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1941 Animated Short Oscar Analysis

1941 was a pretty good year for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. They nominated the still record ten films for the award, of which two aren’t available for viewing so I am going to comment upon the eight of the rest. A couple of shorts here are weaker, but most are actually excellent. Also, the variety of them in both style and substance speaks to the diversity that was present during these WWII years in American animation. Even the studios are surprisingly well spread out this time around.

My Ranking of the Nominees:

8. How War Came

This film comes from Columbia pictures and is the only truly weak nominee from this otherwise impressive list. I have already stated in my review what is wrong with this film, but let’s just say that it’s entirely forgettable and slim to the point of being unworthy to talk about more. Yes, the narration is nice, but everything else including even the animation itself is weak. In a year of otherwise many great short movies, this only goes to prove that there were simply too many war flicks during this time and many suffered from poor quality.

7. Truant Officer Donald

Donald tries to take his nephews to school only to realize in the end that it’s summer holiday season and school is out. That’s the solid premise behind this Donald Duck cartoon and it works, especially that very funny twist ending. I also really liked the animation and all of the characters got their great moments here. However, it is far from the best Donald Duck entries owing to a repetitive nature of it and a lack of truly hilarious scenes. It’s a good film, just not deserving of the nomination.

6. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B

It follows a black man who gets drafted to the army, then they all burst to song while they play instruments. This film is crazy in the best way possible. Yes, it has the black men stereotypically animated, but otherwise it’s a respectable tribute to their music and culture. I loved the innocence of it and especially its infectious energy. It’s a movie that is hard not to like and it took me by surprise how good it was. I also appreciated the very dark death scenes in the latter half which are so unexpected, but still very funny.

5. Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt

Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt has Bugs Bunny screw with this classic Native American character in hilarious fashion. Certainly the character design of Bugs is problematic here, but Hiawatha is great himself and Bugs is of course very clever here and a lot of fun. The animation is great, but the action is certainly the highlight of the entire cartoon. Not only is the stew brewing sequence a classic, but the cliff scene is excellent as well. I just wish that the ending was as good as it was seriously lacking in impact.

4. Lend a Paw

In this classic Disney cartoon, Pluto rescuers a kitten, but is soon starting to get annoyed by how much attention the kitten receives. The conclusion is not smart and it was a disappointment for me, but otherwise the movie is a terrific showcase of Pluto’s character and I loved the character study aspect of it with the angel/devil dynamic representative of the forties being superbly made use of here. The animation is also excellent. This movie is excellent, there is no denying that. But I just wish that for once a Disney movie didn’t win as three films here are even better.

3. Rhapsody in Rivets

The film follows a group of construction workers who rapidly build a huge building that eventually falls because it was hastily constructed. That’s the premise in this classic Merry Melody which uses Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 perfectly with the accompanied animation being amazing. The characters are also memorable for the short time they got and their designs are great. Rhapsody in Rivets truly is one of the best examples of  how artistic Warner Bros. could be when they wanted to.

2. Superman

Superman is an absolute classic and I am so happy to see a superhero film get nominated in this category which is rare and even more so a Fleischer Studios film. It has such a fun, cartoony villain and very memorable, fun action sequences. The movie was the first in the series and a bit rushed, but it’s incredibly entertaining and the reason why it’s still a major classic lies in its amazing animation. Not only is it influenced by the comics so wonderfully, but it’s also immensely stylized and simply gorgeous to behold.

1. The Night Before Christmas

The Night Before Christmas is undoubtedly the best of all Tom and Jerry films which says a lot. But to me it’s the finest because it’s so much different from the rest. It is the first film where we actually saw that the two cared for each other and the fact that Tom helped Jerry by bringing him in the house away from the winter and unfreezing him perfectly accompanies its holiday spirit and is simply beautiful to witness. It’s fun and funny too. It’s the best nominee here and it should have won instead of many weaker entries in the series afterward.

Films That Should Have Been Nominated:

The Trial of Mr. Wolf – This is an absolutely hilarious Merry Melody which twists the Little Red Riding Hood tale on its head and makes it the polar opposite. The ending is troublesome, but otherwise the movie is constantly very funny, inventive and with highly memorable lines of dialogue. It’s another unfortunate Warner Bros. Oscar snub.

Wabbit Twouble – I absolutely adore Wabbit Twouble which is one of the more underrated Bugs Bunny entries for some unbeknownst reason to me. But it’s so funny and it might be one of the funniest of the Warner Bros. shorts. Bugs is so clever here whereas Elmer is excellent and, yes, I have always preferred my Elmer as a fatso.

I’ll Never Crow Again – The crows pester Olive’s garden and it is up to Popeye to get rid of them. That’s the premise behind this Popeye the Sailor short which is of course not as great as the 30s classics, but it’s still so strong thanks in large part to that hilarious ending. Whenever Olive is ridiculed, you are bound to get some great laughs.

Tortoise Beats Hare – This is yet another of those tortoise films from Merry Melodies, but it’s a strong one. Bugs is terrific here and I particularly liked its beginning and ending of course. Cecil is great and conniving whereas Bugs is easy to root for here. It’s such a different version than what we got in a more straightforward Disney classic.

Porky’s Preview – Porky Pig opens his movie in a theater and various animals attend the screening but only the skunk stays through the end as his smell made everyone leave. This was an amazing premise well executed with those crude movie scenes of Porky’s being so endearing and the skunk part is definitely quite funny.