Pigs Is Pigs (1937)

Strong and Moving!

Not even bad in a good way

Charming and brutal

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

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.'Pigs is Pigs' is not one of Friz Freleng's best cartoons by any stretch, in an uneven "still evolving" period of his long career, and he was yet to be in his full prime and not yet found his style properly. For a relatively early effort, 'Pigs is Pigs' has some interest but it's a bit bland too. It is never what one would call hilarious, Freleng's later efforts show more evenness and confidence in directing and the story is flimsy and occasionally loses momentum, taking too long to get going. It is also rather disjointed. Things become significantly more interesting in the truly nightmarish and sometimes second second half than the overly-cutesy and sugary sweet first act. Sadly, the two halves do feel like two different cartoons that don't gel properly with each other.However, the characters are fun, especially the antagonist the scientist while the pig is a decent protagonist. The conflict between them carries 'Pigs is Pigs' and does so very well.The cartoon is amusing at times when it becomes more interesting and entertaining in the nightmarish second half.Animation is excellent, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading, vibrant in colour and very meticulous in detail. Ever the master, Carl Stalling's music is typically superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it. Voice acting from particularly Billy Bletcher is terrific.All in all, interesting but not great. Freleng did much better since. 6/10 Bethany Cox

. . . "Piggy," with this animated short, PIGS IS PIGS. Warner wanted to underline their warning to America about the Fat Cat Greedheads who had caused the then on-going Great Depression. No matter how much the gluttonous Piggy ingests here, he not only wants--he finds a way to STEAL more. Piggy is shown at the family supper table slurping down all the spaghetti right off his nine siblings' plates into his own insatiable gullet with such a gusto it was adapted by THERE WILL BE BLOOD villain Daniel Day Lewis into his infamous "I'll suck your straw!" scene. Even when Piggy falls into the clutches of an evil scientist, who force-feeds him fuller than a dozen Foie Gras geese, Piggy still is grasping for MORE! Warner tries to warn America NEVER to allow the One Per Center thieves and self-proclaimed Billionaires to ever filch our food again, Lording it over everyone else. These miscreants MUST be neutralized with extreme prejudice, just as the Looney Tuners pigged out themselves at Piggy's pig roast after completing PIGS IS PIGS. We all know how the U.S. Sheep Nation has backslid in the face of the Porkers to date. But as they say at the corner butcher shop, growing a backbone is better late than never.

Despite what the title may imply, "Pigs Is Pigs" does not star Porky Pig. Rather, it features a young swine with an appetite more insatiable than John Belushi's character in "Animal House". His mother repeatedly scolds him, but it does no good. So much so that he goes to another house where a deranged scientist force-feeds him more than any mere mortal can handle (but there's a surprise at the end).I would mostly say that this cartoon seemed like a place holder in between the really great cartoons (Daffy Duck debuted three months after this came out). But make no mistake about it, they do some neat things here. The whole force-feeding sequence looks more relevant today, given the obesity epidemic overtaking our country.Anyway, not the greatest cartoon, but worth seeing.

Technicolor rears its beautiful head right on the opening shot, one of the prettiest scenes of a straw-thatched house in the country you've ever seen.This is a story of a little pig who was a big pig when it came to eating. He couldn't stop and even ate all his brothers spaghetti at one meal. His mother chastises him, saying he will regret his actions.One day some ghoulish-looking guy invites him inside, straps him into a machine and force- feeds him a ton of food. It reminded me of what happened to a guy addicted to violence in the famous late '60s film, "A Clockwork Orange." There, a guy was treated similarly for addiction violence; here, it's food.What happens to Piggie at the mad scientist's place and at the end of the cartoon is unexpected.