What Price Porky (1938) User Reviews

Generalissimo Quacko is still dead

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 16 February 2008]

During Porky Pig's first few years as a cartoon star, Warner Bros. mostly cast him in B&W cartoons* showing the various aspects of life. A slightly more complex turn for the stuttering swine was Bob Clampett's "What Price Porky". This one has Porky as a farmer trying to feed his chickens, but the ducks - who look and talk like Daffy Duck - steal the food. When I say that this leads to full-scale war, I don't mean that figuratively: I mean war involving tanks, bombers, trenches, the works.

It's worth noting that this came out in between WWI and WWII. At this time, the Spanish Civil War was raging. Japan had colonized Korea and much of China (the Japanese were real SOBs to the Koreans and Chinese, and still refuse to own up to their actions), while Mussolini's fascist Italy had colonized Ethiopia (and Italy committed some real atrocities there). And of course Nazi Germany was doing its stuff. In a way, this cartoon looks like a premonition of WWII.

But it was probably never intended as such. I just like to read really far into things. Bob Clampett no doubt intended the cartoon as pure entertainment, and it certainly entertained me. Moreover, it's a good thing that I saw "WPP" now, when I'm old enough to understand what it portrays. Had I watched it was I was a little kid, I would have naively laughed at it without comprehending the jokes. Definitely worth seeing.

*Until the early 1940s, the Looney Tunes - filmed in black and white - featured the stars, while the Merrie Melodies - filmed in color from 1934 onward - featured miscellaneous characters. After the Looney Tunes went color, the series became indistinguishable except for the opening songs: the Looney Tunes used "Merry-Go-Round Broke Down", while the Merrie Melodies used "Merrily We Roll Along".

Perhaps not one of Porky or Clampett's best, but a very funny cartoon still

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 9 September 2012]

I am a fan of Looney Tunes and have been from an early age. Porky Pig I do like, though he is not one of my favourites. What Price Porky is very good, though perhaps not outstanding. I thought the backgrounds were crisp and flowed nicely, but the character designs, with both Porky and Daffy having been designed better since, are somewhat primitive. However, the music is rousing and wonderfully patriotic, and the dialogue and gags as you'd expect from Bob Clampett are hilarious in an often riotous sense. The story while perhaps not the most surprising of all stories is amusing and well paced, while the characters especially the ducks are enormous fun with Porky, playing to his strengths, on great form. Mel Blanc and Clampett himself provide the voices flawlessly. In conclusion, very funny and well worth watching, though I do think as overall cartoons that Porky have done better. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Goose-stepping Nazi cartoon ducks . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 14 April 2015]

. . . commanded by "Gen. Quacko Ductator" reflect America's admiration for Fascist leaders such as Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini in the mid-1930s. TIME MAGAZINE had honored Hitler as its "Man of the Year," and most of Hollywood was in lock-step with the rest of the American One Per Cent such as Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh in befriending the Fascists as much as possible. Already most notable for their virulent anti-Semitism, is it any wonder that the Nazi leaders felt that they had the "greenlight" from Hollywood and the Europeon Elite to liquidate the world's Jews, then numbering 16 million souls? Under the thumb of the Non-Kosher farmer Porky Pig, the chickens in WHAT PRICE PORKY? clearly represent the Jews. The title of this animated short asks, "How many pieces of silver will it take to unite all nations in the pursuit of Jewish extermination?" Since the Nazi ducks defeat the Pig-led chickens at every turn here, the implication is that Jewish Defeat is inevitable. "Why prolong the agony?" challenges WHAT PRICE PORKY?

Love The Old Signs And Letters

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 16 November 2007]

If you watch enough of the classic-era cartoons, especially the ones from the 1930s to the mid-'40s, you'll read a lot of incredibly-corny signs, letters and other things filled with plays-on-word and puns of all type. This cartoon offers a great example.

Porky is trying to get the ducks from eating his hens' feed. He pleads with them and then mildly threatens them. Their response is this letter:

"Fowl Ones - Let's talk TURKEY. You're too COCKY. We think you EGGS are CHICKEN. Why don't you quit CACKLING and fight - you dumb CLUCKS! Signed - Gen. QUACKO, DUCKtator."

You get the idea.

The hens see the note and are now inspired to fight back. The mobilize an army, and the war is on between the hens and the ducks, complete aerial bombers, naval artillery and ships, you name it; even a "no man's land" in the middle renamed "No Hen's Land" with WWI-style trench warfare on each side.

