Edgar Allan Pooh . . . America's wild birds (not to mention several endangered small mammal populations), but the hapless feline protagonist of PORKY'S POOR FISH gets cut down to size by fish and rodent alike. Whether it's the "little shrimp with big mussels," the flying fish, or the electric sign eels, the denizens of the not-so-deep more than hold their own against their Fritz-like foe. (During WWII, cartoons often used cats as stand-ins for Nazis, while canines were drawn to bring to mind the Allied Cause, epitomized by the English bulldog.) The nameless cat featured here looks so fearsome with claws out in full-on attack mode that little kids may well have gone home to nightmares. However, it's the twice-stalked Incredible Hulking Mouse who elicits the last laugh here, as Mr. Cat shrinks inversely to the growth of this rodent-on-steroids (an obvious precursor to MIGHTY MOUSE of the 1950s). Reduced to a whimpering puddle, the animated cat comes to the end much of the American public wished for Hitler at this time.

Lee Eisenberg If you've seen most of Porky Pig's early cartoons, you've probably observed that they mostly put him in a series of black and white Looney Tunes* portraying various walks of life: bullfighter, pilgrim, firefighter, etc. Most of these cartoons consisted of rather corny - but still really funny - spot gags and word jokes. Bob Clampett's "Porky's Poor Fish" is a prime example. The plot has a street cat sneaking into Porky's fish store with the aim of turning the piscine inhabitants into lunch, only to see them go all Rambo on him. But most of the cartoon has stuff like "Twenty Thousand Leaks Under the Ceiling" and "Tiny Shrimps with Giant Mussels".I probably speak for most Looney Tunes fans when I say that Clampett's best cartoons made heavy use of his penchant for contortionism. Examples include the iron lung in "The Daffy Doc", the garbage can in "A Corny Concerto", and any scene in "Porky in Wackyland" and "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery". I suspect that this one was a place holder. But still, it provided its fair share of laughs during its few minutes. Worth seeing.PS: the first time that Porky Pig had a run-in with fishes was in 1936's rare "Fish Tales", in which he goes fishing and dreams that the fishes try to cook him. In 1940, he also starred in "The Sour Puss", featuring a piscine who behaves like Daffy Duck.*At this time, the Looney Tunes were filmed in black and white and usually featured stars Porky and Daffy, while the Merrie Melodies were filmed in color and usually featured miscellaneous characters. After the Looney Tunes went color, the series became indistinguishable except for the opening songs.

Neil Doyle Some ingenious but corny gags involving flying fish that look like bomber planes and electric eels that light up to spell out warning messages play a huge part in the success of PORKY'S POOR FISH, but the pig himself is out to lunch.The shenanigans of a hungry cat with his eye on the fish store sets the pace for a fast-moving B&W cartoon with a number of sight gags (all pretty corny but fun to watch). The animation is good, although one misses seeing these sort of things in the vivid color used throughout most of the '40s and '50s cartoons.Not the funniest Porky the Pig, but it'll have to do--as seen on the Errol Flynn Signature Collection No.1.

slymusic In "Porky's Poor Fish," directed by Bob Clampett, our good friend Porky Pig owns a pet fish shop, where the inventory is a potential target for an alley cat who hopes for an easy lunch. But, as the cat learns over the course of this film, trying to capture just one tiny fish in Porky's shop is no easy task.My favorite moments from this black-and-white cartoon include the following. First and foremost, my hat is off to Carl Stalling for his orchestration of the wonderfully swinging jazz number heard during the opening credits and during the first scene of the mouse whistling & skipping (followed by the cat). Porky likewise has a nice song/recitation as he introduces the audience to his shop. The two "filet of sole" fish become a pair of tap shoes, a lone "mussel" develops muscular arms that look EXACTLY like Popeye's, and all the flying fish resemble bomber airplanes as they take to the air.Porky Pig himself is not prominently featured in "Porky's Poor Fish," but the fish in his shop are loaded with jokes, gags, and puns associated with their names. This film may not exactly be the most popular Warner Bros. cartoon ever directed by Bob Clampett, but it is still worth seeing for the amount of work that Bob and his animation unit exerted into it. Catch this cartoon on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4.