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Little Rural Riding Hood

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Little Rural Riding Hood
Film poster
Directed byTex Avery
Story byRich Hogan
Jack Cosgriff
Produced byFred Quimby
StarringColleen Collins
Pinto Colvig
Imogene Lynn
Daws Butler (all uncredited)
Music byScott Bradley
Animation byGrant Simmons
Walter Clinton
Bob Cannon
Michael Lah
Preston Blair (reused animation, uncredited)
Backgrounds byJohn Didrik Johnsen
Color processTechnicolor
Perspecta (reissue)
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • September 17, 1949 (1949-09-17)
Running time
6:00
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Little Rural Riding Hood is a 1949 MGM animated cartoon short subject directed by Tex Avery, conceived as a follow-up to his 1943 cartoon Red Hot Riding Hood.[1]

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

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The film opens with a stereotypical hillbilly version of Little Red Riding Hood (voiced by Colleen Collins), telling the audience that she is 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 is 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 George Sanders[3]), 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 rural cousin, the city wolf is rich, suave, and sophisticated. The city wolf takes his cousin to a local nightclub where the city's Red performs her seductive song-and-dance routine, a rendition of "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!" called "Oh Wolfie" (elements of this scene were recycled from Avery's 1945 cartoon 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 by 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.

Voice Cast

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Crew

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  • Directed by: Tex Avery
  • Story: Rich Hogan, Jack Cosgriff
  • Animation: Walter Clinton, Bob Cannon, Grant Simmons, Michael Lah
  • Backgrounds: John Didrik Johnsen (uncredited)
  • Music: Scott Bradley
  • Produced by: Fred Quimby

Availability

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References

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  1. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 146–147. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
  2. ^ Beck, Jerry (1994). The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals. Turner Publishing. ISBN 978-1878685490.
  3. ^ a b c d e Scott, Keith (December 7, 2020). "AVERY…. Vol. 2??? WELL, IMAGINE THAT!". Cartoon Research.com. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d Scott, Keith (October 3, 2022). Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2. BearManor Media.
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