'Plane Dumb' is... well... it's complicated

Plane Dumb (1932)
Starring: F.E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles

Directors: John Foster and George Rufle

Rating: Four of Ten Stars

While trying to circumnavigate the globe in a plane, Tom & Jerry (Miller and Lyles) crash in the ocean near Africa. Disguised as black people, they hope to blend in with the natives... with predictable results.

I've been putting off reviewing "Plane Dumb" for quite some time. I decided to post about all the "Tom & Jerry" cartoons here at Shades of Gray, partly because I wasn't clear on how I would accurately describe something that's both innovative and absolutely awful at the same time; it goes in a direction that no other entries in the series go... but it is also terribly stupid and inexplicably racist in so many ways that it must have even surprised many audience members even back in 1932. 

It turns out that putting this one off was a Good Thing, because a little research and reading the excellent book by Hal Erickson about the Van Beuren productions gave me insight into how "Plane Dumb" came to be that softened by stance as a reviewer (but not necessarily as a viewer): The fact is that this cartoon didn't start out as "Tom & Jerry" cartoon goes a long way to explain a number of its flaws.

According to Erickson's book, and other sources, the Tom & Jerry cartoon we know as "Plane Dumb" actually began production as "All Wet". There is some speculation that it may have been intended as part of a series featuring animated versions of the popular African-American comedy team Miller & Lyles, but the project fell apart... most likely due to Aubrey Lyles' death shortly after voice work on "All Wet" is believed to have been completed. Not wanting effort (and money) to go to waste, Van Beuren seems to have had the existing footage and recorded dialog from Miller & Lyles combined with an ill-considered opening scene where Tom and Jerry transform themselves into two black guys.

Anyone who's seen more than one "Tom & Jerry" installment before this one--and who paid attention--will find their transformation baffling and annoying. Unlike what some commentators may lead you to believe, Tom & Jerry did actually have distinct personalities. Through all the ups and downs of inconsistent quality across the various installments, you could always count on Tom to be the more grounded and cautious (even cowardly on many occasions) of the two, while Jerry is an aggressive risk-taker whose actions often create more chaos than is good for anyone. In "Plane Dumb", however, their personalities have inexplicably changed--inexplicable until you learn that this tall and short duo were never intended to be Tom & Jerry. The personalities exhibited line up with the characters usually portrayed by Miller and Lyles, with the tall one being the aggressor and the short one being the reactor, so, given the fact these characters weren't originally Tom & Jerry. (Actually, what I am saying is not completely accurate; when it comes right down it, both Tom and Jerry are somewhat cowardly, but overall, their personalities are reversed when considered in the context of the overall series.)

Part of me wants to excuse the shift in personalities, because, back before I realized that this cartoon is a patchwork of fresh and recycled material, I thought it was something of an innovation for the series: Most "Tom & Jerry" cartoons might as well be silent films there is so little meaningful dialog--but here there are back-and-forth comedy routines, spoken jokes, and puns that tie into visual gags. It was an amazing departure for an entry in this series--which, of course, is because most of the material here didn't start out as a "Tom & Jerry" episode--but even apart from that, "Plane Dumb" is remarkable because of the nature of the dialog. 

Few cartoons were driven by spoken exchanges in the early 1930s, so it was quite remarkable that Van Beuren teamed up with a pair of comedians known for their verbal back-and-forths for what COULD have been a bit of trail-blazing. The Miller & Lyles bits are interspersed among the usual surreal, visual nonsense consumers of Van Beuren cartoons would be accustomed to, but the main driver was the dialog. 

Why Van Beuren's deal with Miller & Lyles fell apart remains unknown to me. I found a couple explanations, but nothing solid. One suggestion is that the pair were simply too busy and broke the contract, while another posited that they were unhappy with the quality Van Beuren's animators were producing, as well as the rate at which the pair was being paid. Either explanation seems plausible to me. At the end of it all, what we're left with is a cartoon that's equal parts awful and innovative... and one that has NOT aged well. The bits with Tom and Jerry stranded at sea and their battle with the creatures there is fun (even if the bit with the octopus is a bit of headscratcher), but it's mostly downhill from there... with rock-bottom being our heroes fleeing from hostile African natives who are literally spear-chuckers.

The Four Rating I'm assigning "Plane Dumb" is the lowest possible, and even that may be generous--and it's entirely because of the innovative nature of the use of dialog. It's interesting to consider if this cartoon had seemed as outrageously racist if whatever the original set-up that caused Miller & Lyles' fast-talking jokesters crash their plane in the ocean had been intact. Would it have seemed less racist?

