Release date: May 13th, 1933
Series: Merrie Melodies
Director: Rudolf Ising
Starring: The King's Men (Chorus), Rudy Ising (Rice Pudding)
I'll preface this by apologizing for the slur in the title--I'll be censoring the titles of shorts that have slurs in their titles out of personal preference, so I ask for your understanding. This short details Romani villagers dancing and singing, their celebration cut short when the mad monk Rice-Puddin’ kidnaps one of the girls.
Open to a joyful celebration in the streets of a Russian village. A man is doing a kazatsky, among other dances. There’s a shot of a man conducting the orchestra, revealed to be a caricature of bandleader Paul Whiteman. There’s also a shot of a man playing a balalaika with a herring—very creative and strange! Back to the man, who dances straight towards the camera into the next scene.
A group of men are chugging their beer, singing “The Song of the Volga Boatmen” in gargles, a reoccurring motif in many a Warner Bros. cartoon. Elsewhere, a group of men are struggling to pull a rope to the beat of the music. A pan down reveals that they’re dragging a tiny little puppy who’s holding on the other end. Great gag! Size disparity is always great for humor.
A man plays a pan flute, tuning himself by twisting his ear a few times to get the right pitch. He and a few other singers sing the titular song. A great visual gag while they sing is how they walk back and forth—above, the tallest guy is the lead singer, but once they march the other way, he’s now the shortest, with the shortest man being the tallest. A dog bounds up on stage and barks a few bars, and the hats that they’re wearing turn out to be cats, who all hiss at the dog before morphing back into hats again. There are a lot of really great gags in this one nonstop!
A little Romani girl comes out of her caravan and dances to the music with her tambourine. As we get another brief glimpse at the singers, the camera pans to a shifty man in a trench coat, sneaking about. It’s actually a very short man with a ton of bombs stacked on his head, the top bomb having eyes drawn on it to avoid further suspicion. Because why not?
The title card clues us in that this very obvious caricature of Rasputin is “RICE-PUDDIN’, ‘THE MAD MONK’”. Great name beyond words. He’s playing a jigsaw puzzle and cheating, cutting the corners so it fits just right and jeering at his handiwork.
Elsewhere, the man carrying the bombs sneaks into the palace. He realizes that he can’t be seen holding two bombs, so, logically, he fashions them into breasts and saunters past the guard, who hugs himself in delight.
Back to Rice-Puddin’ and his conniving jigsaw game. He throws down another jigsaw piece that won’t fit in frustration and hisses.
Lucky for him, a portrait of the czar is hanging right in front of him. He cuts up the photograph, and it fits perfectly in place to form a jackass (“You’re a Horse’s Ass” underscoring in the background). Well, he has personality!
Finished with his game, Rice-Puddin’ snags a pair of binoculars and peers out into the streets outside, where the festivities rage on. He sneers “THE FOOLS!” as he listens to another verse of our eponymous song . He lays eyes on the Romani girl with the tambourine and rubs his hands together connivingly. Again, we’re overdue for a kidnapping, a Harman-Ising staple! He orders a guard to snag her for him, grabbing a cigar from the guard’s uniform and lighting it (with the aid of a mouse striking a match after popping out from the lighter). He chuffs on his cigar, and sure enough the girl is dragged inside by force.
Rice-Puddin’s motives are clear once he opens a trap door, sending his guard into who knows where. He makes advances on the girl, who pooh-poohs him. He chases after her, and there’s this weirdly cool shot of him lumbering around and laughing maniacally. Good run cycle with plenty of warped personality! The girl shrieks for help by sticking her head out a window, but Rice-Puddin’ silences her.
Thankfully, the whole town comes to her aid, armed with axes and torches. Rice-Puddin’ takes note, and turns to the audience. He cries in an American accent “Holy mackerel—I’m a loser!” Whoever voiced that line deserves an award of some sort. The timing is impeccable and the tone sounds so hushed.
He rushes out of the palace, jumping onto a mule and riding off. Remember the guy with the bomb from earlier? He places a bomb in Rice-Puddin’s pants. Rice-Puddin’ pulls the tail of the mule, turning it into a helicopter as he rides off unharmed... or so he thinks. The bomb explodes and as the clouds settle, we iris out as he has gone from a caricature of Rasputin to Gandhi.
Title aside, this was actually a very entertaining cartoon. The gags were on point and the music was fun and lively. Usually the Merrie Melodies have some sort of sentimentality to it, but this one didn’t—in fact, it didn’t take itself seriously at all, which makes it funnier and boosts its rating. The use of the g-slur in the title and song is awkward and doesn’t age well, but thankfully it’s one of those scenarios where the cartoon is still enjoyable elsewhere, yet still keeping that in mind. High energy and great gags, worth a watch!
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