Sara Berner

A wheelchair bound photographer spies on his neighbours from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.

The ultimate Warner Brothers "books come to life" cartoon. Parodies and caricatures of Harry James, Frank Sinatra, 'Benny Goodman', Tommy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, 'Jimmy Durante' and, in a wild take-off on Danny Kaye, Daffy launches into a Russian-accented version of "Carolina in the Morning," then scat-sings his way through the tale of "Red Riding Hood" with Margaret O'Brien as Red.

Woody's friends warn him that the groundhog has predicted a blizzard. Unconcerned, Woody decides not to go South with his pals. Soon enough, the blizzard sweeps in and destroys the loony woodpecker's stash of food. Facing starvation, a glimmer of hope arrives in the form of a cat. The cat is also starving and it turns into a match of brawn and wits to see who eats who. (imdb)

A tour of Ciro's Nightclub packed with caricatures of many top stars, including (in order) Cary Grant, Greta Garbo, Edward G. Robinson, Ann Sheridan, Johnny Weissmuller, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, George Raftan and others. (imdb)

With an overworked stork, Porky and Daffy volenteer to help out the stork with... delivering babies. Then an unidentified egg shows up and trouble stirrs up when Daffy is assigned to sit on it.

When his car breaks down out in the country, Sniffles the mouse takes shelter in an old mill, where he meets up with "Batty," a non-stop-talking little bat who later save Sniffles from a hungry cat. (imdb)

Sniffles hatches an egg that's rolled into his home, and raises the chick, naming him "Orville." Then he finds out the bird is really a mouse-eating hawk. Unfortunately, Orville finds out also. (imdb)

A dullwitted buzzard tries to catch Bugs for dinner. (Sengir)

A series of fractured fairy tales vignettes. (imdb)

We tour a farm and see how the various animals are preparing for the war, in a series of blackout skits. (imdb)

Screwy Squirrel is bought in a pet shop to be the companion of a daft dog so strong that he squeezes his playmates to death. (imdb)

"Hysterical High Spots in American History" (1941) is a Technicolor cartoon from Walter Lantz that offers a six-and-a-half-minute survey of scenes from New World and American history with obvious gags added to them, e.g. the first Thanksgiving ("Thank you," "Thank you," etc.), the call to arms of the Minutemen ("Okay, wait a minute, just a minute, gimme a minute"), and Lincoln's Gettysburg address (take a wild guess). (imdb comments)

Walter Finchell, the tattletale gossip of the jungle, broadcasts from the treetop that Mr. and Mrs. Panda were presented with a bay boy, whom Mrs. Panda names Andy. All the birds and animals go to the Panda's home to welcome the new arrival. As Andy grows, Mr. Panda takes Andy for a walk in the jungle to get him acquainted with Mother Nature and point out some of the perils. (imdb)

Andy Panda is very fond of apples and he eats a bushel of green apples, falls asleep and has a nightmare in which the devil is trying to entice him into Hades and stuffs him full of apple juice, applesauce and more apples. (In Andy's defense, since Andy was taught not to eat green apples, the devil had spray-painted the green apples red.) (imdb)

Chilly Willy is freezing in his igloo home (he lives in Coldernell, Alaska) and burning everything he owns in the fireplace to keep warm. He notices an ad for the local fur factory and realizes that warmth is only a visit away. Unfortunately, it is guarded by a rather unexcitable watchdog who foils Chilly's attempts to steal the furs. Finally, he locks every fur in the storage bin but this doesn't stop Chilly who starts eyeing the watchdog's fur and makes various attempts to remove it from him. (imdb)

More adventures of Chilly Willy and his quest to stay warm.

Singing cowboy Daffy retires to the Painted Desert (still wet). He falls for an Indian maiden with a Brooklyn accent, but her very large boyfriend catches them. Daffy dresses in drag, which fools him for a while until Daffy's wig falls off. The boyfriend chases Daffy into the Petrified Forest (where Daffy freezes and breaks tomahawks). The Indian sends smoke signals from a phone booth and his tribe attacks Daffy, trapping him under his house trailer. (imdb)

A haggard mosquito complains how tough life is with the military taking the proper precautions against malaria infection. (imdb)

Porky hosts a radio program, where animals tell their stories. The guest star is Kansas City Kitty, the best mouser in the country. She tells the story of her life, including her marriage to Tom Collins, the birth of Little Patrick (not necessarily in that order), and the turning point of her life. The mice have plotted out a major operation like gangsters. They sneak out and kidnap Patrick and hold him hostage... (imdb)

The iceman is in love with a pretty girl, and an old spinster is pining and cooking for him. But his dreamgirl prefers crooners like bing Crosby, Rudy Vallee or Eddie Cantor. After leaving her, he spots a sign of an imitator, and thinks he could ask him to do the crooning for him while he is trying to date his girl. The imitator accepts, and at first the trick is working, until the imitator gets to cold among the ice in the back of the van and the girl gets suspicious. (imdb)

Winter. A duck struggles mightily, and finally hatches her eggs in the bitter cold, after candling them and seeing the chicks skiing, skating, and otherwise enjoying winter inside the shells. All but one, that is: poor little Robespierre. She doesn't notice until after the rest of the brood has gone swimming and Robespierre has sprouted legs and run off in search of warmth.

