Piggy and Fluffy have adventures on a riverboat and Uncle Tom is chased by skeletons promising to take him to Hallelujah Land. One of the "Censored 11" banned from TV syndication by United Artists in 1968 for racist stereotyping.
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I love this movie so much
Simply Perfect
Highly Overrated But Still Good
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Not all the "Censored 11" cartoons are bad cartoons. With a good lot of them, you can see why they're not for the easily offended. Some of the cartoons still manage to be entertaining, and a couple especially 'Goldilocks and the Three Jivin' Bears' are pretty tame and entertain enormously.'Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land' is not among the most offensive of the "Censored 11" cartoons. The material is questionable and it's not funny, often cringe-worthy, but there are other cartoons that have far more racial content and to worse effect, especially 'Angel Puss' (also to me the worst of the "Censored 11" cartoons), 'Jungle Jitters' and 'All This and Rabbit Stew', also really disliked the exaggerated character designs in 'Tin Pan Alley Cats'.That aside, it's still one of the dullest. The best thing about it is the animation, which is great, very atmospheric and inventive. The music is also energetic, beautifully orchestrated and effectively spooky in parts. A couple of parts are cute.Conversely, it is too derivative of 'Steamboat Willie' and 'The Skeleton Dance' (two wonderful and iconic cartoons that regardless of age will forever stand the test of time), except with little of the charm and entertainment of the former or little (or as effective) of the imaginative spookiness and wonderful weirdness of the latter. There are small glimpses, but too sporadic.Especially when there is such a wafer-thin story and very dull pacing. What also adds to the dullness is that it is just not funny, didn't detect a single thing worth laughing at and too much of the material was stupid and cringe-worthy, especially everything with the embarrassment that is the Uncle Tom character, who is a poorly drawn (the one thing in the animation that is lacking) and lazily written stereotype.All in all, there are more offensive "Censored 11" cartoons but this is one of the dullest and got nothing out of it outside of the animation and the music. 3/10 Bethany Cox
Overall, I think this cartoon wasn't for me. I understand why it is banned, but that's not going to change my rating. The cartoon just isn't funny. It's just dancing with skeletons, which was okay, but then A save of Uncle Tom is going to be pointless if it is in the protagonists' favor. If there was more to it like multiple attempts to save, then it would more entertaining, but this one doesn't cut it for me.The first few Looney Tunes were not amusing. Occasionally, there will be a laugh or two, but that's it.
Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land (1931) ** 1/2 (out of 4)STEAMBOAT WILLIE and THE SKELETON DANCE are certainly "borrowed" from in this Warner short that is best remembered today for being part of the "Censored 11" due to the racial content. In the film, Piggy and Fluffy are on a riverboat trying to escape some bad guy while Uncle Tom runs into some skeletons. While this cartoon probably would have been forgotten had it not been for the controversy, there's still some mildly entertaining things to be found here. In fact, I'd say out of all the "racial" cartoons that have been banned, this one here is probably the least offensive as there's really no blackface jokes or anything to that nature and in fact, if you didn't know about the history before hand I doubt you'd see anything overly offensive. With that said, it's rather amazing that Disney didn't come after this short because it does rip off two of their most beloved early animated films. As it stands, this one here is mildly entertaining thanks in large part to the nice animation and I also thought the pacing and flow were quite good. There really weren't any laughs, which is what kept it from being rated even higher.
This short is one of eleven that likely won't be seen on television any time soon, if ever again. An innocuous little thing, cute in spots and with some good animation, it also has elements that make it unpalatable to some in the present day culture that has developed a mindset that no one should ever get their feelings hurt. Which, in the case of this short, is really unfortunae, because there is a scene with dancing skeletons which, though a bit derivative, is almost as enjoyable as the short it's emulated, The Skeleton Dance. An engaging cartoon and well worth the time and effort to locate. Most highly recomended.