Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "The Bashful Buzzard" is a Warner bros cartoon from September 1945, so this one had its 70th anniversary last year and it is from the exact time when World War II ended. The director is prolific filmmaker Robert Clampett and the (voice) cast includes successful (voice) actors Sara Berner and Mel Blanc. It is one of Warner Bros' Merrie Melodies films and frequently they feature characters that don#t show up in other films too often and this is true here. There is a connection to "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid" from three years earlier, but that's it. Mama Buzzard sends out her kids to get some food on the table, but one of them is just too peaceful and his attempts to catch a baby sheep or even a tiny bumble bee don't turn out very successfully, while his brothers raid an entire zoo. But then, there is the challenge of his lifetime in what initially seems a small turtle. Okay little film that scores more through the story than through comedy and the Italian bird mom is also a nice addition. Voice acting is strong as always, I give this one a cautious thumbs-up. Worth seeing.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . (during the 1900s) scientists believed that the average dinosaur had two heads--one at each end--not unlike Today's earthworms. (Of course, it's not hard to see why Nature made worms with dual heads; can you imagine how much trouble it would be for a one-headed earthworm to backtrack in his tunnel, since this tube would be the exact circumference of the worm who excavated it?) THE BASHFUL BUZZARD is labeled as being red-faced because he blushes when the innocent lambs he picks up turn out to be indecent 14-year-old human girls under their wool whom the Feds are using as "bait" in an Internet sting (this is the Looney Tuners obligatory Prediction for the 21st Century for this particular Warner Bros. animated short). Unwilling to go BACK TO THE FUTURE, the blushing buzzard instead goes WAAAY BACK to JURASSIC PARK, where he meets the two-headed Brontorex. Scientists Today believe that Global Warming is caused by Volkwagon's rigging their emission systems, but THE BASHFUL BUZZARD suggests that 22nd Century Eggheads may attribute it to bovine gases.

Lee Eisenberg As "The Bashful Buzzard" started, I thought that it was going to be a shot-for-shot remake of "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid" for about the first minute. But when it started doing its own thing, I found it an OK cartoon, not great. Why is Beaky Buzzard - or Killer, if you want to call him that - such a lazy ignoramus? Who knows? They have to entertain us somehow.I certainly liked the sight of Beaky bringing some of those things home. If I'd been that Italian mother of his, I'd have told the father (who probably would have been a godfather) that the son isn't fit for missions.All in all, worth seeing. Available on YouTube.

bob the moo An Italian buzzard sends her four boys out to bring home the bacon (or rather, lamb). While her first three boys are tough as nails, her youngest is painfully shy and fairly inept when it comes to catching food. However, this might be the time that he manages to turn it around (with a little help).The films starts with a seemingly pointless mother buzzard with a thick mama-mia style accent for no real reason and continues through the film with the same lack of cohesion but still a certain amount of humour to it. The film centres on a slightly dopey, bashful little eagle that is trying to match his brothers for hunting ability. The film creates several imaginative moments but really doesn't make much sense. It is quite funny but never hilariously so.The mama-mia mother is the height of characterisation; both her and the bashful buzzard of the title are based on gimmicks rather than real personalities or characters, but that isn't really the point here.The film gets sillier as it goes without really getting much funnier. It is amusing and has some imagination but some of the gimmicks are a little daffy and are perhaps a little too goofy to be hilarious.