The Wee Men

The storyline in "The Wee Men" (1947) involves a band of leprechauns in a remote Irish forest who make shoes and deliver them, at no cost, to the poor while protecting their crock of gold. The leprechaun code dictates that they must give up their gold to any man who successfully catches a leprechaun. Young Paddy, on the occasion of his 121st birthday, is allowed for the first time to deliver the shoes, which can only be done on a night with a full moon. In the course of the shoe distribution, Paddy encounters a tall, lanky, greedy miser--all arms, legs, bones, and dressed in black--who makes it his business to catch Paddy and force him to show him where the gold is. Paddy must then come up with a way to outwit him.

It's a slight plot, but it gives the director, Bill Tytla, the opportunity to indulge in some of the most atmospheric production design seen in a non-Disney studio cartoon of the era. From the opening narrated introduction of the Irish setting, seen entirely at night, to Paddy's lone, fearful journey through the forest to the menacing house where the miser lives and the forced trip back through the forest, we get a richly drawn and colored backdrop which reminds us of similar scenes in Disney features, which is no surprise when we consider that Tytla was once one of Disney's most distinguished animators, having made significant contributions to SNOW WHITE, PINOCCHIO, FANTASIA, and DUMBO. Here, the character of the miser is as detailed, dramatic, and imposing a villain as any in a Disney movie.

As I watched it, I noticed similarities to Tex Avery's "The Peachy Cobbler" (1950) and Chuck Jones' "The Wearing of the Grin" (1951), both of which came AFTER this cartoon. Tytla himself made a follow-up cartoon in 1949 called "Leprechauns Gold," which is worth seeing but is much lighter hearted and less intense than this one. One scene in this cartoon, showing the elves making the shoes, features "Start the Day with a Song," which would become the theme song of Paramount's "Screen Songs" cartoon series. This cartoon was part of the Paramount Noveltoon series and can be found in a beautifully restored Technicolor copy on the Noveltoons Original Classics DVD set from Thunderbean Animation.

Anybody who's seen and liked Leprechauns Gold(released later and with the same characters) will thoroughly enjoy The Wee Men as well. It has all the things that were good in Leprechauns Gold and does them even better. Sure the story, based on an actual Irish folk tale(there are differences but the spirit of the story remains), is very slight, even so for the running time which is two minutes longer than most cartoons.

However it is evident from the get-go that a great deal of effort went into The Wee Men. The animation is truly excellent, the colours are richly vibrant and full of atmosphere in the darker moments and the backgrounds are lusciously smooth, the opening sequence sets up the cartoon brilliantly. The music is not as whimsical as that for Leprechauns Gold, which had more of an Irish feel, but it is energetic and orchestrated beautifully and let's not forget the catchy title song. The Wee Men is not hilarious but there are some amusing touches like in the title song and the end, while the cartoon is light-hearted, heart-warming and a little creepy without trying to do too much or being disjointed. Love the characters too, especially likable and endearing Paddy and the genuinely sinister miser villain(the thing about both this and Leprechauns Gold most vividly). They are expressively drawn too, the animation for the villain is a masterstroke really. The voice acting suit the characters well and again the Irish accents were not a problem personally.

Overall, a lovely cartoon and like Leprechauns Gold really deserves to be seen more. 9/10 Bethany Cox