Porky's Building

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's Building' is towards the better half of the late 30s Porky Pig cartoons, if not quite among his very finest overall. Frank Tashlin does a nice job directing, and the whole of 'Porky's Building' is very well made and never less than amusing (though not all of the gags have the freshness they should) it is lacking a little in Chuck Jones' witty visual characterisation and Bob Clampett's razor sharp wit and anarchy. Porky is a likeable lead and an amusing one, and he has a strong character to work with in Dirty Digg.

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 in 'Porky's Building'. 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. One mustn't overlook Billy Bletcher, who is a perfect match.

The animation is excellent, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail. The story may be predictable, but it's beautifully paced with never a dull moment and strongly structured.

Carl Stalling's music is typically outstanding. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.

In summary, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

In the picture IMDB supplies for this Looney Tunes short, the cartoon appears to have been made in color. While Looney Tunes did sometimes make color films during this era, "Porky's Building" was originally a black & white film and was colorized recently. However, the copy I found on HBO Max is the original black and white version...and a very nicely animated one.

When it begins, Porky and a big grouchy looking bulldog are both bidding to build a skyscraper. The two end up submitting the exact same bid and they are told to BOTH build one and the best one would be the winner..which, if you think about it, makes no sense. However, as Porky's building, the evil doggy does everything he can to sabotage the project.

Overall this is a decent but not especially interesting cartoon. In other words, it's pretty middle of the road....and decently animated.

By the way, the man who is contracting the building project is named Sandy C. Ment. Sandy cement is a VERY bad thing, as it results in a building that will crumble and fall.