes to humour. As you'd expect, there are some nice sight gags here and there, but it generally feels rather tame in terms of wacky antics or clever visuals. The designs of its human characters are a little unsettling, too (especially a housewife who tries to boil the protagonist's precious egg). Still, it's ultimately an enjoyable, easy-to-watch experience that provides ample light entertainment in a brisk package. It's not the best in its series, but it's definitely not the worst.

'An Egg Scramble', as with all Looney Tunes cartoons, is filled with talent, from its undervalued director Robert McKimson, the voices of Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet and its composer Carl Stalling.

While not one of the best Looney Tunes cartoons there are, and McKimson as well as Porky have been better, 'An Egg Scramble' is very enjoyable stuff. It's ever so slightly pedestrian to begin with, all the juicy stuff comes later. A bigger issue is Porky, a good and amusing character but works better in support or with characters with stronger personalities, here he does feel too secondary and is somewhat bland with his material not being much to write home about.

Everything else works however. 'An Egg Scramble', as is the case with most Looney Tunes cartoons, is beautifully animated. The colours are indeed gorgeous to look at, very luscious and vibrant, there are some lovingly detailed backgrounds and it's clear that a lot of care and effort went into the designs and drawing. Carl Stalling as ever provides an outstanding contribution to the music, love the beauty and cleverness of the orchestration, the constant energy and character and how well it fits and adds to the action. Another thing that Stalling excelled at was his use of pre-existing material and putting his own spin on it, especially good was the use of Liszt's "Symphonic Poem no. 3" in the shootout, giving the scene a tension.

The dialogue has the usual wit and freshness, getting increasingly wild (with Prissy having all the best and funniest lines), while the gags, mostly centring around Prissy and the egg, are just as effective with a climax that's both fun and tense. It's a very funny cartoon, and the story while not the most interesting in hindsight is still paced mostly very well. 'An Egg Scramble' is a case of the supporting characters making more of an impression than Porky, with a riotous Prissy stealing the show. Pretty Boy Bagel is also a juicy character.

Mel Blanc voices multiple characters as ever, being particularly good here as Pretty Boy Bagel, and he voices with his usual unparalleled virtuosity and ability to make his characters individual and different from one another. Bea Benaderet does a fine job as Prissy too.

In conclusion, very enjoyable and particularly worth seeing for Prissy. Anybody wanting to see it for Porky might want to see another cartoon of his however. 8/10 Bethany Cox