The Wreck of the Hesperus (1944) User Reviews

Out of Terrytoons, by Longfellow (with a happier ending)

[llltdesq · 6/10 · 27 October 2006]

This short is mostly memorable for the narration, which is primarily taken from the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem it's entitled after. It takes the poem, adapts it in spots to incorporate plot changes and to allow for Mighty Mouse to be included in the ending. I want to discuss some details here, so here there be spoilers:

The short opens with a sea voyage, a ship's captain taking his daughter to sea and getting caught in a raging storm. The use of Longfellow's poem as the narration is an interesting conceit, thought the best part is where the animation has little to do with the narrative, such as an octopus setting up a dinner "table" for eight, including several sharks. At one point, you see mice leaving the ship, using doughnuts as flotation devices.

Mighty Mouse comes in at the end in a rather different manner-some of the mice wash ashore at a lighthouse and Mighty Mouse is the lighthouse keeper and spots the ship. He saves the ship, captain and crew of one and his daughter.

There are some nice visual bits and this is a fairly good short, at least so far as the series is concerned. Worth watching, if you can track it down.

Far from a wreck

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 13 June 2019]

When it came to the Terrytoons cartoons, never had a problem with the music, the animation improved significantly with each year, when the studio first started and in the 30s it was a weak point but now it's one of the good points. The story never was a strong suit and the characters and content varied wildly, something that was the case way back from when the studio started until their last cartoon.

1944 unsurprisingly was hit and miss in quality. Never great but wouldn't call either dire at the same time, a vast majority of them ranging between mediocre and decent. The general overall standard of the studio. 'The Wreck of the Hesperus' is the eighth cartoon to feature Terrytoons' most prolific character Mighty Mouse, but actually the first cartoon where he was known by that name. The previous seven cartoons, all but two made in 1943, saw him known as Super Mouse. Mostly though 'The Wreck of the Hesperus' is not really a Mighty Mouse cartoon as such.

Instead, Mighty Mouse feels more of a featuring character in the latter part of the cartoon in a loose reworking of the Longfellow poem. Although his role is nice if very formulaic (though this is one of his least repetitive cartoons narratively), he doesn't have much to do.

Some of the visual touches, while interesting and at points clever (like with the mice), don't add an awful lot and are pretty irrelevant to the narration, especially agreed the octopus. Pacing could have tightened a bit at times.

However, the animation is very nicely done. Hardly surprising as the animation quality had come on enormously by this point with Terrytoons, as said this is the component that improved the most over the years. It is nicely detailed, lively and colourful without being garish. Again, the music, the thing that was the most, and actually only, consistently good thing from the very beginning with Terrytoons, is a big strength. It is beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is terrific fun to listen to and the lively energy is present throughout, doing so well with adding to the action.

While never what one calls hilarious, there are amusing and clever touches. As well as enough energy and an unforced charm throughout. The Longfellow characters are engaging as is the narration, again agreed the most interesting aspect and is a perfect fit.

Concluding, pretty good and among the better Mighty Mouse cartoons. 7/10