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1946 Animated Short Oscar Analysis

1946 was another excellent year for short-form animation, one full of great classics coming from both Looney Tunes and especially the Tom and Jerry series, which featured some of the all-time greatest entries being released in this year. As for the Oscars themselves, their slate was pretty solid overall. It could have been better, but the studios are well represented here in what is a pretty diverse list. The musical bent is evident this time around.

My Ranking of the Nominees:

5. Squatter’s Rights

This is a pretty good slate when such a solid cartoon gets the last spot, but admittedly Squatter’s Rights is very thin thematically speaking and in terms of the message it is non-existent. This is just a standard Mickey Mouse cartoon that is actually quite lacking in Mickey himself with Pluto also being underutilized, but Chip and Dale are here and they got some great moments to shine. They are very endearing throughout this fleeting, but fun and very charming flick that is perfect for the little ones.

4. John Henry and the Inky-Poo

This one I did get to see, but not the full version as two minutes are missing from the only online version that I could possibly find. With that being said, it’s a very good film. The movie deals with this folklore tale of a very strong black man who gets to work on the railroad. The story is fun, though a bit more context for it could have been included. The highlight is the wonderful music and the great stop-motion animation, but it also needs to be respected for depicting black people in a very positive light, which was unusual for the time.

3. Musical Moments from Chopin

This Andy Panda entry also features Woody Woodpecker, but he is a sidekick here. He’s fun, but I wanted more amusing moments from him to be honest. The animals behind the scenes are the highlights here with their antics being very entertaining and mostly well executed. The piano-playing is also memorable and the music from Chopin is beautifully utilized into this cartoon. This was a period in animation history where there was this immense emphasis on classical music, which makes these shorts perfect music lessons.

2. Walky Talky Hawky

By introducing so many iconic characters into the Looney Tunes canon, this cartoon was undoubtedly very important historically speaking. It has its issues with the second half getting somewhat repetitive in its action, but Barnyard Dawg is quite memorable here as is Foghorn Leghorn in his usual loud self. The highlight, though, has to be Henery Hawk who is absolutely hilarious in everything that he does and says. These three will all get better cartoons going forward, but this was a strong start regardless.

1. The Cat Concerto

While I personally do not find The Cat Concerto to be the best Tom and Jerry short as it is far from the most entertaining entry, I have to admire it on the artistic merits. The animation here is outstanding with the movements being particularly polished. The score is amazing of course and this is the textbook example of how properly to mix classical music with cartoon action. Both characters delivered in spades here while the high-energy ending was particularly impressive in execution. It was the deserved Oscar winner this time around.

Films That Should Have Been Nominated:

Solid Serenade – There are so many iconic moments to be found in this perfectly executed action flick with so many not only memorable, but also brutal moments with Tom being harshly brutalized throughout. It’s a fantastic film through and through and one of my childhood favorites.

Trap Happy – Tom calls in the mouse exterminator who turns out to be Butch and the two cats try to catch and kill the mouse with devastating results. Everything that I have said above also applies here as the action and humor here are uniformly amazing and the whole short is wildly entertaining.

Springtime for Thomas – Jerry wants to play with Tom, but the cat is fascinated with Toodles Galore who is sunbathing outside. Jerry then calls Butch for help and the two cats fight for the female cat’s attention. This is one of the sweetest entries in this series as we finally see Jerry actually wanting Tom to be his friend.

Daffy Doodles – Daffy Duck is accused of painting mustaches on people after being chased by Porky throughout what is one very frenetic cartoon. It’s a fast cartoon to a fault, but it fits the Daffy character really well and the plot is so silly that it actually works for these characters and the entire series.

The Big Snooze – Elmer Fudd refuses to chase Bugs anymore so he tears up his Warner Bros. contract and goes to sleep. But Bugs torments his sleep which eventually leads the poor man to sign up a new contract for the studio. The dream sequence includes Elmer almost fully nude and most amusingly him in drag in a memorable green dress. That was the funniest part here.