As Good As It Gets

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

"The Blow Out" is an American black-and-white cartoon from 1936, so this one is already over 80 years old and to put it into perspective, this one is from the year that Hitler held the Olympic Games in Berlin. This shows better how old it is than just there mere numbers. It runs for 7.5 minutes, is a Schlesinger Studios production and the director here is the young Tex Avery early in his career before his 30th birthday. And while I was pretty underwhelmed today by the man's perhaps career-defining propaganda cartoon Blitz Wolf, I really enjoyed this one we have here. The Porky you see here has nothing really to do with the Warner Bros' Porky that played second fiddle all the time, but instead it is a cartoon from the era where Porky is still lead character material. The introduction to him as well as the main antagonist was as good and funny as these scenes from when their paths cross. The constant "helping hand" joke reference never gets old at all and stays hilarious from start to finish as Porky's need for money keeps resulting in the bomb guy constantly getting his explosive back against his will. Maybe it is not a title with relevant references about its time, but it doesn't need to be to be really funny and witty. It's a story and approach that really feels all by the books, but this doesn't take away any quality here in my opinion. Even without color, this is among the very best cartoons the year 1936 has to offer and it really was a great year for cartoons, so that means quite something. I highly recommend the watch here, go check it out.

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.Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best he ever did. 'The Blow Out' is fairly early career Avery, but it's a good, very good even, early Avery cartoon. For Avery, 'The Blow Out' is fairly tame with his uniquely wacky style being more obvious from the 40s onward, a sense that he was still finding his style. Porky is fun and appealing, but there is a vast personal preference for Mel Blanc voicing Porky than Joe Dougherty, who didn't sound as natural as the character.However, the animation in 'The Blow Out' is characteristically great with the inventive and atmospheric use of shadow being particularly striking. The music score is energetic and lush.Only Avery could make something entertaining out of a very serious subject like terrorism. The material here is not as imaginative or as hilarious as the material when he properly found his style, but it's still well timed and funny while never including anything that will offend.The pace throughout is lively and the characters are a lot of fun. Dougherty as Porky aside, the voice acting is good especially Lucille La Verne (best known as the evil queen in 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs').All in all, good well-made fun but Avery is not at his best. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This is an early Tex Avery, with Avery still feeling his way. The cartoon is actually more cute than menacing and Avery seems to have more fun with the villain than with our hero, the rather hefty Porky (this was a formative cartoon, when they were still fiddling around with character design and Porky carried a good deal more weight then), with Porky's role limited to one running gag and the payoff at the end. This is a cute cartoon and there are quite a few sight gags, but pacing is slower and the gags are more repetitive in nature and form than later Avery shorts. Avery taking baby steps. But I like this one a lot, personally. The original black and white is far superior to the later colorized version (usually true, but in this case, the use of shadows originally makes colorizing this one an especially bad idea), so try and catch the black and white. Well worth watching. Recommended.

Don't expect to see this one on TV. It is a perfect example that animators, especially at Warner Brothers, in the 1930's weren't afraid to use any topical subject for humor. No wonder Chris Rock cites Bugs Bunny as a major influence. It features Porky Pig before they slimmed him down. It was directed by Tex (as Fred in this case) Avery, his second directorial effort for WB. The Ha Ha subject? A terrorist bomber. It opens with a character looking like radio's The Shadow placing a bomb in front of a building and blowing it up. Next, newspaper front pages report on the further carnage and reward offered for the capture of the mad man. Porky enters the picture by trying to buy an ice cream soda. He comes up five cents short. He hits on the idea of picking up things people drop and returning them in hopes of a small reward. He sees the bomber deposit a bomb. The cartoon then kicks into high gear with Porky dogging the tale of the bomber trying to return the bomb. Now the hunter is the hunted, trying to escape his own murderous device. Porky finally chases him right into the welcoming arms of the police, earning the reward. He immediately goes back to the soda fountain and spends every penny on a mountain of ice cream sodas. If you think Tex Avery was the only animator who would make fun of terrorism, see Ali Baba Bound (Bob Clampett), oh yes, that one isn't shown any more either. Suppressing the past, doesn't it make you feel safe?