Porky's Road Race

"Porky's Road Race" is one of my favorite cartoons. The classic essence of this comedy is timeless. It features many Hollywood greats of its day, such as: W.C. Fields, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Borris Karloff (as the villain) and many more. During the race, watch for such novelties as the "Cheerio Special", driven by three British actors, among them Leslie Howard. Charles Laughton, who played the infamous character of Captain Bligh in "Mutiny on the Bounty" also makes an appearance and the race's hitch hiker is portrayed as none other than Clark Gable. Borris Karloff (who is known as 'Borax Karoff' in the film)drives an automobile that certainly is a sight to see: the black #13, as he dodges his way to the finish, sabotaging the other racer's attempts for the win. In the end, the underdog diligently pulls through and claims first place, but someone else walks away with the trophy! Excellent Porky Pig cartoon.

Frank Tashlin's 'Porky's Road Race' is a curious cartoon that feels like neither one thing nor another. It combines a story of Porky Pig in a car race with a series of celebrity caricatures. There were several of these celebrity caricature cartoons in the early years of Warner Bros. cartoons and it seems their popularity lead to writers trying to cram the caricatures into shorts that didn't need them. These then-topical asides slow down a cartoon which is at its best when Tashlin is playing it at high speed. The final battle between Porky and arch enemy Borax Karoff is the highlight of the film. Although he was still the studios main star at this point, Porky was quickly being milked dry of his potential and often ended up playing a supporting role in his own cartoons (he would be usurped by Daffy Duck in just a few cartoon's time). The main reason for the presence of the caricatures seems to be that the concept of Porky in a race just isn't strong enough to sustain a seven minute cartoon. While it's often quite a snappy and fun picture, 'Porky's Road Race' is ultimately an awkward cartoon that makes you wish you were watching either a better early Porky cartoon or a better Hollywood caricature cartoon instead of some strange offspring of the two. Nevertheless, 'Porky's Road Race' is extraordinarily important in at least one respect. It was the debut appearance of the unbelievably talented voice artist Mel Blanc whose presence would elevate Warner cartoons to a whole new plain of brilliance.

Porky's Road Race (1937)

*** (out of 4)

This action-packed short has Porky Pig entering an auto race where the big winner will walk away with just under two dollars after taxes. The only problem is that he's going up against a wide range of stars including the dirty Borax Karoff.

PORKY'S ROAD RACE is certainly a short that will entertain film buffs as there are a number of spoofs of various Hollywood personalities. There's the Boris Karloff lead but we also get Charles Chaplin, Charles Laughton, W.C. Fields, Clark Gable, Freddie Bartholomew, George Arliss and several others. This film also has a historical importance as Mel Blanc lended his voice to the picture. All in all this is certainly a very fun short as there's pretty much action from the opening seconds to the very end. Porky Pig is in good form and there are some nice laughs as well.

In Mel Blanc's debut, underdog Porky Pig enters a race against Hollywood's top stars (though the cartoon reminds us that any resemblance to any person is pure coincidence) for a grand prize of $2 million (which becomes $1.63 after taxes). While most of the actors and actresses play fair, Borax Karoff with his hearse-like #13 has more than a few dirty tricks in store.

It's always neat how the people making the cartoons played off of the popular culture of their times (of course, that's what any clever satire does). And it was only a matter of time before Mel Blanc took over Porky's voice and paired him with a certain crazy darn fool duck. A really neat cartoon, and I suspect that the movie stars caricatured - among them Charlie Chaplin, Charles Laughton and Clark Gable - felt honored to get portrayed in "Porky's Road Race".

Porky Pig has always been a likable and amusing character, if with a tendency to be overshadowed by characters with stronger personalities, and Frank Tashlin was responsible for a lot of very good to great cartoons but is somewhat under-appreciated.

This cartoon, 'Porky's Road Race', is particularly notable and of historical interest for the debut of the peerless Mel Blanc, one of the greatest and most prolific voice actors who ever lived. He does a great job as always. The rest of the voice acting, though personally am not a fan of Joe Dougherty's Porky voice, is very good. 'Porky's Road Race' has many other things going for it too.

Animation is of high quality, very fluid and detailed with smooth movements and pristine black and white. The music is lively, characterful with lush orchestration and clever instrumentation, dynamic with the action and even elevating it.

It is a very funny cartoon too, very snappily written and it was so much fun recognising the famous faces taking form of caricatures. This was a case of being familiar with them all, and there was not an obvious weak gag and it holds up better than a lot of early caricature cartoons. The final battle between Porky and the Boris Karloff-inspired character is indeed the highlight.

For all these fine things however, the story doesn't quite have enough to sustain the cartoon's length. Porky also doesn't have enough material to give him a distinct personality and it is not too inspired, he is overshadowed by the far more memorable caricatures.

In conclusion, good and entertaining cartoon but there are cartoons with better representations of Porky around. 8/10 Bethany Cox