Powerful

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Absolutely Fantastic

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

"Old Glory" is an American cartoon from 1930, so two more years and this one has its 80th anniversary. Maybe it already did by the time you read my review. Anyway, this may seem like generic cartoon comedy when you see the names Jones and Blanc here, but taking another look at the year, the names and characters, it becomes obvious that we are quickly approaching the era of political cartoons and even if it is probably not a propaganda work yet unless some other WB / Schlesinger cartoons from the years of WWII, it is really full of politics. Porky struggles with motivation and appreciation for the Pledge of Allegiance. But Uncle Sam appears in his dream and leads him to the "right" path. Overall, not a very smart or funny cartoon sadly. And I also would not say it offers historic insight on a level where it could be a good watch for pupils or even students. The only perspective I can see it being worth the watch is to check out how mass media in Europe, America and Japan changed people's minds in the first half of the 20th century, especially between 1933 and 1945. I give these 9 minutes a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

. . . as he recites "one nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." Porky was smart enough to realize that when a phrase is inserted BETWEEN "one nation" and "indivisible," you've just divided your country into Red States and Blue States and nullified your whole Pledge with weak-minded, mealy-mouthed Double Speak. When Porky agreed to star in OLD GLORY, he made it clear that he would have no truck with the Sons and Daughters of High Treason Traitors, who were ramming their Fascist "My way or the highway!" phrases and mottoes onto our coins, into our pledge, and up our flag poles. Brazenly trying to claim with straight faces that their blasphemies setting our Founding Fathers spinning in their graves and pitting American against mind-snatched American were actually innocuous anti-Red code words, they succeeded in branding nearly every forehead with the Mark of the Beast. But NOT Porky's Noggin. In this Warner Bros. animated short OLD GLORY, Porky sticks to his "one nation, indivisible" guns. Beware of those dividing America today, no matter their pretext. As soon as you give in to their bogus premises, you're lost. They define and refine that "innocent" starting point until Satan himself can't distinguish it from Porky Pig.

Chuck Jones's 'Old Glory' is an totally serious Warner Bros. cartoon which typifies Jones's early attempts to emulate Disney in its cutesy approach. Longer than the average Warner cartoon, 'Old Glory' is also notable for its complete lack of gags. A patriotic message cartoon, it features an apple-cheeked Porky Pig as a schoolboy who is bored by his attempts to learn the pledge of allegiance until the ghost of Uncle Sam explains why it is so important. Cue lots of rotoscoped animation of American history. Hardly the recipe for a laugh riot, 'Old Glory' doesn't even try to tickle our funny bone, aiming instead for a rousing effect. Being neither American or particularly patriotic, 'Old Glory' was never going to have much of an effect on me and, while I do recognise it as a handsome piece of animation, it's a misfire in the entertainment stakes. Jones would later make some far stronger patriotic propaganda films that managed to be both informative and entertaining (the wonderful 'So Much for So Little' for example) but 'Old Glory' always leaves me yelling "For the love of god, somebody drop an anvil"!

This is one of those Looney Tunes cartoons used by Warner Brothers to educate kids in the '30s and '40s about the USA and about their fantastic heritage. It is too bad that it was released in 1939, too early to contain information about how our soldiers and sailors fought and died in Europe to ensure the freedom for those people, so that they could live to post disparaging comments about this cartoon and about our country. The cartoon tells the children how good and brilliant and important the USA is and how many good and brave people died for this great country so that weenies like the reviewer from the Netherlands could survive the Nazi invasion of their country and post ridiculous comments on this and other websites. There is no attempt to be funny, because this cartoon wasn't made to be funny. Everything wasn't funny back in 1939. You had to be there to understand this. In the era that this little film was made, it wasn't unusual to promote the greatness and beauty of the USA or to make the USA-enemies look dumb/stupid, which they were. We see Porky Pig in 'Old Glory' studying and dreaming of the greatness of his country. With Uncle Sam explaining to him (and the patriotic young viewers, like myself) all about how important and loving the USA is, it was a good lesson to little people of the '30s. It is still a good lesson today, but, sad to say, it wouldn't be as well-received as it was when it was released. It should, however, be a good lesson to people who owe the US a great deal of gratitude for kicking the Axis powers out of their countries, the Netherlands for example, and allowing them the freedom to run down the United States and its patriotism, even with the most atrocious use of the English language as I have ever seen. Three cheers for Porky, Uncle Sam, and the greatest nation in the world, the United States of America.