Now Hear This (1962)

Now Hear This Review

Now Hear This is a 1962 animated short film from the Looney Tunes series. It is a pretty strange short.

In this very abstract cartoon, a hard-of-hearing old Britisher finds a red horn and uses it as a megaphone, unaware that it is really a lost horn from the Devil’s forehead. The Britisher finds that the horn has the effect of amplifying every sound psychedelically and causing him serious bodily harm. Nominated for an Oscar but hardly reminiscent of a regular Warner Bros. short, Now Hear This resembles more the style of the UPA cartoons in its white backgrounds and abstract imagery.

The animation was wonderful and the score was superbly incorporated into the visuals. There is no denying that this short is very artistic in its approach and execution and it has some fine gags, but overall it fails to amuse you as much as some other classic cartoons do. Its plot just felt too weird and unexplained, though the setting is interesting and the protagonist is memorable.

Now Hear This is a very odd Looney Tunes short that is too strange for its own sake, but its brilliant animation and atmosphere make it worth a watch.

My Rating – 4