Welcome to Pt. 1 of my Three Little Pigs Retrospective or as I'm calling it Three Little Pigs Thursday. Yes, over the next few weeks on Classic Shorts Showcase, I'll be taking a look at every single Three Little Pigs short ever made. Now some of you may know that Walt had a stance of not wanting to do sequels to his animated films. (Thanks for ruining that, Eisner!) Anyways I bring this up because the Pigs play a part in Walt setting up that stance because when The Three Little Pigs came out people were demanding "More Pigs". Walt gave in and made many more shorts starring the pigs but he knew they were not as good as the first short and he just wanted to move on. But the people demanded and he gave in and that is how we got so many shorts starring the Pigs. You know what this retrospective needs to kick things off the right way, Walt.
With that out of the way, let's begin.
The Plot
The plot of this short is pretty simple. If you ever read the classic fable that this short is based upon, your already familiar with the plot of this short. However as basic as the plot may be, it is still a good short and still able to have a lot of fun with the way that it tells the story.
Characters
Now as usual, I'll be breaking this down into Main & Villain. Not too many characters to talk about this time but I can assure you as this retrospective goes on, the character roster will grow. With that out of the way, let's begin.
Main Characters
Today for main characters, I'll be focusing solely on the Pigs. As that is all there is.
Fifer Pig voiced by Dorthy Compton
Fifer Pig is the first pig we see and as observed by this picture, he is the pig that built his house out of straw. It was clear in the short that he just wanted to build his house so that he could just have more time to play his fife and goof off with his brother, Fiddler Pig. He was a simple character but fun to watch nonetheless. Though not my favorite character in the short.
Fiddler Pig voiced by Mary Moder
Fiddler Pig is the second pig we see in the short and he is the pig that built his house out of wood. Fiddler Pig is much like his brother, Fifer he builds his house but doesn't take much thought into building as he just wants to play his fiddle and goof off too. Fiddler didn't really have any exciting moment until we saw him interact with Fifer. Is it just me or does anyone find it funny that two of the pigs are named after instruments? No one, just an observation I made. Though Fifer and Fiddler do share one trait, they act brave in front of each other saying such things as when the Wolf comes around they'll punch him and shoot him Never mind that we never see a gun in either of their houses and I don't think a fife or a fiddle would scare off a wolf. Just sayin' But when they are finally confronted by the Wolf, they were scared off. That was a cute little moment there. It was pulled off well and when the Wolf came to both of their houses, you could actually feel the fright in these two. If nothing else, they were fun characters.
Practical Pig voiced by Pinto Colvig
The last pig to talk about is Practical Pig who I believe to be the oldest of the three. He is the pig that built his house out of brick and the one that the Wolf could not "huff & puff" down. As you may notice in the picture, he plays the piano. I wonder why they didn't name him Piano Pig as his two brothers are named after instruments. Either way, his name makes sense because out of the three he is the one that thinks with the most logic. He is probably my favorite character as he was very smart and thought things through clearly. Also I just have to bring this up, Pinto Colvig who voiced Practical Pig was the voice actor for Goofy but besides that he also voiced Peter Pig in The Wise Little Hen. However there is a stark contrast between Peter Pig and Practical Pig. Whereas Peter Pig was lazy and didn't like doing work, Practical was a hard worker and wanted to make sure every was just right. Also as stated Pinto was the voice of Goofy and while Goofy was usually the comic relief character at least when paired with Mickey, Practical for all intents and purposes was the straight man of the group so to speak. It was rather neat having this man who I'm so used to hear a play a comedic character be the straight man in a short for a change. Not to say that he didn't pull it off but it was just so odd.
Music
Who's Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf
Now we come to perhaps the most popular aspect of this short. This song is perhaps the most famous song from any Silly Symphony. As I have stated in the past, it is a "Cruella" song in that while it is about the villain. It is not sung by him but rather by Fifer and Fiddler. As stated when I last talked about this song, it is a fun song and just a great listen. This song also served as an allegory for The Depression with the Wolf representing The Depression and as we will see later on in this retrospective it also became an allegory for Nazi Germany.
Villain
The Big Bad Wolf voiced by Billy Bletcher
Now we come to a great Disney villain who I feel is sadly underused. His motivation may be simple, he just wants to eat the pigs but he goes about it in an entertaining fashion such as disguising himself as a sheep and then as a brush man. Though when we disguises himself as the brush man, it backfires on him as Practical uses the brush to beat him to a pulp. If the voice actor's name, looks familiar well that is because I have reviewed several shorts starring this gentlemen now. I think him along with Sterling Holloway have appeared the most on Classic Shorts Showcase. That is one of the great highlights of this film as the voice for The Big Bad Wolf is just a lot of fun to listen to.
