Little Rural Riding Hood
Little Rural Riding Hood is a 1949 animated cartoon short subject directed by Tex Avery, conceived as a follow-up to his 1943 cartoon Red Hot Riding Hood.[1]
| Little Rural Riding Hood | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Tex Avery |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby |
| Story by | Rich Hogan Jack Cosgriff |
| Starring | Colleen Collins Pinto Colvig Imogene Lynn Daws Butler |
| Music by | Scott Bradley |
| Animation by | Grant Simmons Walter Clinton Bob Cannon Michael Lah Preston Blair (Reused Animation, unc.) |
| Color process | Technicolor Perspecta (reissue) |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date | September 17, 1949 |
Running time | 6:00 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
In 1994, the cartoon was ranked in 23rd place of The 50 Greatest Cartoons.[2] It is essentially a retelling of the Aesop fable, "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse".
Plot
The film opens with a stereotypical hillbilly version of Little Red Riding Hood (voiced by Colleen Collins), telling the audience that she's taking "nourishment" (as she holds up a cliché moonshine bottle) to her grandma, who lives on a country farm. At the farmhouse, a wolf (voiced by Pinto Colvig) reveals himself to the audience, but confesses that he doesn't want to eat Red. He's actually in love with her and wishes to kiss her.
After a comical chase around the farmhouse, the wolf catches Red, and both prepare to kiss each other when a telegram arrives for the wolf from his city cousin (voiced by Daws Butler impersonating Ronald Colman), inviting him to meet the city's equivalent of his Red (the same version seen in Red Hot Riding Hood). Upon seeing her photograph, the country wolf immediately falls in love with her and departs for the city.
Unlike his cousin, the city wolf is rich and more suave and sophisticated. The city wolf takes his cousin to the club where the city's Red performs her dance routine (this scene was borrowed from Swing Shift Cinderella). The country wolf whistles and leers throughout the performance, becoming completely aroused by Red. However, before he can rush onto the stage to join her, his city cousin stops him (by grabbing his suspenders, placing a hammer in it, then letting go so it would snap back and knock him out), and takes him back to the country, feeling that city life is too much for him.
Upon their arrival at the farmhouse, they find the country's Red waiting for them. Upon seeing country-Red, the city wolf, surprisingly, becomes wildly attracted to her, and runs to her, but is stopped his country cousin the same way the city cousin had stopped him earlier. Seeing an opportunity to see the city's Red again, the country wolf promptly decides to take his city cousin back home, claiming that he feels the country life is too much for him, and drives off back to the city.
Crew
- Directed by: Tex Avery
- Story: Rich Hogan, Jack Cosgriff
- Animation: Walter Clinton, Bob Cannon, Grant Simmons, Michael Lah
- Backgrounds: John Didrik Johnsen
- Music: Scott Bradley
- Co-Producer: William Hanna
- Produced by: Fred Quimby
See also
- Red Hot Riding Hood - the original 1943 film by Tex Avery
- Swing Shift Cinderella - a similar follow-up made in 1945
References
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 146–147. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
- Beck, Jerry (1994). The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals. Turner Publishing. ISBN 978-1878685490.
