8mm Forum: Puny Express

This is topic Puny Express in forum 8mm Print Reviews at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on April 20, 2019, 03:46 AM:

Puny Express. 1951. Walter Lantz Woody Woodpecker cartoon. Colour. Universal 8 #2573.

An excellent print on 1978 SP stock. The colour is up to LPP standards. It's a delightful cartoon from Woody's early period. The gags are fast and furious and very similar in their action to Chuck Jones' Coyote and Road Runner cartoons.

Woody, with his ancient horse, applies for a vacancy as a mail delivery man and is not deterred when told that a mail thief, Buzz Buzzard, is wanted for killing 125 mailmen. Buzz tries every trick in the book but Woody is always one step ahead.

I can thoroughly recommend this cartoon.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on April 23, 2019, 11:46 AM:

This was an interesting Woody film. It was right after Lantz re-opened his studio, (Lantz was in a money dispute with Universal and Lantz actually closed his studio for well over a year. When he re-opened his studio, it was on a tighter budget than ever), and he used existing storyboards and such from cartoons that hadn't been released as of yet before he closed his studio.

Being that budgets were so tight, this is why you hear literally no vocal work done, just to save on the budget and the animation quality wasn't quite up to what was done before this time.

However, Lantz has Woody re-designed to a more cute Woody, and it worked quite well. Two other cartoons from this 50's period that are also quite good (and also available on super 8 Universal) are ...

Termites From Mars
Convict Concerto

It is only my personal opinion, but I think that the Woody series (and all Lantz cartoons), succumbed to the "TV" look by the 60's and just continued looking "tired" until the studio closed. By the way, Lantz's studio was the last cartoon studio from the 30's that closed it's doors, in 1972.

Posted by Leon Norris (Member # 3151) on April 24, 2019, 07:25 AM:

I have a copy of this good toon! The print is sharp with nice color! Not a bad woody cartoon!

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on May 01, 2019, 02:08 AM:

It is also my opinion.The fall in quality came after the mid-fifties when Paul Smith took over,with help from Jack Hannah and Sid Marcus.While there are exceptions,they are generally "tired" in gags and conception with tv style appearance and childish appeal.

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