Naughty But Mice

1939
6.1| 0h8m| en
Details

Sniffles the mouse, in his first appearance in a Warner Bros. cartoon, goes to a drugstore and gets drunk on a cold remedy, then befriends an electric razor and gets it drunk as well.

Cast

Mel Blanc

Director

Producted By

Leon Schlesinger Productions

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Reviews

Diagonaldi Very well executed
Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?
Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.
Walter Sloane Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
TheLittleSongbird Chuck Jones is widely considered one of animation's finest directors/animators and for very good reason. When he was at his best, his cartoons were masterpieces of animation, comic timing, characterisation and wit.The Sniffles cartoon series were very early efforts for Jones, and, while they are interesting from a historical perspective, it is safe to say that from personal opinion they really don't see him at his best. There is somewhat of a still finding his feet feel here, with the humour once he became a regular director for the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons becoming much funnier, more constant and wittier and the characterisation far more interesting.'Naughty But Mice' is the first Sniffles cartoon and is not a bad one. It's just that it's not a great one either. The funniest parts are only mildly amusing, mainly with the electric razor, and for my tastes the cartoon does try a little too hard to be cute to the point it gets too sickly sweet. 'Naughty But Mice' doesn't do anywhere near enough with the cat character, who is bland and almost useless.Story-wise, 'Naughty But Mice' is thin, a little lacking in energy and somewhat bland.However, cannot bring myself to be too hard on the cartoon. The animation is very good. It is lush and vibrant in colour and meticulous and beautifully drawn in detail. The character designs are fluid, well drawn and distinctive Jones, if not the creative ones of his very best cartoons. Carl Stalling's music is lush and characterful, with clever orchestration and a mastery of not just adding to the action but enhancing it as well (Stalling was a near-unequalled master at this, though Scott Bradley gave him a run for his money).A few amusing moments and there is somewhat of a subtly surreal element to the premise. Sniffles is not the funniest or compelling of lead characters, and falls dangerously close to being too cutesy, but there is an oddly likable sweetness. The most lively characterisation is the electric razor. The vocal characterisations are strong.Overall, not a bad cartoon but it would for me be an untruth to call it a great one when it does strain to reach average. 5/10 Bethany Cox
Edgar Allan Pooh . . . are so hard to find at your local CVS or Walgreen store? In NAUGHTY BUT NICE, not only are there boxes and boxes of Irium tweezers, but the "Savoy Drug Store" shelves are teaming with scads of always hard-to-find Electric Hot Water Bottles, Radium Hair Pins, Repercolating Percolators, Magnetic Flasks, 2-Watt Clocks, and Electric Needles. When is the last time you have seen any of these Savoy staples in YOUR local chain store? Though President Teddy Roosevelt had broken up the Big Trusts such as Standard Oil long before Warner Bros. had even invented the "Talkies," the Warner Brass could read the handwriting already defacing Wall Street by the late 1930s. It spoke of Merger Mania, Franchise Proliferation, and Monopoly Money becoming Real. White Castle and Steak & Shake already were marching across America, and Warner knew that Kresge, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, CVS, and Walgreen would be nipping at our heels unless something was done immediately to nip the deflowering of the American Small Business Rose in the bud. NAUGHTY BUT MICE is just one of Warner's warnings about this, which included both features and shorts.
Lee Eisenberg Chuck Jones's "Naughty But Mice" is mostly worth seeing as a historical reference: it was the first cartoon starring the cute-by-any-measure mouse Sniffles. In this case, he sneaks into a drug store looking for a cold remedy. It burns his mouth, and so he drinks whiskey to cool off...and only succeeds in getting drunk (why do cartoon characters like to booze themselves up so much?), at which point he befriends an electric razor (they had electric razors all the way back in 1939?). The razor then has to rescue him from a cat.Overall, not much happens here that I didn't predict; I guess that it took Jones a year or two to come up with really clever ideas. I can see why cute Sniffles eventually disappeared to make way for a certain acerbic rabbit and the later characters.Like I said: worth seeing to see who was Jones's first star, but not for much else.
Rusty-34 And this cartoon proves it. It's a tiring cartoon that makes one want to sleep. Sniffles comes across an electric razor who has a cold as well as he does, and it all seems so droopy and melodramatic. I don't see the humor in these cartoons at all.Thank heavens Chuck Jones changed later on. I do not like Sniffles at all!* out of ****