You Don't Know What You're Doin'!

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera, Studio Ghibli and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. With significantly broader knowledge of different directors, animation styles and studios, actually appreciate and love it even more now.

Rudolf Ising made a lot of cartoons leaning towards the cute kind of cartoon rather than the laugh a minute kind, the latter being the one that a lot seem to prefer (understandably, though am hardly biased against the former). This approach has varied in cartoons. In some instances it has been very sweet and charming, in others it can be cloying and too cutesy. Generally 'You Don't Know What You're Doin'!' belongs in the former category, despite the danger of falling into the latter with the premise, complete with a huge amount of energy.

'You Don't Know What You're Doin'!' has a lot to like although not a great cartoon, not one to completely overlook if not a cartoon to watch repeatedly.

Yes it gets a bit too saccharine and strange in places and it is best perhaps to not talk about the story because there really isn't much of one and more an excuse to string along a big and variable collection of gags.

Piggy also is not the most compelling of lead characters, it is not hard to see why he was so short lived, lasting just two cartoons.

What 'You Don't Know What You're Doin'!' does so well however eclipses these problems. The animation is rich in detail for design and backgrounds, vibrant and crisp. There is also an outstanding music score, performed with a lot of spirit and is easily the best asset of the cartoon.

It is hard not to fall in love with the support characters, even if they are not especially distinctive, and it has enough likeability and personality to not be dull. 'You Don't Know What You're Doin'!' is rich in natural sweet charm and some very imaginative ideas and visuals with a nice setting. There is nothing hilarious and the cartoon's hardly laugh a minute despite being full of gags (most amusing but a very mixed bag overall), but a good deal of it does charm and amuse. There are many fun moments and some inventive ones too, enjoyed how the music was incorporated and the surreal wildness of the last minute or so. The pace avoids being too draggy, with it being full of wild energy throughout when things got going.

Summarising, nice and not bad at all if not a must watch. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Crowds throng into a theatre where a jazz orchestra are pumping out some lively toe-tappers. "Piggy" wants to take his girlfriend along to the concert so after an entertaining journey from her home on his dodgy looking contraption, they arrive and a bit of Al Jolson humour sets up a brief opportunity for an animated showcase of the sounds of Gus Arnheim's orchestra. That's all until she declares that they don't know what they're doing - and grabs a saxophone to engage in a bit of a duel with the trombonist before the pair steal the stage altogether then flee into a musically themed town. It's all too bitty for me, the scenes don't really work together to build any kind of story. It just seemed more of an excuse for the jazz lovers to grab a few minutes of airtime. Nothing special here, sorry.

This cartoon is a very fun treat. The musical score is stellar, especially during the drunken car chase scene (which was also the first time the classic "yabbity-yabbity" sound is heard in any cartoon). The animation is interesting, if a little sluggish. Piggy may be heckling the band, but it's still entertaining to watch him do so. And for a group of drunks, the dogs in the balcony are actually pretty good singers.

In general, the Harman-Ising era of Looney Tunes is very overlooked and only really gets panned because it's so different from the post-1933 era.

Early Merrie Melodie is primarily of interest for its use of Gus Arnheim's Band to perform the title song. The gags and animation are pretty awful, looking like third=rate Disney animation. You'd be better off finding a good copy of the original Brunswick record.

These early cartoons were long on sound and short on animation. This must have been a popular jazz piece. The solo musicians are fine but the plot is tepid. And all those characters came to see the act while that idiot little pig goes about trying to sabotage everything. There are hundreds of these old cartoons around and they are all about the same.