The Case of the Stuttering Pig: A weird, frantic little cartoon

Is it worth your time?

If you have ten minutes and a soft spot for the really old, slightly unhinged black-and-white cartoons, then yeah, go for it. It is not exactly high art, but it has a certain manic energy that modern stuff just doesn't replicate. If you need your animation to be clean, logical, or particularly kind to the ears, you might want to skip this one.

The whole thing kicks off with Porky and his family acting like they just won the lottery. Then, out of nowhere, this weird, hulking monster shows up to ruin the party. It is a classic setup, I guess, but the way it unfolds is just wild.

Honestly, the pacing is all over the place. It feels like the animators were just throwing ideas at the wall to see what would stick. There is a moment where the monster is lurking around the house that actually managed to be a little creepy, at least for a cartoon made in the late thirties.

Mel Blanc is doing his thing, obviously. But sometimes it feels like he’s trying to juggle five different personalities in one scene. It is chaotic, man. It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in The Giant Killer, where everything is just a little too loud and a little too fast.

Random thoughts from my notepad:

• The monster’s design is genuinely bizarre. Why does he have those teeth?
• The sound effects are so crunchy. I love the way the old audio crackles when a heavy object hits the floor.
• Porky’s stuttering is laid on pretty thick here. Sometimes it feels like it’s being used as a weapon, not just a character trait.
• I swear the background art changes style for like, three seconds, and then goes right back to normal.

There is this one sequence near the middle that just drags. The tension builds up, and then it’s just… resolved by a silly visual gag that makes absolutely no sense in the context of the story. Classic.

It’s definitely not as sharp as some of the later stuff, but it has that DIY, experimental feel. It’s the kind of thing you’d watch on a Saturday morning with a bowl of cereal that’s turning soggy. 🥣

Maybe it’s not for everyone. But for those of us who grew up with these grainy loops, it’s a weirdly comforting slice of history. Just don't think about the plot too much. You’ll hurt your brain.