A tour of the waters near a South Sea island, introducing us to the various kinds of marine life, including the pickled herring... (imdb)

Mrs. Duck sues Daffy for divorce in Judge Porky Pig's courtroom, charging her husband with losing their egg in an abortive magic trick. (imdb)

Blackout gags about the holidays. New Year's (the baby speaks to us). Valentine's Day, Washington Day, etc.

A cruise to Nome, Alaska, starts with some cruise-ship jokes: the ship pulls out of the harbor like a car... (imdb)

A horse (with a Jack Benny attitude and voice) is treated like a horse and doesn't like it, so he gets even with his owner. (bcdb.com)

To escape a bulldog, Sylvester Cat allows himself to be adopted by a little girl. The little girl turns out to be rougher than the bulldog... (imdb)

A hobo crow tricks a canary out of his comfortable cage with inflated promises of happiness in the outside world. (imdb)

When Snafu gets his wish to have his personal mail uncensored by the military, he inadvertently reveals military secrets that lead to disaster. (imdb)

Time for the big horse race. We drop in on the fillies, who gossip in New York accents. That's followed by a pre-race fashion parade. In both of these, Maggie doesn't join in; she runs every year, but suffers from hay fever. The actual race is run, and Maggie is far back in the field. The other horses hear it's going to be a photo finish, though, and they all come to an abrupt stop and pose except Maggie, who keeps running and wins the race. (imdb)

A hungry Chilly Willy notices the good food the mounties get and enrolls for the job. Unfortunately, his enrollment photo is placed over a wanted poster for criminal Caribou Lou and officer Smedley presumes Chilly is Lou and gives chase. (imdb)

Momma's singing "Three Little Kittens" with her brood, but Blackie thinks it's for sissies and he'd rather listen to crime dramas on the radio... (imdb)

Andrew P. Panda (Andy's pop) asks the local roofing company if they will repair his shoddy roof. (imdb)

A hen adopts an abandoned egg which hatches into a turtle. The baby turtle becomes the butt of all the real chicks' jokes until danger threatens. (imdb)

A crazed bomber is terrorizing the city. Meanwhile, a young Porky is a few cents shy of buying an ice cream soda; he starts earning it by picking up items people drop and handing them to him... (imdb)

Sammy Seagull and Cecil Crow have stowed away on the same ship. Cecil, from Iowa, wants to see a hula dancer; fortunately, they've just come within flying distance of a tropical island with a lovely dancer. They take turns trying to impress her, with such stunts as skywriting hearts (Cecil almost drowns) and fancy dives (Cecil almost crashes, then gets into a fight with a shark, a turtle, and a starfish). (imdb)

Henery Hawk, making his first appearance in a Warner Bros. cartoon, refuses the worm his mother is trying to feed him; after all, he's a chicken hawk. That night, he sneaks out to the hen house, but comes up against a protective rooster. (imdb)

When Andy Panda's father brags about what a great hunter he is to Andy, Andy's mother immediately challenges her husband to get rid of a mouse in their home. Andy's father tries all kinds of traps and even brings in a cat. But the cat turns out to be an old friend of the mouse's, and none of the traps work. Finally, Andy's father takes more drastic measures.

Andy Panda is helping his pop out in his blacksmith shop and expresses a desire of his to shoe a horse. Pop tells him he couldn't even shoe a fly (laughs!!!) and decides to prove it to him by taking him up on the offer... namely by disguising himself as a horse (named Charlie) to fool his son. Andy agrees to shoe "Charlie" but the plan goes awry when all manner of disaster befalls the disguised pop culminating in his swallowing several magnets. (imdb)

Andy Panda is very happy running his tailor shop until a huge, hungry moth flies through the keyhole, and starts making a buffet dinner out of all the clothes in Andy's shop. Andy's attempts to get him out are unsuccessful, until the moth has had his fill---all of Andy's stock---and departs the premises. (imdb)

Andy is trying to build a cabin in the peace and quiet of a primeval forest with new lumber (and the assistance of various woodland friends). The lumber twists and turns, and the cabin falls. A bunch of eager beavers are trying to build a dam. They learn that Andy has some lumber, and they come to borrow some. Andy thinks that they are cute, and, in a generous (and joking) mood, he gives a curious little beaver a piece of beaverboard.

A Walter Lantz Andy Panda cartoon released December 21, 1942.

