The Film Fan (1939) User Reviews (9)

Very Corny And Fun To Watch

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 30 May 2007]

You see corny (and often funny) signs on old cartoons that really make them fun to watch. For instance, this cartoon wastes no time getting its gags in early as we get overhead shots of a movie house, which is making its grand opening today. It's showing the film, "The Broken Leg" which is "surrounded by a large cast." The side marquee advertises "We Change Our Shorts Every Day" and "It's Cool Inside: 103 Degrees."

A snooty woman and her snooty poodle walk by the theater with their noses in the air, with the old bag saying, "We nevah go to movies, do we Cuddles?" However, "Cuddles" loses his dignity when he sees an ad for a film featuring a lot of trees, and drags his master into the theater. Yes, cartoons in the 1930s are a bit bizarre.

Anyway, the real story deals with a buddy Porky Pig walking by and seeing "kids admitted free" and literally racing into the theater. From there, we really get the corny materials and we see parodies of the newsreels of the day, such as a story about "from the town of Eightnine, Tenn., we hear that a scientist discovers short-tempered doctors always lose their patients."

There is a funny bit showing germs under a microscope followed by "J. Pretzel Pumpernickle, Retired Baker, Never Spends A Penny Although He No Longer Kneads The Dough."

You get the drift of the humor! As someone who loves puns, I still laughed at this ridiculously corny story about an afternoon at the theater watching coming attractions and the like.

everything's fun when it's a joke

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 30 September 2007]

One of the many short cartoons from Porky Pig's early days has him sneaking into a movie theater chock full of every pun imaginable. I should identify that these puns are basically groaners that one would expect to find in math homework or in crossword puzzles. But you gotta admit that there are some funny ones in there.

Even beyond word jokes, the cartoon never misses an opportunity for a sight gag. Whether it's the guy's legs, or what happens in the Lone Stranger movie, they keep the surprises coming at you at full speed. So, even if "The Film Fan" isn't the greatest cartoon created by the Termite Terrace crowd, you should still at least watch it for some laughs. It's sure to elicit at least some.

The spoofs, puns and gags keep it afloat

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 22 September 2016]

'The Film Fan' may not be a Bob Clampett classic, but it is still a lot of fun and is a good showcase of what made Clampett's style so unique and imaginative.

Porky is a bit bland and is so underused that he's mostly pointless. The story is a tad rushed and a touch silly. 'The Film Fan' is however well worth watching, with some knowing, easy to spot and affectionate spoofs (The Lone Ranger), endearingly silly and deliciously witty puns and extremely inventive sight gags. The ending is similarly a riot, as is the germs under the microscope.

On top of that, the animation is remarkably pristine, detailed and fluid for an early black and white cartoon, with the characters being well drawn and with imaginative range of expressions. The music is lushly orchestrated and rich in energy and character, not just being dynamic with the action but also enhancing it.

Rest of the characters are a lot of fun, and the voice acting sees very talented prolific voice actors having a ball with their material.

All in all, a strong if not classic cartoon elevated to a higher level by the humour. 8/10 Bethany Cox

A Porky classic

[Studio Morye Reviews · 20 March 2001]

In Bob Clampett's semi-autobiographical cartoon short "The Film Fan", Porky Pig is sent out by his mother to get a bottle of milk and a loaf of bread. Thrilled when he sees a sign at the theatre labeled "Kids Admitted Free", he rushes in. The gags in this one are a little bit repetitive, using puns, caricatures and spoofs of popular films of the time. The best part is at the end, when Mrs. Pig calls the theatre and the manager steps in front of the screen and says "If there is a little boy here who was supposed to get groceries for his mother, he'd better go home right away!" And, of course, every young patron of the theatre immediately dashes home. A great cartoon.

It's Kids Admitted Free Day at the local theater!!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 3 January 2022]

Porky's mother has sent him to the store to pick up some things but instead of coming home, he's distracted by a sign in front of the local theater. It seems it's 'Kids Admitted Free Day' and so he heads inside to watch free movies. However, he never actually sees any movies...such a parody of a Lowell Thomas newsreel and some coming attractions.

This is a modestly funny and enjoyable black & white film. Looney Tunes made a few others like it but they all are great fun and help recreate what it was like, in a way, to go to the movies back in the day.

