The Egg Collector

Up until Looney Tunes really hit its stride in the mid-1940s, the output of the studio was often iffy. This is because through the 1930s they too often relied on cute characters....and the best of Looney Tunes in later years was never cute! Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Pepe le Pew and others were funny...not cute.

"The Egg Collector" is one of 12 cartoons which represent the end of the old at Looney Tunes. While their Sniffles cartoons are uniformly well animated, Sniffles himself was a terrible recurring character. In his early appearances (like this one), he was ultra-cutesy and sweet...almost nauseatingly so. Later, he became worse...an annoying chatterbox. As a result, these cartoons lacked the humor and weirdness you'd later come to expect from the studio. And, as a kid, I winced when these Sniffles cartoons were aired on TV!

In this cartoon, Sniffles the mouse and his friend, Bookworm, are out doing something very stupid...they are trying to steal an egg from the owl's nest. Considering mice are owls' favorite food...it's actually AMAZINGLY stupid. Can Sniffles and Bookwork survive this stunt? I sure hope not!

It's fortunate that this Sniffles cartoon isn't as over the top cutesy as some of his other shorts. It still could have used more laughs, but at least there's no singing and there are a few gags that work. Not bad....though this is hardly a ringing endorsement for the film. It is, on the other hand, one of Sniffles' best shorts.

Chuck Jones is widely considered one of animation's finest directors/animators and for very good reason. When he was at his best, his cartoons were masterpieces of animation, comic timing, characterisation and wit.

The Sniffles cartoon series were very early efforts for Jones, and, while they are interesting from a historical perspective, it is safe to say that from personal opinion they really don't see him at his best. There is somewhat of a still finding his feet feel here, with the humour once he became a regular director for the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons becoming much funnier, more constant and wittier and the characterisation far more interesting.

Previous to 'The Egg Collector', the Sniffles cartoons have been mixed with the best being 'Sniffles and the Bookworm'. 'The Egg Collector' is among the better cartoons in the series. It is predictable in terms of story, although with the addition of Bookworm it's a practical recycling of the story of 'Little Brother Rat', the Sniffles cartoons were hardly known for their originality.

Again while not as sickly sweet as a few other Sniffles cartoons 'The Egg Collector' tries a little too hard to be cute.

On the other hand, 'The Egg Collector's' animation is very good. It is lush and vibrant in colour and meticulous and beautifully drawn in detail. The character designs are fluid, well drawn and distinctive Jones, if not the creative ones of his very best cartoons. Carl Stalling's music is lush and characterful, with clever orchestration and a mastery of not just adding to the action but enhancing it as well (Stalling was a near-unequalled master at this, though Scott Bradley gave him a run for his money).

'The Egg Collector' is likable and fun enough and Sniffles is a little more compelling here with a well-meaning personality while making mistakes. The bookworm is appealing. Best of all, and the best thing about the cartoon, is the owl, one of the best characters to appear in a Sniffles cartoon, love the erudite and smugly witty personality and his interaction with Sniffles is fun.

In conclusion, pretty decent but Jones did go on to much better things. 7/10 Bethany Cox