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Blackboard Jumble (1957)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Hilarious spoof of Blackboard Jungle has a wolf with a Southern accent taking over for a teacher who had a nervous breakdown due to his mean spirited kids, clones of Droopy. Many wonderful gags and plenty of nice action.

Blackboard Jungle (1956)

**** (out of 4)

Explosive drama about a teacher (Glen Ford) trying to reach some troubled students (including Vic Morrow and Sidney Poitier). I've always loved these "teacher" films and this one here is certainly the best of the bunch. While the events are a little over the top in how much actually happens, the message and heart of the film is right on target. Ford is in my opinion one of the most under appreciated actors from his day and he's wonderful here as are Morrow and Poitier. The first rock and roll soundtrack doesn't hurt matters either.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

After being pleasantly surprised by Michael Lah's debut solo-director Droopy cartoon 'Grin and Share It', which is not one of Droopy's best overall but one of Lah's better Droopy cartoons, 'Blackboard Jumble' proved to be a few steps backwards. After starting with one of his better Droopy outings, 'Blackboard Jumble' is the opposite and doesn't compare to any of Tex Avery's efforts (all of which very good, many even are great to cartoon classics). Droopy, as has been noted, is actually absent here and replaced by three young Droopy clones, and his absence is immediately noted and deeply felt.

Just for the record, this is not the only reason why 'Blackboard Jumble' didn't work for me. Droopy's absence and that it lacks Avery's unique visual style, creativity and wild wackiness are big problems, but actually aren't the biggest problems.

'Blackboard Jumble's' biggest issues are that it's very hit and miss in the gags (mostly miss, one misses the inventiveness and wackiness of the best Droopy cartoons and the couple of "racy" jokes while mildly intriguing are pretty tame now) and that it's a one-joke concept basically stretched to beyond breaking point, making things get tired and repetitive too early.

Story-wise, 'Blackboard Jumble' is very predictable and just lacks the wild timing to make it forgivable. The backgrounds are unimaginative and plain and while the animation is not awful (the colours are nice and some of the drawing is decent but there is a general lack of refinement and especially creativity). The Droopy clones are nowhere near as humorous or as charismatic, instead of being cute or funny they veer on the annoying and this dilutes the conflict.

'Blackboard Jumble' has good points though. The best thing about it is the character of the wolf, who is a very amusing character and one that's interesting and easy to root for. Daws Butler voices him marvellously with a voice and accent that one recognises from anywhere if familiar with some of Butler's other voice work.

Every bit as good is the music score. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed. Some of the colours and drawing are nice and there are a few amusing moments with the wolf.

In summary, disappointing and one of the weakest of the Droopy cartoons. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Michael Lah diirects this cartoon about a wolf who takes over a classroom full of voiceless Droopy clones in this late MGM cartoon.

I don't know why Lah's former boss, Tex Avery, left MGM and went to Lantz for a couple of movies; he then quit the big-screen animation business for advertising work (remember the cartoon bugs in the "Raid" insecticide ads? They were Avery's). Maybe it was budget, maybe MGM was about to shut down its animation department and wanted to scrimp on the last few releases. This left Lah in charge of Avery's unit, and while this is certainly not up to the standards of say, 1945, it's quite decent for the funds-starved period.

After about 35 years of originally seeing this on an afternoon Tom and Jerry show, I watched this cartoon again as an extra on the Blackboard Jungle DVD. It has the voice of Daws Butler-employing the one he would eventually use for Huckleberry Hound-as a wolf who ends up taking a teaching job after the previous one runs out of the schoolhouse all crazy-like. This wolf finds three kids-all resembling Droopy (It seems Bill Thompson wasn't available as none of them talk here)-who cause all kinds of mischief. This wolf's reactions are quite funny especially when put in all kinds of situations. I suppose modern viewers may pause laughing when one scene involves a Confederate flag but since I found out the song he whistles was an anti-slavery song, that may even things out. Besides, I liked how those "stars" appeared on it! Anyway, that's a recommendation of Blackboard Jumble.

It's a 6 minute Droopy cartoon short. A wolf passing a school sees a teacher go mad and runaway. The wolf decides to take over the job. It's a ruckus class in the one-room school with three Droopy clones except that they are much more energetic. The wolf asks them to draw a Confederate flag and then fitting blocks into shapes. It's a battle of will between the wolf and his three charges.

I don't think I've ever seen the three little Droopies before. They seem to be modeled after Donald Duck's nephews. In this case, the Wolf is closer to Droopy which is why I would want Droopy instead of the Wolf. I guess that they're trying to install a new character at the expense of the cartoon.