The Booze Hangs High

This is a typical 1930's cartoon, featuring Bosko, until the last few minutes. At the beginning, it is a series of overused sight gags with Bosko, his horse, and a cow. But when the pigs appear, we are introduced to the glories of drunkenness. The drunk is a staple of this period in film. When one of the little pigs discovers a bottle of bootleg hootch, he and his mate drink it and become soused. Soon an adult pig joins them and a concert of "Sweet Adeline" ensues. It's pretty funny, to be honest, but probably not what the censors would have approved.

The early star for the Looney Tunes cartoons from Warner Brothers was Bosco. I've seen a few of his films and still have no idea what the character is supposed to be--so I looked him up on Wikipedia. They indicate he's supposed to be a black young man. Regardless of who he is, these cartoons directed by the Harmon-Ising team tended to be rather cute and less edgy than many of their competitors. They weren't bad--they just weren't very good either. Not surprisingly, most folks today have never heard of the guy.

In this installment, much of the film is pretty bland and cute. However, there is fortunately a bit of potty humor (believe me, it needed it) and a portion at the end involving pigs drinking booze. Otherwise, there just isn't a lot of plot here and the cartoon is pretty forgettable. If you care, the animation was done by Friz Freleng--a guy who later directed many of the classic Looney Tunes shorts.

Bosko, the very first Looney Tunes star, appeared in Warner Bros. cartoons from 1930 to 1933, when his creators moved to MGM (they continued making cartoons featuring him until 1938, after which he faded into obscurity). "The Booze Hangs High" was one outing for the high-voiced character, showing him dancing around with some farm animals and playing them like musical instruments. The menagerie includes some inebriated pigs (and this cartoon got released during Prohibition!).

Drunkenness is quite often a source of humor. Cartoons occasionally depict a besotted stork delivering babies. "The Andy Griffith Show" had Otis. It seems like it's only been during the past twenty years (approximately) that alcoholism became socially unacceptable. I assume that most people would consider it such, despite its continued existence.

Anyway, this is an OK cartoon, despite the limited plot line.

The Bosko cartoons may not be animation masterpieces, but they are fascinating as examples of Looney Tunes in their early days before the creation of more compelling characters and funnier and more creative cartoons.

None of the previous Bosko cartoons were great, most of them being hit and miss, but they were interesting and mostly quite decent. The fifth Bosko cartoons 'The Booze Hangs High' is the weakest of the five so far. By all means it is a long way from awful and is watchable, but is more a very average one-time watch that is forgettable after a few days, for Bosko at this time this is somewhat of a disappointment.

Certainly there are good things about 'The Booze Hangs High'. The animation is not bad at all. Not exactly refined but fluid and crisp enough with some nice detail, it is especially good in the meticulous backgrounds and some remarkably flexible yet natural movements for Bosko. The music is 'The Booze Hangs High's' highlight component, its infectious energy, rousing merriment, lush orchestration and how well it fits with the animation is just a joy.

Some parts are fun and intriguing, including the imaginative ways of playing instruments. Bosko is never going to be one of my favourite cartoon characters, or among the all-time greats, but he has more personality this time round and it's more endearing than before which compared to the previous four cartoons is saying a good deal where he had not found his stride. The supporting characters are okay enough, and the sound is not too static.

However, 'The Booze Hangs High's' story is paper thin and has some pedestrian stretches. The humour, with some potty humour and some really bizarre elements like the getting drunk scene, is too far and between and is not that funny.

Generally, the cartoon is not that imaginative outside of the ways of how the instruments are used. Pacing is pretty dull.

Overall, alright cartoon but without the desire to see it again in a hurry. 5/10 Bethany Cox