The Age of Commercialism

hyped garbage

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Porky's Poultry Plant (1936) *** (out of 4) Porky is feeding the various animals on his farm including the ducks and chickens. Then his farm comes under attack by a hawk that has been stealing various chickens. Now it's up to Porky to try and protect what is his.PORKY'S POULTRY PLANT is another winner for the series, which of course was still rather young here. What's so fun about this short is that there's a lot of imagination going on and especially during the finale where Porky gets into his airplane and goes after the hawk who has stolen a baby chicken. There's a lot of action going on and plenty of nice little laughs as this battle plays out. Another good thing about this is an earlier scene where Porky is trying to feed everyone but the same chicken keeps getting left out.

Porky's Poultry Plant is interesting from a historical perspective for Frank Tashlin and Carl Stalling at the start of their Warner Brothers/Looney Tunes careers. But it does deserve to be known for more than just historical value. Tashlin and Porky have done much better since, but Porky's Poultry Plant is entertaining, sometimes cute and a decent enough start for Tashlin. There is the sense that he was finding his feet(which is normal really), the cartoon does lack energy sometimes and the ending is too cutesy and abrupt. It is unexceptional story-wise with a routine structure, and Joe Dougherty's voice work is very uncontrolled and not very dynamic(Mel Blanc is missed here). However the animation is great, detailed, crisp and beautifully shaded, plus there is evidence of directorial mastery with Tashlin in the camera angles, the opening shot is simply gorgeous. Stalling's music is similarly wonderful, it is lushly orchestrated and lively with Stalling's style all over it. The dialogue is witty and amusing, and while never hilarious the gags are also decent. The airborne chase is exciting and Porky's Pultry Plant's highlight, the snake charmer bit while a somewhat predictable gag is funny too. Porky despite the lack of Mel Blanc voicing him is a decent lead character, if not the most charismatic. The chickens are cute and the vultures are appropriately antagonistic. All in all, not great but fun and interesting. 7/10 Bethany Cox

"Porky's Poultry Plant" is an early Porky Pig cartoon that marked the directorial debut of Frank Tashlin, who would eventually make a transition from animated cartoons to live-action feature films. In this film, Porky doesn't look or speak the way we are accustomed to, but he is still such a lovable character as he watches after the livestock on his farm.There are two scenes from "Porky's Poultry Plant" that I especially like. First, Porky plays a funnel like a snake charmer's flute in order to retrieve a few worms from the ground for his baby chicks to eat. And second, when Porky flies his airplane trying to save a chick that has been swiped by vultures, a rooster serves as a football commentator!Lots of great action and quick camera cuts characterize the animated cartoons of Frank Tashlin, and "Porky's Poultry Plant" is no exception. Tashlin was certainly a welcome addition to the Warner Bros. cartoon family.

With some of the early Porky Pig cartoons, it seems that the people creating the cartoons often didn't go for outright humor (that may have started when Daffy Duck came along). For example, "Porky's Poultry Plant" has a rather simple plot line: Porky runs a chicken farm and has lost some hens to a pernicious hawk/buzzard; the hawk/buzzard kidnaps a chick, and Porky flies after the villainous bird, resulting in an aerial version of football.Usually, I would expect Frank Tashlin's cartoons to contain a lot more in the way of sight gags, but this one sticks to its simple plot. Maybe it was sort of a place holder while they were creating some of the more famous cartoons (1936 also saw the release of "I Love to Singa"). Still, it is worth seeing as a look at the early days of the Looney Tunes. Just understand that they don't go for the really wacky stuff that would soon characterize their work.