39. Bosko the Lumberjack (1932)

Release date: September 3rd, 1932

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Hugh Harman

Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko), Rudy Ising (Pierre)

Interesting to note, we’ve had two Bosko cartoons in a row, disrupting the flow of the Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies rhythm. Here, Bosko has to save Honey, who has been kidnapped by a menacing lumberjack.

This cartoon is filled with all sorts of beautiful and experimental visuals like this one. What a great way to start of the cartoon! “TIMBERRRR!” thunders offscreen as the tree dissolves the title card and opens the cartoon, exposing a group of lumberjacks hacking away at some trees. There are some great visual gags, such as a log inching away like an inchworm onto a cart to be taken off down the railroad, and some insects chopping down trees (including a caterpillar with 4 axes, each of the hits synchronizing perfectly with the sound effects and animation) 

I love my silhouettes... another great setup (very Tashlin-esque)! The tree makes a spectacle as it dies, staggering backwards and gasping (reminiscent to a gag in Tick Tock Tuckered where porky shoots an alarm clock that twirls around dramatically before collapsing).

Off to cut more wood, Bosko strikes a tree, which turns out to be a moose who yelps in pain. There’s another where Bosko hacks away at another tree, but a skunk sticks its head out of the hole and says that he’s gonna make a stink about this. Sure enough, the skunk sprays its fumes, and Bosko staggers away, hitting a tree and receiving a shower of foliage in return. Another gag is shown where Bosko uses a woodpecker to cut down a tree. The gags are on point in this cartoon! They’re very fun to watch.

Enter Honey, who’s prepared Bosko lunch. He happily accepts it, and we watch Bosko eat a sandwich in all of its revolting glory, borrowed from Bosko’s Holiday.

Bosko isn’t the only one on his lunch break. A brute of a lumberjack asserts his masculinity by making a sandwich made of logs and nails. I love the sound effects, they really add to the believability of how excruciatingly painful that would be.

The lumberjack spots Honey and is completely enamored by her. Seeing as this is a Harman-Ising cartoon, the only logical explanation to show your affections towards a woman is to kidnap her! He hooks her by using a pulley and snagging her skirt, lifting her up to him. Bosko hears her shrieks and tries to save her, scrambling to climb up a nearby ladder.

Pierre (he introduces himself as such by crooning “Now you give Pierre a big kiss!”) defeats Bosko easily. A single punch sends him sliding down the ladder, all of the steps splitting beneath him. Bosko lands on a log cutter, which shreds part of his ass. The last cartoon had Bosko’s crotch getting shredded by barbed wire, and now his ass is getting cut by a saw? He seriously can’t catch a break, can he? Commentary aside, the visual of Bosko sliding down the ladder is beautifully addicting.

Planning an escape, honey slides down a rope connected to a whistle, blowing hot steam in Pierre’s face. Pierre descends the ladder and catches her, making a break for it, but not before squirting tree sap from a tapper in Bosko’s face.

Fred Flintstone physics comes in handy once more! What a great shot! Pierre snags a canoe and darts off, his feet sticking through as he runs. Bosko, on the other hand, hijacks a log inhabited by mice, who are rowing it. He gets out a bullhorn and yells at them to stroke in synchronization as he follows Pierre. Genius! The gags are on point in this cartoon all throughout.

A cabin serves as a convenient spot for Pierre to prey on Honey. Bosko bangs on the door, demanding to be let in, but is denied entry. However, a moose head unexpectedly takes out a rifle and shoots at Pierre, loosing his grip on the door and gaining Bosko entrance. This cartoon is throwing me for all sorts of loops! I love the detail of the moose holding the rifle with its antlers.

Pierre punches Bosko, sending him ricocheting against some support beams and flying under a bed. He rises with a cracked bedpan on his head (gotta love it) in the shape of a crown. Once more, our underdog charges at Pierre, who gives him another go.

Bosko flies into a wood stove, expelled from a pipe and into a bear rug, where he runs frantically around the cabin in the rug. A conveniently placed bear trap sends him flying out of the rug shrieking. There’s a great shot of Pierre approaching Bosko, with a swagger in his step.

The hero must always win! Bosko seeks an axe, which gets lodged in a barrel behind him as he prepares to strike. Regardless he swings the axe down, the barrel breaking over Pierre’s head and trapping him.

Honey coddles Bosko and gives him a kiss, labeling him as her hero. Lovestruck, Bosko stumbles back against the wall, knocking a portrait of Napoleon down onto him, and we see his face sticking out where Napoleon’s would be as Honey gives him a respectful salute. Iris out.

Another to add to my collection of favorites, with Battling Bosko and Bosko’s Dog Race! The visuals are great for their time and the staging is superb, with the tree falling at the beginning and the silhouette of Bosko. The very end where Honey salutes Napoleon/Bosko is also hilarious! This cartoon reminds me a lot of Porky in the North Woods, another short where the protagonist gets terrorized by a French lumberjack (who looks a lot like Pierre, but also not at the same time). I’d certainly recommend a watch! The second half is where things get really good, but there are a lot of fun gags in the first half too.