My Final Thoughts
In the end, this is a decent short and one that I suggest tracking down and it deserves all the accolades and legend it has received. While the story may not be anything grand, it is told in an entertaining fashion and there many great sight gags such if you do watch this short. Take a look inside Practical Pig's house at the family pictures as the picture as their father is a sausage link. That's wrong but pretty funny. This is a short that should not be passed up. Have a watch and you'll enjoy it. Join me next time, when I give the people (of the '30s) what they want, More Pigs! As I review the first sequel short...
The Big Bad Wolf
With that out of the way, let's begin.
The Plot
The plot of this short is pretty simple. If you ever read the classic fable that this short is based upon, your already familiar with the plot of this short. However as basic as the plot may be, it is still a good short and still able to have a lot of fun with the way that it tells the story.
Characters
Now as usual, I'll be breaking this down into Main & Villain. Not too many characters to talk about this time but I can assure you as this retrospective goes on, the character roster will grow. With that out of the way, let's begin.
Main Characters
Today for main characters, I'll be focusing solely on the Pigs. As that is all there is.
Fifer Pig voiced by Dorthy Compton
Fifer Pig is the first pig we see and as observed by this picture, he is the pig that built his house out of straw. It was clear in the short that he just wanted to build his house so that he could just have more time to play his fife and goof off with his brother, Fiddler Pig. He was a simple character but fun to watch nonetheless. Though not my favorite character in the short.
Fiddler Pig voiced by Mary Moder
Fiddler Pig is the second pig we see in the short and he is the pig that built his house out of wood. Fiddler Pig is much like his brother, Fifer he builds his house but doesn't take much thought into building as he just wants to play his fiddle and goof off too. Fiddler didn't really have any exciting moment until we saw him interact with Fifer. Is it just me or does anyone find it funny that two of the pigs are named after instruments? No one, just an observation I made. Though Fifer and Fiddler do share one trait, they act brave in front of each other saying such things as when the Wolf comes around they'll punch him and shoot him Never mind that we never see a gun in either of their houses and I don't think a fife or a fiddle would scare off a wolf. Just sayin' But when they are finally confronted by the Wolf, they were scared off. That was a cute little moment there. It was pulled off well and when the Wolf came to both of their houses, you could actually feel the fright in these two. If nothing else, they were fun characters.
Practical Pig voiced by Pinto Colvig
The last pig to talk about is Practical Pig who I believe to be the oldest of the three. He is the pig that built his house out of brick and the one that the Wolf could not "huff & puff" down. As you may notice in the picture, he plays the piano. I wonder why they didn't name him Piano Pig as his two brothers are named after instruments. Either way, his name makes sense because out of the three he is the one that thinks with the most logic. He is probably my favorite character as he was very smart and thought things through clearly. Also I just have to bring this up, Pinto Colvig who voiced Practical Pig was the voice actor for Goofy but besides that he also voiced Peter Pig in The Wise Little Hen. However there is a stark contrast between Peter Pig and Practical Pig. Whereas Peter Pig was lazy and didn't like doing work, Practical was a hard worker and wanted to make sure every was just right. Also as stated Pinto was the voice of Goofy and while Goofy was usually the comic relief character at least when paired with Mickey, Practical for all intents and purposes was the straight man of the group so to speak. It was rather neat having this man who I'm so used to hear a play a comedic character be the straight man in a short for a change. Not to say that he didn't pull it off but it was just so odd.
Music
Who's Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf
Now we come to perhaps the most popular aspect of this short. This song is perhaps the most famous song from any Silly Symphony. As I have stated in the past, it is a "Cruella" song in that while it is about the villain. It is not sung by him but rather by Fifer and Fiddler. As stated when I last talked about this song, it is a fun song and just a great listen. This song also served as an allegory for The Depression with the Wolf representing The Depression and as we will see later on in this retrospective it also became an allegory for Nazi Germany.
Villain
The Big Bad Wolf voiced by Billy Bletcher
Now we come to a great Disney villain who I feel is sadly underused. His motivation may be simple, he just wants to eat the pigs but he goes about it in an entertaining fashion such as disguising himself as a sheep and then as a brush man. Though when we disguises himself as the brush man, it backfires on him as Practical uses the brush to beat him to a pulp. If the voice actor's name, looks familiar well that is because I have reviewed several shorts starring this gentlemen now. I think him along with Sterling Holloway have appeared the most on Classic Shorts Showcase. That is one of the great highlights of this film as the voice for The Big Bad Wolf is just a lot of fun to listen to.
My Final Thoughts
In the end, this is a decent short and one that I suggest tracking down and it deserves all the accolades and legend it has received. While the story may not be anything grand, it is told in an entertaining fashion and there many great sight gags such if you do watch this short. Take a look inside Practical Pig's house at the family pictures as the picture as their father is a sausage link. That's wrong but pretty funny. This is a short that should not be passed up. Have a watch and you'll enjoy it. Join me next time, when I give the people (of the '30s) what they want, More Pigs! As I review the first sequel short...
The Big Bad Wolf
No comments:
Post a Comment