Quite charming Christmas cartoon, one of Sniffles' best.
Despite the fact that Chuck Jones is best known now for fast paced slapstick comedy (such as his coyote and roadrunner cartoons), he started his directorial career out doing some of the cutest and slow paced Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodie cartoons. He started directing in 1938 with a film called The Night Watchman (earlier he had worked as an animator for both Tex Avery's and Bob Clampett's units). At this time the Warner Brothers cartoon studio was fully know for fast paced crazy comedy. Because of this Chuck's films really didn't quite fit what the rest studio was doing.
The most pure examples of the early Jones style were his Sniffles cartoons. These were extremely cute and also much slower than what Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, and Frank Tashlin were doing at the time. Sniffles cartoons were rarely the best films coming out of the studio but they had their charms. One of their greatest charms was the incredible use of character animation and background art. Even the weakest of these shorts has to be admired on a technical level. In my mind Bedtime for Sniffles is a short that truly stands out from the pack and it has become a Christmas much watch for me each year.
The story of this film is very simple. Sniffles tries hard to stay up to see Santa Claus on Christmas Eve night, and doesn't find the task very easy. This story is what makes this one of the best Sniffles cartoons. It is simple, but very relatable and speaks to the child in each of us. This simple story gets rid of one of the series major faults, the story amounting to almost nothing. Here even though it has the same slow pace, and minor story, the film offers a slice of life type of storytelling that could have made the rest of these cartoons much more charming. While I really like this cartoon, I would call it much more charming than funny. However one exhibitor disagreed with me on this, based off of the following exhibitors' review from the Motion Picture Herald. "BEDTIME FOR SNIFFLES: Merrie Melodies—Very funny. Good animation. Excellent color. The best. Running time, nine minutes.—Fred C. Allen, Princess Theatre, Piedmont, Ala. Small town patronage." The following is another exhibitor's review from the Motion Picture Herald. "BEDTIME FOR SNIFFLES: Merrie Melodies—I dated some cartoons pot luck and here this nice Christmas cartoon turns up in my last show before that holiday. It is very, very, very cute and was applauded here. It is not so seasonal that it can not be used anytime. Running time, eight minutes. - W. Varick Nevins, III, Alfred Co-op Theatre, Alfred, N.Y., Small town and rural patronage." Not all the exhibitors' reviews were so positive. The following is one of those (also from Motion Picture Herald). " BEDTIME FOR SNIFFLES: Merrie Melodies—One of the poorest in this series of cartoons. Very appropriate for Christmas season, however. Running time eight minutes. - Ritz Amusements Inc., Park Theatre, North Vernon, Ind., small town Patronage."
-Michael J. Ruhland
Resources Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Brothers Cartoons by Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald.
Comments