The Trial of Mr. Wolf (1941)

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The 'Little Red Riding Hood' story is one of the most parodied stories in animation, mostly by Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies. Almost all these stories while putting their own spin on it (such as with the humour and featuring iconic characters in the roles) stick to the basic story where the wolf is the villain and Red and Granny the good characters.What a surprise to see a cartoon that not only put its own irreverent and incredibly wild spin on the tale, but portrays it in a completely different light. Here Red is the complete anti-thesis of the innocent character that she is always portrayed as, she is very brutal here actually, and Granny has most of the funniest moments, is almost as interesting a character as the Wolf and every bit as brutal. Meanwhile, the wolf while still untrustworthy, you are apprehensive as to whether to believe him or not, is the character that 'The Trial of Mr Wolf' aims to make the viewer relate most to him and it succeeds more than very well at that.'The Trial of Mr Wolf' contains some spectacular animation. Throughout there are gorgeously vibrant colours, backgrounds that are rich in detail and the characters are smoothly drawn. Carl Stalling never disappoints and one of my favourite composers in cartoon history, 'The Trial of Mr Wolf' does nothing to change that perception. Anybody expecting luscious orchestration, characterful rhythms, clever use of instrumentation and sounds and the ability to elevate gags to a greater level rather than just adding to it will find all of those aplenty.Another great asset is how well the humour comes over, to describe it as funny doesn't sum it up enough. The dialogue is hilariously wild and one is shocked at how much the cartoon gets away with, and there is not one misfire in the many gags that come by thick and fast but timed impeccably. The Wolf's re-enactments in flashback structure are cleverly done, and the courtroom scenes equally so, while the Katharine Hepburn imitation is spot on and Granny has a priceless moment towards the end. All three main characters are interesting and funny, and it was refreshing seeing them portrayed so differently.Mel Blanc and Sara Berner do top-notch jobs with the voice work. The element in fact that comes off least, though it does still manage to be amusing, is the ending which does creep up a bit too suddenly and ends in a somewhat "that's it?" way.Otherwise, 'The Trial of Mr Wolf' was a brilliantly clever, refreshing and unlike-anything-you've-seen-before take on an age-old story. 9/10 Bethany Cox

. . . anthropologists and zoologists agree that there were between 12 and 14 wolves here per human being. Most Pre-Columbian Peoples treated Wolves as Demigods (not unlike how the people of India respect Sacred Cows). But by 1941, humans outnumbered wolves by a 42,378 to 1 ratio in the U.S. To help rectify this scandalous state of affairs, Warner Bros. released this animated short--THE TRIAL OF MR. WOLF--that year to set the story straight. Red Riding is portrayed here as a sleazy, mercenary siren chick, luring Mr. Wolf to his Doom on behalf of Big Ranching. These Land Hogs have been getting away with appointing themselves as their own private Hitlers over 1,000 acres of your land and mine for every one acre for which they've actually bought and paid. Beginning with wolves, these Rich People Party Red-Staters have decimated our formerly Great West, clear-cutting the indigenous Wildlife, while leaving the Land Unfit for anything but the Factory Farm Reign of Terror against inbred "Domesticated" critters gobbling up 10 calories of feed for every single calorie of human food that they "produce." With THE TRIAL OF MR. WOLF, Warner predicts a Day of Reckoning is coming that will clip the wings of these Free-Ranging Ranchers!

One of what seems an endless number of takes on the Little Red Riding Hood story from around this era, this one is cleverly presented in the form of a court trial with the Wolf as defendant. Part of the cartoon takes place in the courtroom, where the Wolf's untrustworthiness is obvious (early on he stands up and a hand grenade, knife and gun fall out of his coat). The other part consists of a film within a film based on the Wolf's recreation of the events, which has him lured to to Grandma's house - Grandma turns out to be a furrier and is after him for his coat. All of this works very well, but with quite a few Merrie Melodies I've seen from this period it rather falls in a heap with a sudden ending which seems hastily thought out and doesn't really tie in to the main theme of the cartoon satisfyingly. Still, good fun.

Everyone can think of a certain cartoon rendition of Little Red Riding Hood, and this is definitely that one for me. It's one of the firsts, and it's brilliant in the way that it does something none of the others have done, tell the story from a different point of view. No one's ever thought of how the Wolf feels about the whole situation, and this short gives a very humorous way of showing how he did (or how he tried to make people believe he did anyway). After all is said and done, this is one of Friz's best.