WHO KILLED WHO? (1943)

 TEX AVERY STRIKES AGAIN! 

Our next Halloweeny cartoon is an MGM Tex Avery number which you might be excused for thinking is a murder mystery.  Well, it is.  But that's only one aspect of it.  It's really a haunted house cartoon with a fiendish Phantom character. 

The film opens with a live action talking head informing us that what we will see is "a murder mystery condensed from authentic criminal records".  I'll bet!  When the animation starts, we approach a gloomy, scary, thunderstorm-tossed haunted house called 'Gruesome Gables'. 

As we pan into the house, we see a panorama of haunted house accoutrements and a sign reading

"Spooky, Isn't It?".  Next we encounter 'The Victim'; we know this because a blinking 'The Victim' sign flashed on the back of his armchair. 

The Victim is reading a book which really scares him:  "Who Killed Who? (from the cartoon of the same name)".  A message on a dagger flies across the room and buries itself into the wall. 

It reads:  "You will die at 11:30!!".  When the victim complains that he can't die at 11:30, another dagger flies into the wall with a note reading: "P.S. OK.  We'll Make It 12:00".  As you can tell, things go on with the patented semi-unhinged Tex Avery insanity and this cartoon is jam-packed with gags.  There's also the very "Chandu the Magician" organ music playing throughout which gives the cartoon a nice, spooky yet funny atmosphere which also mimics the organ music featured during old time radio horror shows such as INNER SANCTUM.  This is really a top example of the best of the Tex Avery-style cartoon that's perfect for a Halloween watch.