Hollywood Canine Canteen

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.

'Hollywood Canine Canteen' is one of Robert McKimson's more interesting early, and overall even, cartoons. It may not be McKimson at his very finest, being made during his early years when he was still finding his style and was yet to create characters like Foghorn Leghorn, but it is very good, well made and entertaining. Can totally see where the previous reviewer is coming from with it, and agree with them actually, feeling more like a Frank Tashlin cartoon (actually mistook it for Tashlin on first viewing), the premise is familiar territory for Tashlin while being somewhat unusual for McKimson.

There is really not much to criticise with 'Hollywood Canine Canteen'. Providing one doesn't mind that the cartoon is, like a lot of caricature cartoons, a series of canine caricature gags and sequences and that familiarity with the people (even if just the names) being caricatured is in order (got most of them, though a couple went over my head, so was okay on that front). Its weak point really is that there is a slight sense of McKimson still finding his feet.

Although a couple went over my head (the caricatures in the snack bar sequence for instance and a few other sequences where the caricatures are unknown), being unfamiliar with them, the caricatures were so much fun to spot and the way they were caricatured was inspired. Laurel and Hardy, Leopold Stokowski, Abbott and Costello, Bing Crosby and the big band of famous musicians like Benny Goodman, to name a few. Have to love the canine names, corny but very amusing.

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 superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.

Energy throughout is full of liveliness and the voice acting, Mel Blanc having the lion's share, is stellar.

In conclusion, a lot of fun and very well done, plus interesting if still-settling-feel early effort for McKimson. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Yes, it's another celebrities-caricatured-as-animals cartoon. Robert McKimson's "Hollywood Canine Canteen" has pretty much the same plot as Tex Avery's "Hollywood Steps Out" from a few years earlier, only this time portraying dogs belonging to famous people (often with names altered to sound canine). As is often the case, they depict Frank Sinatra - or his caricature - as emaciated.

However, there is one scene that, in my opinion, represents a future part of popular culture. The female dog running the cloak room looks almost exactly like Connie Hines, who played Carol on "Mister Ed". And let me tell you, SHE IS ONE OF THE HOTTEST WOMEN EVER TO GRACE THE TV SCREEN!!!!!! Every time that I get a chance to watch "Mister Ed", I only watch it to see Connie Hines (who cares about a talking horse?). Although Ms. Hines retired from acting many years ago, I still consider her one of the most attractive/beautiful/good-looking/gorgeous women of all time. And this cartoon contains a character who resembles her almost to a tee, probably not knowing that they were creating a character who looks like her.

OK, I'm sure that my assertion has nothing to do with the cartoon in general. The cartoon is worth seeing. Not one of their greatest, but certainly OK in a pinch. One of McKimson's more significant cartoons in 1946 was "Walky Talky Hawky", which debuted Foghorn Leghorn.

In conclusion: I LOVE YOU, CONNIE, AND I ALWAYS WILL! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO