Vous devriez faire du cinéma

I've seen two versions of this classic cartoon-the original black and white version on VHS tape during the '80s and just now in a colorized version on Facebook. Either way, it's a nice mix of live-action and animation as Porky Pig is convinced by Daffy Duck to try starring in feature films instead of the short cartoons he's been doing for years. So Porky goes to Leon Schlesinger's office to tear up his contract. When he leaves, Leon says "He'll be back". I'll stop there and just say this quite a funny short especially concerning some of the visual gags done in the live-action section. Mel Blanc does the voices of virtually all the humans except for Schlesinger and this was Friz Freleng's first short back at the producer's studio after being at M-G-M for the last two years. So this might have been inspired by Freleng's brief foray away from his home studio during that time. So on that note, I highly recommend You Ought to Be in Pictures.

An amusing behind-the-scenes, studio-tour parody, "You Ought to Be in Pictures" is especially comical as a gag on what was happening to Porky Pig's character in the Looney Tunes cartoons. In the black-and-white beginning, he was Leon Schlessinger and company's top toon, starring as a stuttering everyman-type anthropomorphic hog in such innovative animated shorts as "Porky in Wackyland" (1937). But, he soon began to be overshadowed by one of the characters the cartoonists tried to make his side-kick, Daffy Duck, who in this film tries to trick Porky into getting out of his contract so as to break into live-action features--and not coincidently put Daffy in line for a promotion. Little did they know, however, and unaddressed in this film, is that another star was just getting started at Looney Tunes the same year, Bugs Bunny. In the tradition of tragic irony, the Pig has been a secondary character ever since as if serving out Schlessinger's punishment for him trying to once be released from his contract. Echoes there of John Gilbert's career sabotaged by Louis B. Mayer holding a grudge. Or William Haines run out by Mayer. Or Judy Garland mistreated by Mayer.... Well, Mayer just wasn't a good guy.

Anyways, it seems as though just about every animation department made this type of cartoon-interacting-with-animators film at some point, and it's one of my favorite types of cartoons, for the reflexivity and technical craft of mixing animation and live action. Winsor McCay adding a framing narrative to explain how he made his cartoons and also becoming one himself in "Gertie the Dinosaur" (1914), Willis O'Brien's work with stop-motion animation culminating with matte shots in "King Kong" (1933), "Cartoon Factory" (1924) taking advantage of rotoscoping in Fleischer's Koko the Clown - Out of the Inkwell series, selective double-exposures and editing trickery in Disney's "Alice's Wonderland" (1923) and the rest of the Alice comedies, and this. It's not "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1988) , but it's still clever and well done. The bit where Porky pretends to be Oliver Hardy to sneak onto the studio lot is pretty good, and the drawing live-action actors' hands for their interaction with the Pig is an innovation that I'm not sure I've seen done prior, or at least not quite as thoroughly. Another one of the "50 Greatest Cartoons" according to Jerry Beck's Looney-Tunes-heavy book, which although I might not go that far, there are certainly worse ways to spend nine minutes.

"You Ought to Be in Pictures" was made when the Looney Tunes were still in their infancy, but it's just about as good as their most famous cartoons. While the animators are out to lunch, Daffy Duck convinces Porky Pig that cartoons aren't for him and that he should work in feature films. But when Porky tries to enter a studio, the security guard (played by writer Michael Maltese) throws him out. After a few more mishaps, Porky finally decides to get revenge on Daffy.

Man, they pulled no punches when making these cartoons. And even though mixing live action with animation was a new thing, they really accomplished something cool.

I remember discovering this cartoon on TV when I was a kid, back when they still showed black & white Looney Tunes regularly, and even as a youngster I recognized it as something special. In the '80s I managed to get a copy on VHS and practically wore it out with re-plays; it's one of those miraculous little films you can go back to again and again, one that retains its charm and its ability to make you laugh no matter how many times you've seen it. If anything, I enjoy it even more as a grown-up, having come to appreciate the inside jokes about Hollywood, cartoon producer Leon Schlesinger, and the legendary "Termite Terrace" facility, seen here at the height of its glory days.

It's clear from the opening shot that this is no ordinary cartoon; in fact, it's primarily a live action short filmed on the Warner Brothers lot, featuring actors playing studio personnel. (Amusingly, almost every person we see aside from Schlesinger has his voice dubbed by Mel Blanc, which is not only a great inside joke but makes the humans come off like cartoon characters themselves.) After the animators have gone to lunch Porky Pig comes to life on his drawing board, just like Max Fleischer's Koko the Clown did in the '20s, and so does Daffy Duck, who initially addresses Porky from a portrait on the wall. Daffy urges his colleague to quit cartoons and go for a job in features playing opposite Bette Davis. Pushed by Daffy, Porky quits, and his confrontation with the boss makes for a memorable and oddly poignant scene. Schlesinger, an affable-seeming guy who looks a little uncomfortable playing himself, agrees to release him from his contract. After Porky's gone, however, the producer turns to the camera and addresses us with hard-bitten wisdom: "He'll be back!"

Predictably enough, Porky's venture into the real world of studio system film-making is a disaster. He is belittled and chased by a hostile security guard, sneaks onto a sound stage but ruins a take, and when he tries to flee he blunders into a Western set and is pursued by stampeding horses (a great effect, and a comic high point). Daffy, meanwhile, has been trying to hassle a visibly irritated Schlesinger into giving him Porky's former position. Porky returns to Termite Terrace in the nick of time, gets his old job back, and rewards Daffy with a vigorous beating. Thus, order is restored.

As a kid I didn't catch all the references to Errol Flynn, Frank McHugh, or Greta Garbo, although I certainly got the joke when Porky tries to sneak into the studio disguised as Oliver Hardy. Still, viewers don't have to be hardcore film buffs to appreciate the comedy. The animated elements in You Ought To Be in Pictures have a fascinating look, achieved by laying down cell artwork (representing Daffy, Porky, and Porky's car) on still photographs of the office, the studio, and other "real world" locations. This is inter-cut with live action scenes, but on several occasions the cartoon characters interact with the human ones, as when Porky shakes hands with Schlesinger, or, later, drives like a maniac through midtown traffic. There's an especially startling bit when the studio guard hoists Porky and his car into the air and flings them off the lot These effects may look rudimentary by today's standards, but they pack more humor and pizazz into each frame than a lot of the technically adept but soulless CGI work produced nowadays.

This is a great piece of work, and if you're a movie buff with a fondness for old time Hollywood it's guaranteed to make you happy.

Friz Freleng's 'You Ought to be in Pictures' is a brilliant, atypical Warner Bros. cartoon. Beautifully combining animation and live action film (only Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Porky's car are animated), it stars many of the Warner staff, including Leon Schlesinger who, despite playing himself, manages to be hammier than the pig he's acting opposite! While the animators at the Warner Bros. studio are out at lunch, the newly drawn Daffy Duck convinces the newly drawn Porky Pig that he deserves better than a career in animation and sets him on his way to seeking a starring role in the movies. His motives, of course, are to get rid of Porky so that he can take his place as Warner's big star. An early glimpse of the greedy, narcissistic version of Daffy (as opposed to the crazy version of Daffy more commonly seen in these early black and white shorts), this is also another clear case of Daffy stealing the cartoon, something that would lead to life imitating art as Daffy really did replace Porky as Warner's most popular star. Porky's trip to a movie studio and his high speed chase through the streets to get his job back make 'You Ought to be in Pictures' seem more epically expansive than the average short of this era and the interaction between real life and animation is surprisingly smooth for such an early example of the two mediums coexisting. All in all, 'You Ought to be in Pictures' is a fascinating, entertaining short which is extremely easy to love. Ironically, having achieved his aim of replacing Porky as a comedy star, Daffy would be complaining of being typecast as a comedy player just ten years later in Chuck Jones's 'The Scarlet Pumpernickel'. There's just no pleasing some ducks!