Ration Bored
8 /10 1 Votes
Duration | Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Director Emery Hawkins
Milt Schaffer (both co-directed) Release date July 26, 1943 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ration Bored is the ninth animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on July 26, 1943, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Contents
Plot
While driving his car, Woody sees a sign that reads: "Conserve gas & tires. Is this trip really necessary?" Woody refers to himself as a "necessary evil" while changing his appearance briefly into a demonic version of itself with deranged eyes and speeds down the road after changing back again. While cresting a hill, he runs out of gas and rolls to the gas station below.
The gas attendant asks to see Woody's "ABC" book (see below), and Woody hands him an alphabet book. Insulted, the attendant grabs a hammer and knocks Woody's car into a salvage yard. Woody decides to steal gasoline from the wrecked vehicles in the lot. He unknowingly siphons gas from a parked police car.
A cop chases Woody around the salvage yard. They get caught up in stacks of tires, and Woody ends up riding the cop like an automobile out of the yard and into a large storage unit of gasoline Which ends up exploding and killing them both.
In Heaven, the cop leaves the "Wing Rationing Board" with a small pair of wings. He starts chasing Woody again when he realizes that the wings Woody has received are much larger.
Woody's appearance
Walter Lantz had been criticized from the start that Woody's garish appearance was detrimental to the appeal of the burgeoning star. The addition of white gloves on Woody's hands (like those of cartoon counterparts Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny) marked the first notable attempt at giving the woodpecker a more streamlined character design. By the following film, The Barber of Seville, Woody's appearance would get a complete makeover, making Ration Bored the last Woody Woodpecker film featuring the original manic design.