Studio: MGM Cartoons
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Produced by: Fred Quimby
Short Synopsis
The Three Little Pigs are retold as a war story. Adolf Wolf, a caricature of Hitler, is preparing to invade the pigs' nation of Pigmania. The pig who builds his house of stone, Sergeant Pork, turns it into a fortress bristling with guns. His two brothers, in their houses of straw and sticks, don't bother: they have signed a non-aggression pact with the wolf. Adolf Wolf invades anyway, ignoring their protests about the treaty. He blows down the straw house with "Der Mechanized Huffer und Puffer" and destroys the stick house with an artillery shell, and the two pigs run to Sergeant Pork's fortress. A full-scale battle follows, with tanks, artillery and air raids, and the gags arrive at Avery's usual breakneck pace. Finally the pigs fire a multi-barrelled "secret weapon" loaded with Defense Bonds, which knocks Adolf Wolf out of his bomber. He falls to earth, followed by a bomb from his own plane, which blows him straight to Hell. There he asks, "Where am I? Have I been blown to...?", and a group of devils answer: "It's a possibility!"
Why It Matters
- The film turns a nursery story into a lightning-fast anti-Nazi satire, with signs, puns and topical jokes crammed into every corner. The non-aggression pact gag sharply mocks pre-war appeasement, and the ending sends Hitler to Hell with a radio catchphrase.
- It was Tex Avery's first cartoon at MGM, after leaving Warner Bros., and it announced the speed and violence of his MGM style. It was nominated for the Academy Award, losing to Disney's anti-Nazi Der Fuehrer's Face.
Notes and Trivia
- Sergeant Pork's name refers to the First World War hero Alvin York and the 1941 film about him, Sergeant York.
- The devils' line parodies Artie Auerbach's catchphrase from Al Pearce's radio show.
- See also: Three Little Pigs (1933), Education for Death (1943).