The Turn-Tale Wolf (1952)
The Big Bad Wolf's proper little nephew has learned at school that his uncle was the fiend who blew the Three Little Pigs' houses down and is ashamed that his uncle could have committed such a deed, so his uncle tells him what REALLY happened.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Reviews
Fantastic!
Expected more
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
"The Turn-Tale Wolf" is a Warner Bros cartoon from almost 65 years ago that was made by McKimson and Pierce like so many others and the voice actor is Mel Blanc again. It runs for seven minutes as they usually do and it is a reference to the famous movie with the wolf blowing away the houses of (2 of) the three pigs. But here, the wolf explains the story to his embarrassed nephew that actually he was the victim and the pigs are the bay guys constantly bullying him and wanting to cut off his tail. I thought this was an okay watch if you know about the original story. No real greatness and also only funny on 2 or 3 occasions, but for such a short work, it is perfectly fine. I kinda enjoyed the watch and give this one a thumbs-up. Also interesting to see how the animation style differed from earlier Warner Bros. works. Go check it out if you love cartoons.
. . . with its animated short, THE TURN-TALE WOLF. As the title suggests, bullies are sneaky, and you seldom can accurately take a situation at face value. (Americans saw this during the 2016 Election Campaign, when some thoughtless folks accused Billionaire Donald Trump of brow-beating Brain Surgeon Dr. Ben Carson. But NOW everyone knows "the Rest of the Story:" Carson has a long history of attacking people with knives and bricks, while Trump has teeny tiny hands, leaving him in no position to defend himself.) In this clairvoyant treatment of the Carson\Trump debacle, Warner documents how the Three Not-So-Little Pigs are the actual aggressors in respect to the Thin Misunderstood Wolf. Pretending to befriend Wolfie by including him in their sadistic piggy games, the trio of stinky porkers systematically abuse their out-numbered pawn at every turn. "Pig" is a term of extreme derision throughout the Civilized World, and Warner does a great job of showing how it got to be that way. Sometimes the Media refers to "Lone Wolf" mass shooters or terrorists, but you can bet that behind every so-called Lone Wolf there's a pack of pig bullies!
Directed by Robert McKimson, "The Turn-Tale Wolf" is a nicely-executed parody of the all-too-famous Three Little Pigs story. In this version, the Big Bad Wolf's nephew angrily demands an explanation of his Uncle's foul behavior, and the "innocent" Wolf, full of "sweetness and light", concocts a story about how the PIGS were the real mugs.My favorite moments in this wonderful cartoon include the swat-the-fly game; the slingshot gag and the hilarious aftermath of it; and the leery manner in which the Pigs stare at the Wolf's tail.I would say that the best things about "The Turn-Tale Wolf" are the versatile vocal capabilities of Mel Blanc and the brilliant music score of Carl Stalling. To name just a few examples of how the music fits quite nicely with the action: a violin mockingly plays a familiar sad song as the Big Bad Wolf relates his story to his indignant nephew; a majestic regal theme plays when the Three Little Pigs declare the Wolf king for a day; Mendelssohn's all-too-familiar "Spring Song" is heard when the Wolf, donning a child's sailor outfit, offers his greetings to nature; and "Ain't We Got Fun" accompanies the Pigs describing various games to the Wolf.
OK, so there's a seemingly infinite number of ways to rework children's stories in cartoons. The Termite Terrace crowd did this with "Little Red Riding Rabbit", "Three Little Bops" and "Robin Hood Daffy", to name a few. "The Turn-Tale Wolf" puts a spin on the "Three Little Pigs" routine. In this case, the Big Bad Wolf tells his nephew - who has just learned in school of what his uncle apparently did to the pigs - of how the Three Little Pigs were in fact a group of bullies tormenting him. Maybe this is why protesters in the '60s started calling the police "pigs"! So, maybe this is one of the least-known Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons, but I say that it's worth seeing. Robert McKimson certainly directed his fair share of interesting cartoons.PS: there was a book called something like "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs", in which the wolf explains how he had a cold and was asking the pigs for some sugar but accidentally sneezed and blew their houses down. So, the sensationalism-obsessed media framed him for murder.