Studio: United Productions of America (UPA)
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Produced by: Stephen Bosustow (executive), John Hubley
Short Synopsis
The film retells the old murder ballad "Frankie and Johnny" as a courtroom musical. Frankie is on trial for shooting her lover Johnny, the piano player. The prosecutor sings his case: she shot him "rooty toot toot, right in the snoot". The star witness, the nightclub singer Nellie Bly, testifies that she saw it happen ("She's no singer!" Frankie shouts). Things look bad until Frankie's lawyer, Honest John the Crook, takes the floor and spins a wild tale in which innocent Frankie, a jealous, spurned Johnny and an incredible ricochet explain everything. He declares that if Frankie were free, he would make her his wife. The jury returns: not guilty. Frankie is overjoyed, until she sees Honest John walking out of the courtroom arm in arm with Nellie Bly. She grabs Exhibit A, the gun, and shoots him, rooty toot toot, right in the snoot, in front of the whole court. The prosecutor celebrates as the police lead Frankie away.
Why It Matters
- Everything is stylised: the characters are flat, angular shapes, the courtroom is a few bold planes of colour, and the dialogue is sung in a jazzy, rhythmic score. Hubley stages the murder ballad as a piece of modern design, with each witness's version of events changing the look of the scene, and it is a showcase of how UPA rejected Disney-style realism.
- It is one of the key works of the UPA studio, whose graphic, limited-animation style transformed American and international animation in the 1950s. It was nominated for the Academy Award, and animation professionals voted it number 41 in The 50 Greatest Cartoons in 1994.
Notes and Trivia
- Annette Warren sings both Frankie and Nellie Bly; Thurl Ravenscroft voices Johnny and Honest John.
- Grim Natwick, who had designed Betty Boop twenty years earlier, was one of its animators.
- See also: The Tell-Tale Heart (1953), The Dover Boys (1942).