slymusic
"Porky the Fireman" is a self-explanatory Frank Tashlin-directed Porky Pig cartoon. Porky and his crew dash off to extinguish the roaring blazes at a theatrical boarding house, where plenty of funny gags arise.For me, the major highlight of "Porky the Fireman" is the lackadaisical pipe-chomping dog on Porky's crew. He follows the curvature of a fire hose as he nonchalantly strolls towards Porky and calmly asks him, "What did you say?" "I said turn on the water!!" "Oh." The dog then strolls back to the hydrant. Another time, he slowly climbs a ladder and asks Mabel the Fat Lady, "What did you say?" She responds by frantically coaxing him to save her from the burning building and put her on the street. "Oh." He grabs her and tosses her out the window!The only remaining question I have regarding "Porky the Fireman" is: What happened to all the firemen at the very end?
Lee Eisenberg
If you thought that cartoon gags had gone as far as they could, just watch "Porky the Fireman". Whether the fire spells out messages, water from the fire hose plays Whack-a-Mole with the fire in the windows, or one character seriously needs his hearing fixed, the whole cartoon goes to show that nothing was sacred to the Termite Terrace crowd.OK, so maybe we could also be cynical and say that Warner Bros. spent about the first four years of Porky Pig's existence mostly putting him in various kinds of roles just for the hell of it (aside from this one, he was also an engineer, pilgrim, bullfighter, etc.). But seriously, with the sorts of gags that these cartoons had, how can you not like them at least some?! I will say that Porky and the other characters really started getting some of their best roles in the early '40s, but this is still worth seeing, if only as a historical reference.
Robert Reynolds
This is an extremely funny short most effectively done in black and white and directed by Frank Tashlin. Because I want to cover some of the gags in this, here's a spoiler warning: Porky and company are called out to fight a fire at a boarding house for performers. While the fire is a problem, Porky has at least as much trouble with one of his fellow firemen, a slow moving, slow talking dog whose ideas on firefighting are eccentric, to say the least! The gags come fairly fast and furious here, mostly having to do with fighting the fire, such as Porky running toward the fire with a water bucket, only to have the fire take the bucket away from him and throw the water on Porky.Among those in the boarding house who come out are an old man with his leg in a cast who says he's okay, but that they need to save Grandpa! He then jumps and uses his beard as a parachute and an acrobatic troupe which jumps out of the building and land in formation.As for the dog, he has his own theme music which fits his movements and he causes no end of trouble. He goes up to a window where a woman is screaming for help and, when she tells him to "put me on the street", he picks her up, holds her out and then drops her! He also plays a trick on Porky involving a fire hydrant and a seltzer bottle.There's a really nice montage of repeated action toward the end which showcases a lot of the funniest gags. The ending is very good, so I won't spoil it here. This short is available on Looney Tunes, Volume 4 and is well worth viewing. Recommended.
boblipton
In 1935, Disney's MICKEY'S FIRE BRIGADE was a great cartoon. Three years later, under the direction of Frank Tashlin, PORKY THE FIREMAN took the same subject and did it forty times as well. Clocking in at 40 gags per minute, a sensible plot and excellent animation, this movie marked the end of Disney's domination of animation. Three years later, the Clampett satire of FANTASIA, A CORNY CONCERTO, would seal the issue.
AD
