Calling Dr. Porky (1940)
Calling Dr. Porky Review
Calling Dr. Porky is a 1940 animated short film from the Looney Tunes series. It is a very good entry.
In this cartoon, Porky is the doctor and an older patient arrives. He is sick and he starts seeing pink elephants and getting harassed by them. This is one of those films where the protagonist is the sufferer who goes through a long string of humiliations and I usually like those shorts. The same goes for this one. Certainly Porky is once again underutilized, but him being a doctor is interesting. Yes, the short is excessive in its torturing of that poor man, but that also made it funny.
The protagonist is immensely likable and you root for him from start to finish thanks to very strong characterization which the filmmakers managed to pull off for such a short runtime. The action is great and although the film isn’t hilarious, it is consistently very amusing to follow. The pink elephants themselves are so well animated and highly memorable. The ending is of course the highlight along with that interrogation sequence.
Calling Dr. Porky has excellent characterization, solid animation and a pretty good plot leading to a strong Looney Tunes entry.