"Plane Dumb" is the worst entry in the "Tom & Jerry" series. I can't recommend watching it, but I am embedding it below anyway, so you can form your own opinion. (And if it differs from mine, I hope you leave a comment to tell the world what it is.)

The Avengers: Castle De'Ath

Castle De'Ath (1965)

Starring: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Robert Urquhart, Gordon Jackson, and Jack Lambert

Director: James Hill

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Two of Britain's top government agents, Steed & Mrs. Peel (Macnee and Rigg) go undercover to investigate a strange death at an isolated castle and its possible connection to a decline in the fish population off the coast of Scotland.

"Castle De'Ath" is both a great episode and a terrible episode, with the bad outweighing the good (however slightly). 

The good is that it has an excellent cast, with guest-stars Robert Urquhart and Gordon Jackson playing the pair of Scottish brothers who own the castle, and who are as different as night and day, being at the top of the list for well-deserved praise. Either one--or perhaps even both--may be behind a devilish plot to destroy Scotland and England's fishing industry. Of course, they may also just be eccentric and/or greedy; These two characters and their conflict with each other and with our heroes are the main drivers of this episode, with Urquhart and Jackson striking just the right balance between dubious and sincere, restrained and ridiculously over-the-top in their performances to keep the audience unsure as to what's truly motivating either one of them.

The usual amount of praise must also be given to Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee. Their portrayals of their characters are a little less playful this time out, because there's limited opportunity for it; Steed and Peel are both undercover, supposedly don't know each other, and arrive at the castle at different times, so they can investigate from different angles. Interestingly, their cover-stories are reversed from the usual approach; Steed is posing as a writer and Rigg is a tourism executive with an interest in turning Castle De'Ath into an attraction. Rigg also gets to sneak through the castle in a flimsy nightgown, so that's another definite plus for the episode.

The last-minute reveal of the true identity of the villainous mastermind in the show is an exciting moment, as is the battle royal that surrounds it. In several episodes of "The Avengers", the climactic action of an episode is often dragged down by poor staging and badly rehearsed stage fighting; that is not the case here. The action is fluid and fun (well, for the viewers at least... for some of the participants in the fight, it's quite deadly), and the only complaint I can field is that I wish the final fate of one of the Brothers De'Ath was a little clearer.

Speaking of complaints, I have a major one with "Castle De'Ath"--one so big that it almost ruins the entire episode. While the script here was generally well-written and the story constructed well enough to keep the viewer guessing who the real villain in Castle De'Ath is, everything falls apart once the Big Reveal happens. It's not that things don't make sense in the context of the clues that an attentive viewer would have picked up on, it's that the villain's actions both prior to and during the events of the episode are so monumentally stupid that they were certain  to invite circumstances that would almost certainly expose himself and his co-conspirators to discovery. A somewhat smaller complaint is that some of the episode's humor felt forced--such as Steed performing a clownish Scottish dance while Peel plays miniature bagpipes--but when combined with the the botched logical underpinnings of the story, this Avengers outing only rates Six Stars.

Wonder Woman Wednesday

It's time for a few more portraits of Wonder Woman. This time around, she been posing with her sword and shield, just so we all remember that, while she seeks to bring peace and harmony to the world, she's not adverse to stabbing or bashing those who cause strife and misery.

No Doubt it's Hella Good on this Musical Monday

No Doubt is a band that's broken up, reformed, and then broken up again. Fronted by Gwen Stefani, their style has primarily been punk rock with a heavy ska vibe... but here they are doing a more pop-ish tune in and around a decommissioned ship. (Well... I hope it's decommissioned. I'd hate to put on aboard that thing!

Hella Good (2002)

Starring: Gwen Stefani and Adrian Young

Director: Mark Romanek

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

(Trivia: The masters for the albums and singles of the early incarnations of No Doubt were destroyed along with those of hundreds of other musicians by a fire at Universal Studios in 2008.)

The Avengers Dossier, Page Four

Here's another brief look at a supporting player from the 1965/66 season of "The Avengers".

MICHAEL GOUGH
Michael Gough played Dr. Armstrong, a computer and mechanical genius turned tech mogul in "The Cybernauts".

