The Bookworm

Voices of: Mel Blanc, Frank Elmquist, Martha Wentworth
Directed by: Friz Freleng (uncredited), Hugh Harman (uncredited)
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Short
Length: 8 minutes
1939

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Three witches need a worm to complete their potion, so they send a raven to get one.

Review:

Tim: This is a really crazy animated short. The basic premise is simple- a raven is trying to get a bookworm for three witches (it occurs to me as I write that how insane it sounds). While that part is simple, there's a lot of other things going on in this short that don't always make a ton of sense. The chase scenes of the raven hunting the bookworm offer an opportunity to take a walk through a bunch of literature, whose characters somehow factor into the story. It's this crazy hodgepodge of ideas. It's like they threw a little bit of everything into this short. It's funny to watch this now, because kid's shows seem much more straightforward and focused. This one was crazy and over-the-top with how much stuff is crammed into it.

The raven was pretty funny. That's one of the strengths of this short. it's hard to set up characters that you understand and can appreciate in only a few minutes. The bookworm is obviously the protagonist of this film, but the raven was the funniest character. I just appreciated how the writers and animators worked to make these characters stand out.

It's always funny to see what was deemed age appropriate decades ago. This film is certainly harmless, but it's not the warm, fuzzy, feel good animation we usually see today. There's definitely a dark edge to the story and characters that is a little surprising when you watch it as an adult.

The Bookworm is an interesting short. I can't say that I loved it, but it was entertaining.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Little Buck Cheeser, Porky and Gabby