BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . and on to "Darnation Milk" ("from cheerful cows") as well as hieroglyphics extolling Egyptian cigarettes, LIGHTS FANTASTIC thoroughly explicates the mindset of American advertisers--then and now. Like all the movie studios at the time, Warner Bros. had its share of run-ins with U.S. censors. For example, the first talkie version of THE MALTESE FALCON (1931) features a topless bathtub scene for the actress in the role famously inherited by Mary Astor in the second remake a decade later. But what a difference those ten years made! Well before the 1940s, America had adopted its puritanical sharia law that persists in many sectors of Society through today's 21st Century. Warner Bros. lampoons this pointless prudery by self-"censoring" this cartoon's can-can dance--performed by four dancing cans in skimpy skirts! Whenever these food tins face backstage and bend over for the "big reveal," the animators insert a black screen! That is, until the final "bottoms up" for "Face and Sunburn" Coffee (then known as Chase and Sanborn in the Live Action World) shows this message above the cans' finally revealed cans: "It's dated!" with the can bottoms all reading "Jan. 5, 1942." That coffee may be somewhat stale by today, but the idea that censorship has outlived its expiration date couldn't be fresher!

slymusic Directed by the great Friz Freleng, "Lights Fantastic" is a fine Warner Bros. cartoon that is quite unique. There are no heroes or villains. Aided by a great music score by Carl W. Stalling, this is merely a gag-oriented cartoon involving lights, signs, letters, product mascots, and (most importantly) advertisements. And that's it, folks! Just a really humorous opportunity for Friz and his animation unit to experiment. Nothing wrong with that, is there? My favorite gags from "Lights Fantastic": A chorus line of coffee cans performs a can-can dance revealing their "butts". A small group of gentlemen read Chinese on a vertical sign (thanks to the vocal talent of Mel Blanc). A clown cannot control his mounting hysterics as he sings "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" (again a credit to Mel Blanc's voice). And four neon string figures with bulbous noses sing some nice harmonies, with a fifth smaller figure adding his own little interjections (Blanc again).

Lee Eisenberg Sort of an updated version of "Billboard Frolics", Friz Freleng's eye-popping "Lights Fantastic" depicts a bunch of billboards - apparently around Times Square - putting on various skits. This cartoon really shows off Freleng's penchant for synchronizing music and action (especially with the conga beat). Freleng also made ample use of this in "Pigs in a Polka" and "Show Biz Bugs".Mostly this was a place holder in 1942. By that point, Bugs Bunny was the undisputed Warner Bros. cartoon star, Chuck Jones had totally eschewed cuteness in favor of slapstick, and the United States' entry into WWII prompted a series of cartoons portraying the characters battling Nazis. But this was certainly a good place holder. Very similar to "Billboard Frolics", true, but I recommend it.

max von meyerling A weirdie. There are no characters in this cartoon, neither "humans" or funny animals. Its all sight gags and bad puns based on the Times Square billboards known as "spectaculars". The cartoon begins and ends with a "real life" shot of Times Square, red neon predominant. As another comment points out this was not an original idea in as much as it had been recycled from an earlier cartoon. However there might have been a powerful feeling of nostalgia behind this particular cartoon. The WW2 blackout turned off the juice to the Times Square spectaculars (the glow from the lights of big east coast cities was the perfect background for u boats to use to sunk allied shipping). Times Square was "dark". Seeing Times square as it once was and, it was hoped, would be after the war was won, was uppermost in movie audiences minds.