Born in 1916, Michael Gough was a widely respected actor with a career that lasted over sixty years and was spent equally on stage and on screen, with roles in nearly 200 films and TV series. Most readers may remember him as Alfred in four Batman movies (the two directed by Tim Burton... and the two that followed), but he also had key roles in such famous television series as "Doctor Who" (two different turns as villains, with a roughly 15-year gap between), dozens of fun B- horror and sci-fi movies, and as the voice for numerous cartoon- and masked-characters over the years.

Gough passed away at the age of 94 in 2011.

'Hard Work' is easy to watch

Hard Work (1928)
Starring: Wallace Lupino, Betty Boyd, and Jackie Levine

Director: Jules White

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A couple (Lupino and Boyd) and their young son (Levine) move into a fixer-upper... which they try to fix up with mostly disastrous results.

"Hard Work" features a small cast of actors who were either unseasoned (Betty Boyd) or who had never been expected to carry a film in starring roles (Wallace Lupino and Jackie Levine), but all three rise spectacularly to the task. It also features a simple plot (which is basically a streamlined version of what you'll find in Buster Keaton's "One Week" from 1920) that sets up disaster after disaster that are used to their fullest. Unless you are completely lacking in a sense of humor, you will find yourself laughing or smiling throughout most of this picture--even as you may be cringing at some of what unfolds. (I have had enough injuries and broken bones in my life that I could almost feel some of the punishment that Lupino's character is subjected to.)

This would be a Nine-star film if not for the weak gag that opens the film (the weakest in the entire picture, actually) and for the way it closes. The ending isn't bad exactly... it just feels a little flat.

I recommend you take a few minutes out of your day to sit back and enjoy this rare comedy gem by clicking on the embedded video below.

The Swank Quarterly

 Hats by Himerius hired Hilary to help hawk their headwares.

"Don't wear anything that distracts from the hats," they told her.

"You got it," she replied.

On this day, 100 years ago...

... Italian actress Giulietta Masina was born.

She is perhaps best remembered outside of Italy for her roles in "La Strada" (1956) and "Juliet of the Spirits" (1965), but back home she was tremendously popular and widely known as a star of screen and radio. She was also married to writer/director Frederico Fellini for more than 50 years. They were reportedly in love for all those years, and she has been described his main source of inspiration from the time they first began working together on radio.

Masina passed away in 1994, just a months after her husband's death. Here's an artistic tribute by "Keneru" and Milo Manara.

Musical Monday with Garbage

Here's Garbage performing a song that's anything but garbage. It's pretty darn cool actually. (The rating is a High Six, and if there'd been just a little more to the video, it might have been a Seven.)

I Think I'm Paranoid (1998)

Starring: Shirley Manson, Steve Marker, and Butch Vig

Director: Matthew Rolston

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

'Cartoon Factory' shatters the fourth wall

The Cartoon Factory (1924/1930)
Starring: Max Fleischer
Directors: Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

An animator (Fleischer) invents a way to automate the creation of cartoons. This, in turn, leads the animated character Koko the Clown to create a cartoon version of the animator. 

"The Cartoon Factory" doesn't just break the fourth wall--it turns it to dust. Several times over. Not only does Ko-Ko the Clown know that he's a drawing--he's a drawing who understands drawings are just lines that can be put on paper or erased as the creator chooses. And that Ko-Ko can create and erase those lines. It's fascinating to watch Koko go about trying (intentionally or not) to corrupt the animated world he lives in by creating a version of the person who originally animated HIM... and then to watch this creation turn on him, because the creation can never fully become the creator and fiction can never fully escape into reality, nor can reality ever fully merge with fiction. (That's at least the message I took away from this... even if I may be overthinking things.)

I've mentioned before my fondness for cartoons and movies that break the fourth wall in other reviews on this blog, so I enjoyed "The Cartoon Factory" quite a bit. I've seen at least one commentator state that he felt the ending is a result of Fleischers not knowing how to bring the story to a close, but it seems to me that it's simply following the format of the series: Most (if not all) episodes open with Ko-Ko emerging from the animator's inkwell in some fashion, and then returning to it at the end. 

But how about you take a look for yourself, and perhaps let me know your take on this fun fusion of live- and animated-action? You can watch it from this very post, and then use the comments section at the very bottom to sound off.

Trivia: The original version of "The Cartoon Factory" was first released into theaters on Feburary 21, 1924. It was one of roughly 130 silent "Out of the Inkwell" series, all of which combined some degree of live-action footage with animation. (The version embedded in this post, and that forms the basis for this review, was released in 1930 with the soundtrack added.)