Wholly Smoke

1938
6.6| 0h7m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 26 August 1938 Released
Producted By: Warner Bros. Pictures
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A neighborhood bully convinces Porky to take a puff from his cigar, causing Porky to hallucinate a smoke-man named Nick O. Teen, along with a musical number done by cigars, cigarettes and pipes in the likeness of the 3 Stooges, etc.

Genre

Animation, Comedy

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Director

Frank Tashlin

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures

Wholly Smoke Videos and Images

Wholly Smoke Audience Reviews

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies
Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
TheLittleSongbird Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.'Wholly Smoke' may not be one of my favourite cartoons of all time, but for me it is up there among the best of the late 30s Porky Pig cartoons, one of his best solo cartoons and one of his best directed by Frank Tashlin. Tashlin directs wonderfully here in 'Wholly Smoke', the cartoon boasting some of his cleverest, most imaginative and wittiest visuals and not only does Tashlin engage with the material he actually seems to be having a ball with it.Porky is likeable as ever, effectively playing it straight and he isn't underused or too much of a support character. It will be admitted though that Nick O'Teen, with a sterling voice over from Tedd Pierce, and the smoking caricatures, in the hallucinatory sequence that dominates the cartoon to unforgettable effect, display stronger personalities. A lot of fun 'Wholly Smoke' is, especially with the delicious wackiness tonally and the various smoke characters and caricatures that are great to spot. It is one of Tashlin's weirdest and the weirdest for Porky, but this is in a wonderful way. 'Wholly Smoke' is essentially a message cartoon, with a message that makes its point without preaching too much. It is also a message that eighty years on is an important and relevant one, more so now where smoking is no longer something that most people back then did because it was fashionable and a social thing but now an increasingly unhealthy lifestyle choice although addressed more in the media about the consequences.Mel Blanc is outstanding as always. He always was the infinitely more preferable voice for Porky, Joe Dougherty never clicked with me, and he proves it in 'Porky's Building'. Blanc shows an unequalled versatility and ability to bring an individual personality to every one of his multiple characters in a vast majority of his work, there is no wonder why he was in such high demand as a voice actor.The animation is very good. It's fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail. The story is paced beautifully but it is a case of everything else making more of an impact.Carl Stalling's music is typically outstanding. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.In summary, great. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) Well, these 7 minutes are not necessarily anti-smoking in general, just when it comes to young people smoking. Porky, who was still Warner Bros' biggest star around that time, smokes a cigarette and has the strangest hallucinations as a result from it. This is originally a black-and-white cartoon, even if there are colored versions out there. I thought this was neither too funny nor too smart in terms of the story, so if this cartoon is worth the watch for any reason, then it is because of its general weirdness from start to finish and several famous people from that era being included as cartoon characters, such as the 3 Stooges. Mel Blanc did most of the voice work and Frank Tashlin directed while George Manuell wrote this piece. These two may not be as known as Jones, Maltese or Freleng, but also worked on many Warner Bros. cartoons. All in all, not among the company's best. Good message, but not so great execution.
Lee Eisenberg Frank Tashlin's "Wholly Smoke" appears to be a cartoon version of "Reefer Madness". The plot has Porky Pig on his way to Sunday school when a thug gets him to take a puff from a cigar. From there, Porky experiences a sort of acid trip in which a character named Nick O. Teen shows him cigarette and cigar caricatures of celebrities of the era (The Three Stooges, Bing Crosby, etc.) warning Porky not to smoke.Like I said, it's a "Reefer Madness" kind of idea: a wholesome youth takes one puff and gets hooked. Of course, this cartoon basically got everything right while "RM" got everything wrong (it claimed that marijuana is a narcotic; in reality, marijuana is a weed). And besides, marijuana doesn't kill people, while countless people have died from cigarettes. And you don't even want to know what they put in the cigarettes. The people behind this cartoon may have not known how accurate a cartoon they made.So, it is a pretty neat cartoon. Not all that preachy, just a little bit hokey what with the Sunday school part. Mind you, there is a black-face scene.
emasterslake just a reminder that this was made back when smoking was still a common thing for the public. And didn't know that smoking was not healthy to do.Porky was given 5 cents to give at church and was told not to spend it.On his way to the chapel, he find a kid smoking a cigar. He tells him little kids shouldn't smoke. The kid doesn't think Porky is man enough to smoke. So Porky bet on his nickel that he can smoke.After getting dizzy and coughing a lot he winds up at a smoke shop. And is greeted by Nick O'Teen the smoke cloud dude. He was pleased to see that Porky is interested in smoking so Nick tests if Porky really does like to smoke. But getting his pipe, cigar, cigarette and tobacco friends to sing and remind that little kids shouldn't smoke.For a cartoon this old it does have a good message in letting kids know that you shouldn't smoke at a young age.But if this was made decades later it be "Smoking is bad for you". But can't blame the way people thought of smoking back in the olden days.Sad thing is this is one of the many Looney Tunes that's been censored a few times. I never seen an uncut version or uncensored version of this fine cartoon.I hope one day it'll be part of a collection of uncut Looney Tunes DVD.