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.
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