The Gay Anties (1947)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Friz Freleng

Writers:

Michael Maltese (writer)
Tedd Pierce (story)

Release Date:

15 February 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Animation | Short | Comedy

Plot:

The 1890s; a picnic in the park. A man is pitching woo to his girl, while behind them a steady stream...

Plot Keywords:

Ant | Picnic | 1890s | Surrealism | Billiards

Runtime:

7 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Movie Connections:

Spoofs The Gay Nineties (1933)

Soundtrack:

While Strolling Through the Park One Day

Superb Friz Freleng Musical!

One of Freleng's superlative musical cartoons, it's also his most unheralded. Why?? It seems, in fact, that many viewers don't realize this is a musical--the kind of picture Freleng did best. The ants may be devilish, but there's a real work ethic behind their activities. DAZZLINGLY INVENTIVE gags, dreamed up by Friz himself (despite the official credits, Mike Maltese & Tedd Pierce didn't write this cartoon at all--according to Leonard Maltin's "Of Mice & Magic," Freleng's musical cartoons were planned entirely by the director himself). Gorgeous animation from Gerry Chiniquy (the sandwich construction sequences; the lady ants' parasol dance; the Russian dance; and the ants' triumphant gallop back into their hole), and also by Virgil Ross (the climactic "Time Waits For No One" number).