"The Pied Piper of Guadelupe" (1961, Looney Tunes)
Director: Friz Freleng (co-director: Hawley Pratt)
Story: John Dunn
Animation: Gerry Chiniquy, Virgil Ross, Bob Matz
Voices:: Mel Blanc
backgrounds: Tom O'Loughlin
Musical Direction: Milt Franklyn
"The Pied
Piper of Guadelupe" was an Academy Award nominee in 1961, which only
proves that audiences love Speedy. Many fans argue that the Speedy
cartoons are really not the best Warner cartoons, and while to some point
this is true, this and a few others between a period of 1957-1962, are
actually BETTER than most, especially for the time. the Bugs Bunny
cartoons were winding down, and director Robert McKimson was entering a
bit of a slump. Chuck Jones' Road Runner films remained excellent,
garnering a nomination for "Beep Prepared" during this period. Friz
Freleng, however, kept going with Sylvester, developing him further as a
character and using him as a foil for Speedy Gonzales and Tweety alike.
"The Pied Piper of Guadelupe" hearkens back to a Warner cartoon tradition
that many directors had begun to drop by the late 1950's, the fairy
tale parody. Sylvester, frustrated by a bunch of mice who do not fear but
instead make fun of him, decides to look for ideas at a street corner book
vendor, and finds a book on the Pied Piper. This gives him a plan, and he
takes up flute lessons. He then dresses in a medieval Pied Piper outfit,
with flute and music stand, and takes to the streets in front of the mouse
hole (apparently a whole community of rodents lives in one hole.) Using
the hypnotic tune of the "Mexican Hat Dance", which no mouse of Mexican
heritage can resist dancing to, he summons them one by one into an old
ceramic bottle with a cork. Speedy Gonzales, however, resists, and
threatens to rescue the mice one by one with his speed if Sylvester
doesn't let them go. Sylvester laughs, and tries to hypnotize Speedy
again, but to no avail. Speedy rescues his amigos in only a few trips.
Sylvester tries chasing Speedy on a motorcycle, (a trick we would be
seeing again in future cartoons like "Cats and Bruises".)This just sends
him off a cliff into a river when his brakes don't work. Hobbling out of a
vet's office with a bandaged leg and crutches, Sylvester meets up again
with Speedy, who offers Sylvester his flute back. Sylvester lets him keep
it, but when Speedy plays, Sylvester's broken leg begins to dance,
dragging the cat, in pain, down the street with the flute-playing mouse in
the lead! An entertaining, funny film all the way around. It's greatly
enhanced by Freleng's background artist through most of the late 50's and
the 60's, Tom O'Loughlin. He really seems to capture the feel of a Mexican
town here, without over-stylizing, (In my opinion, at times a hindrance to
some of Friz's earlier work.) This cartoon is available on video, albeit
out of print, on "Speedy Gonzales' Fast Funnies". There should be a copy
or two available on www.ebay.com.
