Blitz Wolf

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blitz Wolf is an early anti-German World War II Hitler-parodying cartoon produced in 1942 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons.

1 Plot
2 Censorship
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Plot

In a story variant of the Three Little Pigs, the pigs go to war against a Big Bad Wolf, a thinly disguised caricaturization of Adolf Hitler.

[edit] Censorship

This cartoon has rarely been shown outside of the WWII years. However, it was shown on TNT and Cartoon Network with cuts made:
- On TNT, the Wolf's German voice was redubbed, most of the scenes that feature English subtitles to his faux German speech were cropped, and the end with the "If you'll buy a stamp or bond, we'll skin that skunk across the pond" end card was replaced with a regular MGM end card commonly seen at the end of Tom and Jerry cartoons.
- When Cartoon Network aired this cartoon as part of the ToonHeads special about WWII-era cartoons, the shot of the Three Pigs retreating to the Smart Pig's house was shown with the "No Japs Allowed" sign digitally painted over. Also cut was the end of the long gun gag where the pigs launch a missile which blows up Tokyo.

[edit] Notes

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

In the beginning, the two little pigs sing to the third:

You're in the Army Now,
You're Not Behind the Plow,
You're Diggin' a Ditch,
[pause and motion freeze],
You're in the Army Now!

The pause was inserted to replace the line You Son of a Bitch, which would be inappropriate for a film at the time. This is much similar to a gag in the Warner Bros. cartoon The Draft Horse.

This short was widely available, uncut, on the MGM/UA video label's VHS release, Tex Avery's Screwball Classics, Vol. 4.
The MGM lion roars to the tune of "Hold That Tiger."
There is a reference to the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo.
Pinto Colvig provides the voice of "Practical Pig", as he did in Disney's Three Little Pigs.
At the end of the short, there is a joke for buying war bonds, this was very common during World War II. Movies and even comic books did the same thing to help answer the need for war supplies.
This is Tex Avery's first cartoon at MGM.
Two of the animators on this cartoon (Preston Blair and Ed Love) were ex-Disney animators who just came to MGM after the Disney strike in 1941.