Blitz Wolf
| Blitz Wolf | |
|---|---|
 Poster for Blitz Wolf | |
| Directed by | Tex Avery |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby (uncredited) |
| Story by | Rich Hogan |
| Voices by |
Bill Thompson (Adolf Wolf, uncredited) Pinto Colvig (pigs, uncredited) <br/ > Frank Graham (narrator, uncredited) |
| Music by | Scott Bradley |
| Animation by |
Ray Abrams Irven Spence Preston Blair Ed Love |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | 22 August 1942 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 10 minutes |
| Language | English |
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 but lost to another anti-German World War II parody Der Fuhrer's Face, a Donald Duck cartoon.
Plot
The plot is a parody of the Three Little Pigs, told from a Second World War anti-German propaganda perspective. In this cartoon, the pigs go to war against Adolf Wolf (Adolf Hitler), who is set on invading their country, Pigmania. The two pigs who built their houses of straw and sticks claim they don't have to take precautions against the wolf, because they signed non-aggression pacts with him. The pig who built his house of stone, "Sergeant Pork" (an homage to Sergeant York), does take his precautions and outfits his house with defense machinery.
Adolf Wolf invades Pigmania, despite the two pigs arguing that he signed a treaty with them. He destroys their houses whereupon the pigs flee to the third pig's house. Then the Wolf and pigs start fighting. Towards the end of the cartoon Adolf Wolf is blown out of his bomber plane with the pigs' Defense bonds and falls down to Earth, together with a bomb which blows him up to Hell. There he realizes he is dead and says: "Where am I? Have I been blown to... ?", whereupon a group of devils adds: "Aaaah, it's a possibility!", in reference to a then well known catchphrase by Jerry Colonna.
Censorship
This cartoon has rarely been shown in the United States outside of the World War II 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 had the subtitles cropped out, and the original "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.
On Cartoon Network's ToonHeads airing of this cartoon, there were two cuts:
- The sign labeled "No Dogs Allowed" (with the word "dogs" crossed out and replaced by "Japs") on the third pig's house had the word "Japs" blurred out with yellow digital paint.
- The punchline to the long gun gag where the artillery shell is fired and blasts the city of Tokyo to pieces was altered to make it look like the gun was being aimed at the Hitler Wolf.
Cultural references
- This is Tex Avery's first cartoon at MGM, and also the first film at MGM for animators Preston Blair and Ed Love (Love had arrived at MGM with Kenneth Muse just after the 1941 Disney animators' strike).
- The MGM lion, Tanner roars to the tune of "Hold That Tiger".
- This short was widely available, uncut, on the MGM/UA video label's VHS release, Tex Avery's Screwball Classics, Vol. 4.
- There is a reference to the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo (when the bomb lands and destroys Tokyo, there is a sign "Doolittle Dood It!" coming out from the water).
- Pinto Colvig provides the voice of "Practical Pig", as he did in Disney's Three Little Pigs.
- Adolf Wolf's voice was provided by Bill Thompson, who would later voice Droopy, who starred in his own adaptation of the story called The Three Little Pups.
- In the beginning, the two little pigs sing to Sergeant Pork: 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.
- Most of the scenery doesn't resemble World War II at all. The trenches resemble World War I.
- As the tanks arrive, one small tank has the line "Good Humor" written on its side and makes the sound of an ice cream truck. This is similar to a joke later used in Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips.
- A tank with a flame thrower holds up a sign with the line I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire.
- When the straw house is blown away, a sign says Gone with the Wind, referring to the 1939 film.
- At one point, Sgt. Pork distracts incoming shellfire by holding up a copy of Esquire magazine's (unseen-by-the-audience) Petty Girl pin-up artwork by George Petty.
See also
External links
- Blitz Wolf at the Internet Movie Database
- Blitz Wolf at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Full video on YouTube
- Screenshots and commentary on Classic Cartoons
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