Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Michael_Elliott Meet John Doughboy (1941) *** (out of 4) This is a rather interesting Merrie Melodies short and starts off in a theater as Porky Pig introduces the "film" that's about to play. The film is basically showing what all happens in the Army and other services and you have to give it credit that nothing like this would be attempted today. We see countless jokes aimed at a variety of topics including a British "spitfire" plane that actually spits fire. Another joke deals with the draft where a man thinks he's too small to get in the service and then we get the payoff. There's even jokes about "Citizen Sugar Kane" and we are asked what would happen if America ever got invaded. That last joke certainly looks a lot different when viewed today. This B&W short runs just 7-minutes but there's not a slow moment to be found. Not all of the jokes work but when viewed today you can't help but get a surreal feel from it and especially when you consider what was coming up just a few months after this thing would have originally been seen. The animation is the usual high standards.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews This comes on the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD of The Maltese Falcon, as part of its Warner Night at the Movies portion. I'm not sure seeing this before an escapist film(an excellent one, don't get me wrong) was a great thing... I would think being reminded of the situation right right before the opening credits of the picture would keep you from enjoying it. Anyway, this has Looney Tunes' Porky Pig(who looks almost like we know him to) presenting updates and such on the war, apparently not very long before the US entered it. How to deal with something that serious and unpleasant? Turn it into a bunch of gags, most of them visual. I gotta admit, however, that they are very funny. There's a bit of black comedy among it, and not everyone would find this entire thing to be in good taste. This has a spoof of a commercial from back then. Honestly, I was surprised they used a Napoleon quote, I wouldn't think they'd follow anything of his. There is some recognizable music used. The animation is well-done, with effective use of lighting and angles. This is entirely worth the 7 minute investment of time. There is disturbing content and a little racism in this. I recommend this to anyone who can imagine laughing at this. 7/10

Lee Eisenberg Bob Clampett's "Meet John Doughboy" came out a few months before the United States entered World War II. I don't know whether or not there was a sense throughout the country that we might soon enter. Whether or not there was such a sense, this cartoon offers some possible insight. Porky Pig hosts a newsreel showing the latest weaponry as a series of gags.Tex Avery, as Termite Terrace's top director in the late '30s, had frequently used many spot gags in his cartoons (he left in 1941 following a dispute with producer Leon Schlesinger). In some of Clampett's early cartoons that I've seen, it looks as though he tried out these tricks. But clearly his forte laid in contortion and phantasmagoria. Each of the animation directors in Warner Bros. had his own style. It was really over the next few years that Clampett released his masterpieces, but this one is worth seeing.

boblipton As usual for Bob Clampett in this period, another fine comedy newsreel with an armed forces theme -- with the war going on in Europe and a draft in this country, it was a natural theme and the beginning of the flag waving period. The credited writer is Dave Monahan, the best of Termite Terrace's writers for 'fake newsreel' cartoons and the jokes have not aged badly.Clampett was one of the two geniuses directing at Schlesinger's cartoon factory in this period -- Chuck Jones' peak period would start next year and Friz Freleng, although rarely a groundbreaker, just turned out excellent cartoons. But Clampett and Tex Avery were madcaps, Avery slightly better at gag construction but Clampett for his speedy and outrageous animation Don't miss ANY chance to see any of his cartoons.