A Walter Lantz Andy Panda cartoon released June 28, 1943.

A mother ladybug has too many children to handle, so she puts out an ad for a maid to help with the chores. A big black spider dresses up as a maid to get in the door.

The audience enters Porky's movie theater, with a collection of quick gags: A firefly acting as usher, a kangaroo taking tickets and putting the stubs in her pouch, a chicken buying child tickets for her eggs. A skunk tries to buy a ticket, costing a nickel, but he only has one scent. He looks for a way to sneak in. Meanwhile, Porky introduces the show: a collection of cartoons, drawn as stick figures. At the end, the audience is all gone because the skunk managed to sneak in. (imdb)

A mobster (Quinn) springs a condemmed murderer (Grainger) because he got his sister (Bancroft) pregnant. (imdb)

This satirical version of "Red Riding Hood" was, especially the ending, very topical when released in 1941, as the US had instituted a draft lottery long before Pearl Harbor (December 7,1941.) The wolf convinces Red he is a police dog and he hastily beats a path to Grandma's house with intentions of making a meal of her. But Grandma's boyfriend shows up and takes her dancing. He then plans on eating Red, but the postman arrives with his draft induction notice.

Created for the US Navy in World War II. The Mr. Hook character was created by Hank Ketcham while at Walter Lantz Studios, where the first- and only color- Mr. Hook cartoon was produced. A wartime propaganda film about Japan and war bonds. The loudspeaker grille is in the shape of a peace sign as it shouts at Mr. Hook.

Kitty's owner introduces her to a puppy who will befriend and Kitty realizes that when the puppy grows up he becomes Kitty's enemy because dogs hate cats and makes a chase in the yard at the end of the flashback of kitty for the puppy and kitty chases the puppy and the horse gets into the garbage can.

A mangy cat on the verge of starvation finds a tiny canary and a bottle of 'Jumbo-Gro' fertiliser, which gives him an idea that leads to giant cats, dogs, mice and canaries chasing each other round Lilliputian towns and cities... (imdb)

Goose goes to meet boyfriend rooster in the park but rooster is more interested in another bird.

Four kittens escape fro a wicker basket as Her Majesty walks past in the palace. They get into all sorts of trouble.

Swing Symphonies cartoon.

A down-and-out family of pigs wins a sweepstakes, are immediately besieged by reporters and photographers, and then go on a wild spending spree, which soon exhausts their windfall-prize money. Than the tax collector shows up. After paying the taxes, the pigs are right back where they started from.

Mice get into trouble with toys and record players in a closed toy store.

While Tom Thumb is very, very small, his kid brother, Pee Wee, is even smaller and Pee Wee's only wish is to be as big and strong as Tom. When tiny Tom is cornered by a kitten, Pee Wee comes to his brother's rescue and proves to himself that what he lacks in size, he makes up for in quality.

The Cinderella story updated to the WWII home front. Cinderella goes to the ball in an aircraft constructed by her fairy godmother out of aluminum cookware. The Royal ball is a USO party.

An anti-Hitler cartoon. While the soundtrack survives in full, the animation is partly lost.

John and Maria are successful onstage but have marriage problems offstage. When they go to married psychiatrists Dr. Matson and Dr. Nash, they grow together as the doctors begin to fight.

'Speaking of Animals in South America' is another very interesting and well done entry from the series, if not quite one of the best. As said before, story-wise it is slight, which is true for the series in general, but the series is not about the stories. It's about the visuals and humour, as well as the animals. 'Speaking of Animals in South America' succeeds in those areas and the colourful Amazon setting helps give it the necessary zest.

The dogs which live and love 'Down Old Mexico Way!' Featuring an incredible dog conga line, with various canines whooping it up in a cantina spotlighting a Carmen Miranda pooch.

Part of the Speaking of Animals short film series.

Part of the Speaking of Animals short film series.

Part of the Speaking of Animals short film series.

Part of the Speaking of Animals short film series.

Part of the Speaking of Animals short film series.

Part of the Speaking of Animals short film series.

Part of the Speaking of Animals short film series.

Part of the Speaking of Animals short film series.

Part of the Speaking of Animals short film series.

After the "Squawk Club" closes for the night, the mice come out and put on a show of their own. The Mouse of Ceremonies introduces the vastly-talented Miss Hedy La Mouse, and Hedy stops the show. Elmer, a rube-mouse from out of town, wanders in and falls for Hedy but the jealous M.C. attempts to restrain Elmer. The latter, evidently not all that far from out of town, assists Hedy in a couple of dances, including a Conga in which all the mice join in.

A body, believed to be that of a criminal lawyer, sends the police hunting for the killer. The lawyer's wife, his partner, and an ex-convict are, in turn, suspected of the crime. But the body was incorrectly identified, and the lawyer is still alive. He murders his partner and is planning on killing his wife. (imdb)