Of Wolves and Girls in Hoods: Van Beuren

One thing you could almost always rely on the Van Beuren Corporation for was cartoons that featured weirdness for no apparent reason other than be weird. The quality of their storytelling, and the technical quality of the animation in their features varied wildly--sometimes even within the same cartoon--but they almost never failed to be weird.

Case in point: Their version of "Little Red Riding Hood", which was released as part of their Aesop's Fables anthology series. In true Van Beuren fashion, the cartoons released under that heading rarely had anything to do with Aesop's fables, which is why it's not terribly surprising that they included a Little Red Riding Hood adaptation in the mix. No, what's surprising is how far afield the creators went with this adaptation. It starts straying from the original fairy tale with a little Jazz Age satire... and then spins out of control from there. It is easily one of the most memorable Van Beuren effort... and oh so weird!

(As an added bonus, this seems to be another instance of one of those Mickey and/or Minnie Mouse look-alikes that eventually caused the Walt Disney Company to file suit against Van Beuren Corporation.)

Red Riding Hood (1931)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors
Directors: John Foster and John Bailey
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

(This post was presented during Red Riding Hood Month at Shades of Gray. Click on the "Little Red Riding Hood" label below to see all the entires in this series.)