Studio: Famous Studios
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Short Synopsis
Filmographies record little more than the credits for this first Noveltoon, so this account comes from watching it. A hungry wolf, Wolfie, in a red shirt and battered cap, is after a meal of lamb, and his target is Blackie, a small black lamb with a knowing grin. Blackie is ready for him: he trots across the countryside with a book under his arm titled How to Outsmart a Wolf, and consults it whenever the wolf makes his move. Wolfie tries one scheme after another, stalking, ambushing and even settling down to a game of dice, and Blackie turns each trap around on him. The chase sweeps over fields and out over the sea, the two flying through the air, and at one point the wolf ends up in the water in a dark, splashing night scene. Blackie always comes out on top. The details of the final gag are not described in any source this book could check, but as the title suggests, the wolf goes away with nothing.
Why It Matters
- Blackie's how-to book is a neat comic device: the prey is the one with the plan, and the wolf's desperation grows each time the lamb checks a page and stays a step ahead. The bright, airy colour of the countryside shows Famous Studios using Technicolor for its new series.
- It is the first Noveltoon, the series Paramount's Famous Studios used for most of its new characters, which later introduced Casper the Friendly Ghost, Herman and Katnip and Baby Huey. It is also the debut of Blackie the Lamb and his wolf rival, and the first cartoon directed by Dan Gordon, and the only Noveltoon recorded with Western Electric sound in Miami, before the studio's move to New York.
Notes and Trivia
- A rare 16 mm Kodachrome print has been shown by the restorer Steve Stanchfield.
- See also: The Friendly Ghost (1945), The Henpecked Rooster (1944).