Actually, a number of the sight gags are very inventive. The Ducks, by far, are the funnier of the two sides. Daffy joins the fray, armed to the teeth and asks, "Which way to the front?" After he's told, he speeds off in the opposite direction!

This cartoon is part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Five and is the last one in the set, making the package end with a real winner!

Bang bang bang

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 21 October 2017]

"What Price Porky" is an American 7-minute cartoon from 1938, so this one will already have its 80th anniversary next year. With Porky being in the center of it all as the title suggests, this is of course a Schlesinger production. If you knew that Porky's glory days in the center of the action were in black and white, then you are really good. Maybe this is also a main reason why he did not turn into a star like Bags and Daffy. That said, you will see an early Daffy version in here. The voice acting star is obviously once more Mel Blanc, but (prolific) director Bob Clampett got a small part too. So yes story-wise from this film you can really see that tumultuous times were ahead and that the political climate on the planet was about to explode and with all the gunfire and military references here, you won't be surprised that this is from one year before the beginning of World War II. But sadly this political context is also the only area where I would say from that perspective it is interesting to check out today so many decades later. It's not particularly funny or witty and like I said the lack of color is not helping either. But even with color, it would have been nowhere near the most defining war cartoons either. Then again, if we are very precise it is not even a war cartoon yet. It's wild, loud and all over the place, but it is never convincing or entertaining. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

This is NOT the usual wholesome Daffy Duck cartoon!!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 11 December 2021]

The title to this Looney Tunes short is a takeoff on the silent war comedy, "What Price Glory?". And, as you might expect "What Price Porky" is a comedic look at war.

When the story begins, a flock of ducks arrive at Porky's farm and begin eating up all the corn he's saved up for his chickens. Soon, the chickens and ducks are mobilizing for war and this means exploding eggs, dive bombing ducks and more....with Porky stuck in the middle.

I really enjoyed this cartoon. It's very funny and the war seemed a bit like "Duck Soup"...silly and utterly ridiculous. However, the cartoon is quite adult compared to most Looney Tunes cartoons...with birds getting killed right and left AND the leader of the ducks looking and acting a bit Hitler-like....which might have gotten laughs back in 1938 but which certainly didn't age well once WWII began!! Be forewarned.

Trench warfare with hens vs. ducks...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 13 February 2008]

WHAT PRICE PORKY is a '38 cartoon in B&W (so little faith did studios have in Technicolor cartoon shorts apparently), and it's full of slapstick sight gags involving a war between hens and ducks that resembles WWII (or even WWI) with trench warfare and multiple explosions between the warring parties.

The fight is all over food supplies and the armies are drafted for the big fight even just after they emerge from their shells, which is the most inspired touch in the whole cartoon. Not much of a plot but an amusing curiosity in the way signs are posted ("No Hens Land") in a comic strip sort of way.

Actually it looks rather primitive and it's hard to see the attraction in a Looney Tune cartoon made in B&W for wartime audiences, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. Kids should enjoy it and adults will have fun reading the double meaning signs.

It's war!

[slymusic · 8 May 2009]

Directed by Bob Clampett, with a patriotic music score by Carl Stalling, "What Price Porky" is an exciting war-themed Porky Pig cartoon. Porky owns a farm, which becomes a battlefield between his hens and a gang of corn-stealing ducks. Clampett being Clampett, you can be sure that this cartoon is full of gags from beginning to end.

My personal favorite moments from "What Price Porky" include the following. At the start of this cartoon, Porky calls all his hens by name as he feeds them their corn, and shortly afterward he politely persuades the ducks to refrain from stealing the cobs. Some duck paratroopers play a snippet of the familiar Warner Bros. "Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" theme on their enemy's helmets. With embarrassed smiles on their faces, another group of ducks becomes a dancing chorus line. Daffy (assuming it IS Daffy) disguises as the Easter Bunny and offers Porky some eggs, which he delightfully accepts; little ducklings emerge from the eggs and abuse Porky's face, after which Daffy (as we've come to expect) jumps around and shouts "Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo!" A crawling hen reveals an army of baby chicks who shoot down a squeaking duck.

"What Price Porky" may not be the funniest Porky Pig cartoon ever made, but it still hits its mark. A war within a Warner Bros. cartoon is absolutely harmless; just good, goofy fun.