The Fresh Vegetable Mystery

One of those cartoons from the old days, The Fresh Vegetable Mystery is a neat short cartoon. Basically a short about potatoes who are policemen who have to find a criminal who has kidnapped a carrot and her babies, this is a clever cartoon. However, like cartoons back then, it does have some content that could be seen as unacceptable by today's standards (like the scene where food is tortured for information, which is pretty dark), but this is a clever animated short with lots of humor and a gripping story that keeps you guessing.

Fresh Vegetable Mystery is indeed both cleverly a mystery and about fresh vegetables. Someone has kidnapped the carrot family, and the clever animation and characterizations had me quite anxious to discover who the culprit was. Because of the older age of this cartoon, you can tell that these filmmakers had a great deal more freedom than animated filmmakers of today. At one point, the potato police punish some vegetable-people by trapping them on top of a hot skillet. The depiction of this kind of torture would be unlikely to appear in any modern day cartoon targeted towards children, but it certainly is powerful here.

We see a series of closeups of various vegetables in a grocery store. They go about their anthropomorphic day by day existence until a creature with a nutcracker for a head kidnaps some of them and engage in destructive behavior.

This is different: potato-people have the lead role. (This was long before Mr. Potato Head.) A Irish spud who is the cop summons the rest of his squad out of "Paddy's Potatoes" burlap bag to help find the missing carrots after some ghoulish-character steals them and causes chaos.

The animation is pretty weak but the story is original and certainly keeps your attention. Suspects are rounded up in a root beer bar and we see police brutality as a corn stalk is put into a toaster to get him to "pop," er talk. Pickled onions claim they are from Bermuda and know nothing. An orange is put in a squeezer and an egg who won't talk is put on a skillet "to fry."

The Irish potato cops are rough but at least they have a sense of humor with all the puns they use in torturing their victims. This cartoon probably would not be made today, although I never saw a Tom And Jerry cartoon, or a Roadrunner or a bunch of others that didn't have a ton of violence in them, either. That's just the way they were done back in the classic-film era. I don't know if that still holds true today. I wouldn't be surprised if today's cartoons are obsessed with sex instead of violence.

There was something intriguing about 'The Fresh Vegetable Mystery'. Namely the concept, which was admittedly a strange one but again it was intriguing. As was the rare chance of seeing vegetables anthropomorphized, unlike anything seen before in animation or anywhere. One of my main reasons for seeing it was that it was made by Fleischer Studios, not a consistent studio and they declined badly in the 40s but their best work was great.

Will say that 'The Fresh Vegetable Mystery' is not one of their best. At the same time it is one of their most interesting and surprisingly fresh in places, of their output it is up there with the most unique for the concept alone and to see vegetables as one has never seen before and won't look at in the same way again. Of the studio's "Color Classics" cartoons, 'The Fresh Vegetable Mystery' does stand out, the most unique and the least generic. Ranking the series, it is somewhere around high middle overall.

Not immune from flaws mind. Don't go looking for sense, you will not get it in any shape or form in 'The Fresh Vegetable Mystery' (though it struck me considering the concept as a cartoon that didn't intend to make sense and be as strange as possible) and parts were a touch silly. While it never got sadistic, the methods of torture to make them talk were on the mean-spirited side and to me they were not particularly inspired either (sweetcorn being turned into popcorn? Really?).

Part of me felt that the reveal of the criminals, while unexpected (and like the vegetables you won't look at their species in the same way again), was a bit underwhelming and didn't really fit with the rest of the cartoon or the concept. Maybe that's just me.

One of 'The Fresh Vegetable Mystery's' biggest strengths is the music. Just love the orchestration, with great use of instruments and with lots and lots of energy, and it adds so much to the action. Usually the animation is the other great asset, but this time it's the potato policemen and they actually steal the show. They are so entertaining and although the puns are corny they also raise a big smile and tickle the funny bone. Not everybody will find that the case and if not that's understandable.

Animation is still fine, the usual finesse is not always there but the meticulousness, atmosphere and lushness shine through. The story is very strange but the mystery engages and there is a lively pace throughout. The characters are fun, as is the ever dependable Jack Mercer's voice work.

Summarising, not for all but to me it was good fun and a good attempt by Fleischer to do something different. 7/10