Box Car Blues
"A Looney Tune in Sound and Action!"
Plot
The film follows Bosko and his banjo-playing pig companion as they travel as tramps in the back of a freight train's boxcar. Their journey begins joyfully with singing and dancing until Bosko performs a mournful rendition of 'Cryin' for the Carolines,' causing the pig to burst into tears. The journey turns chaotic when the train attempts to climb an impossibly steep, anthropomorphic mountain, eventually causing the duo's boxcar to break loose and hurtle backward down the tracks. A surreal and high-speed chase ensues as the runaway car splits in half, passes through narrow tunnels, and encounters a cow on the tracks. After a series of physics-defying gags and a crash into a tree, the two friends emerge unscathed and continue their musical journey on a flatcar as if nothing happened.
Director
About the Production
This was the fifth cartoon in the original Looney Tunes series. Produced during the transition to sound, it utilized the Western Electric sound-on-disc system (Vitaphone). The animation was handled by Rollin Hamilton and Max Maxwell, who were key figures in the early Harman-Ising unit. The film is notable for its 'rubber hose' animation style, which was the industry standard at the time, allowing for the surreal physical distortions seen during the train sequence.
Historical Background
Released during the onset of the Great Depression, the film's depiction of Bosko and the pig as 'hobos' or tramps reflected a growing reality in 1930s America. The 'hobo' lifestyle was a common trope in early sound cartoons, often romanticized as a carefree existence of music and travel despite the economic hardships of the era. Additionally, the film was part of Warner Bros.' strategy to compete with Disney's 'Silly Symphonies' by using their extensive library of popular music to drive cartoon plots.
Why This Film Matters
As the fifth Looney Tunes short, 'Box Car Blues' helped solidify Bosko as the first major star of the Warner Bros. animation department. While the character is now viewed through a lens of historical racial stereotyping, at the time, he was a pioneer of synchronized sound performance in animation. The film also represents the 'pre-Code' era of animation, featuring slightly more suggestive or 'weird' humor (like the mountain's underwear) that would later be toned down by the Hays Office.
Making Of
Directors Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were former Disney animators who had helped create Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Much of the 'runaway vehicle' logic in 'Box Car Blues' was inspired by their work on the Oswald short 'Trolley Troubles' (1927). The production faced the challenge of synchronizing complex action sequences with a pre-recorded musical track, a technique still being perfected in 1930. The backgrounds are notably more 'rudimentary' than later Looney Tunes, as the studio was focusing its limited budget on the 'perspective animation' required for the high-speed train chase.
Visual Style
The film utilizes 'perspective animation,' a technique where objects (like the train tracks) are drawn to appear as if they are moving toward or away from the viewer in 3D space. This was a difficult and labor-intensive process in hand-drawn animation. The use of black-and-white high contrast helps emphasize the surreal, dream-like quality of the train's journey.
Innovations
The film is an early example of 'squash and stretch' principles being applied to inanimate objects, such as the train engine and the bridge. The 'perspective' shots during the tunnel sequence were considered a technical feat for a small independent studio like Harman-Ising at the time.
Music
The musical score was composed by Frank Marsales. It features the songs 'Cryin' for the Carolines' (Lewis/Young/Warren) and 'Givin' It This and That.' The soundtrack is a 'Vitaphone' recording, meaning the sound was originally synchronized via a large phonograph record played alongside the film projector.
Famous Quotes
Mammy! (Bosko's exclamation during the tunnel sequence, referencing Al Jolson)
Heh-heh-heh, Sho' nuff! (Bosko's signature catchphrase, used throughout the series)
Memorable Scenes
- The train engine turning its wheels into hands to manually pull itself up a 90-degree mountain slope.
- Bosko's head being knocked off by a 'Stop' sign, only for his body to chase it down and screw it back onto his neck.
- The cow being flattened into an accordion after a collision with the runaway boxcar.
Did You Know?
- The song 'Cryin' for the Carolines' featured in the short was a popular hit from the 1930 Warner Bros. film 'Spring is Here.'
- The gag involving a cow being flattened against a tree and turning into an accordion was so popular it was reused in the 1932 cartoon 'Bosko and Bruno.'
- In one surreal sequence, the train engine's wheels turn into hands to help it climb a steep mountain.
- The film entered the public domain in 1958 because the copyright was not renewed by Sunset Productions, who owned the rights at the time.
- Bosko's design in this era was an 'inkblot' style character, heavily influenced by Felix the Cat and early Mickey Mouse.
- The train engine's wheel configuration mysteriously changes from a 2-2-0 type to an 0-4-0 type during the mountain climb.
- A censored version of the film exists where Bosko's shout of 'Mammy!' (a reference to Al Jolson) was removed in later television airings to avoid racial stereotypes.
- The mountain in the film is anthropomorphized and shown wearing 'boxer shorts' in a brief visual gag.
- This is one of the few early Bosko shorts that focuses more on a 'runaway' climax than a continuous musical variety structure.
- The pig character is often referred to as 'The Drunken Pig' in some early production notes, though he is just a musical companion in the film.
What Critics Said
At the time of release, trade publications like 'The Motion Picture News' praised the Harman-Ising shorts for their technical synchronization and musicality. Modern animation historians, such as Jerry Beck, note that while the plot is thin, the 'perspective animation' during the runaway car sequence was quite advanced for 1930. It is generally regarded as a solid, if standard, example of early 1930s 'rubber hose' animation.
What Audiences Thought
1930s audiences responded well to the high-energy 'climax' of the film, which was a departure from the more static 'song-and-dance' routines of the first four Bosko shorts. It was a staple of Saturday matinee programs throughout the early 30s.
Film Connections
Influenced By
- Trolley Troubles (1927)
- The General (1926)
- Felix the Cat
This Film Influenced
- Bosko and Bruno (1932)
- Porky's Railroad (1937)
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Film Restoration
The film is well-preserved and exists in the Warner Bros. archives. It has been released on various 'Looney Tunes Golden Collection' DVD sets and has been digitally remastered in HD.