Adults are snobs, liars, thieves, perverts, and meanies . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 19 April 2015]

. . . kids learn in this Looney Tunes animated short, THE FILM FAN. The stuffy society lady claims she'd NEVER go see a movie; then she rushes into the theater without a ticket to beat the tykes for a prime seat on "kids' day." Looney Tone news reader "Cold Promise" is clearly labeled as a "prevariacator." Bakery mogul "J. Pretzel Pumpernickle" tries to hit the Big Prize on the coin-operated "Gold Digger" arcade machine while getting a free play through his use of a coin on a string. The Lone Ranger-like cowboy super hero "Masked Marvel" isn't wearing any pants. To top it all off, EVERY kid in the theater has Moms so mean that they're not allowed to attend picture shows, even when kids are admitted for free! This brief Warner Bros. cartoon is full of spelled out and visual puns, as well as references to current events, such as Wendell Wilkie's failures, Seabiscuit's success, and rival film studio MGM's release of GONE WITH THE WIND and THE WIZARD OF OZ. Comparable material would be over the head of today's children (right through college age), but kiddies in the 1930s had to be proficient in Greek and Latin to be passed out of sixth grade.

NBA's trials and tribulations predicted . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 8/10 · 14 October 2015]

. . . by 1939 Warner Bros. "Looney Tune," THE FILM FAN. That could be a headline from your favorite tabloid, and it would be truer than most. Over the years I've noticed that both Warner Bros. live-action features and their animated shorts have an uncanny knack for hinting at (or, in some cases, such as THE FILM FAN, fully fleshing out) crucial happenings in America's future, often many decades in advance of the Real Life events. THE FILM FAN is set in Greater Los Angeles, where Donald Sterling's L.A. Clippers played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) during the early years of the 21st Century. Though Porky Pig, as the title character of this brief cartoon, diverts from his trip to the market for Mom into a "free kids' day" theater grand opening, the black fowl sitting next to him during the MASKED MARVEL serial episode being projected on the Big Screen slingshots some mud onto the butt of this Warner Bros. Lone Ranger clone's horse, "Sterling." (The actual Lone Ranger's mount is named "Silver"--get it?) Sterling than turns to this particular movie audience and badmouths his attacker, thinking--in his dementia--that his film image can communicate ad lib with any member of any future theater audience! In Real Life, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver confiscated Sterling's Clippers. Warner Bros. has embedded 29 other NBA-related prophecies which have come to pass (so far) into THE FILM FAN. Watch this eerie mother lode of pro sports prognosticating for yourself to see what's happening next!

Worth a watch, although it pales in comparison to 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter'

[phantom_tollbooth · 5/10 · 3 November 2008]

Bob Clampett's 'The Film Fan' is one of the early Porky Pig cartoons in which Porky is still cast as a little boy. Sent on an errand by his mother and told to come straight home, Porky can't resist going to the cinema. So begins another of the many cinema-set Warner Bros. cartoons. 'The Film Fan' has some nice moments in it, especially the visual gags involving sardine-can-like public transport, a deflating building and an arcade crane machine, but for the most part it is overshadowed by Friz Freleng's 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' from two years previously. 'The Film Fan' borrows a few gags from that cartoon but doesn't pull them off nearly as well and, overall, it doesn't evoke a sense of being in the cinema like Freleng's cartoon did so well. Also, as is the case with many of his early starring roles, Porky is almost completely unnecessary and barely features between the gags. His sole purpose seems to be to set up the closing gag and to provide the cartoon with a star name, even if that star spends the majority of the cartoon off screen. Nevertheless, Porky fills the role as well as any other character could have done and there's enough good material here (including a very funny spoof of The Lone Ranger towards the end) to make 'The Film Fan' worth a watch, if not exactly worthy of ecstatic recommendation.

A loaf of bread, a bottle of milk, kids admitted free...

[slymusic · 18 April 2007]

"The Film Fan" is a very good black-and-white Warner Bros. cartoon directed by the very capable Bob Clampett. Although the lovable Porky Pig is given star billing in this cartoon, he doesn't really steal the show. He attends a movie theatre (along with a lot of other little kids) and enjoys watching the various newsreels and movie clips, which feature lots of visual gags and wordplay. There's even a nice caricature of Clark Gable from the mock picture "Gone with the Breeze"!

Here are my favorite moments from "The Film Fan." Porky is quite funny when his body gyrates in all directions upon his discovering that kids are admitted in the theatre for free. A snooty society woman and her dog claim never to go to movies as it is below their dignity, but when the dog spots an ad for a movie titled "The Valley of the Giants: A Story of the Big Trees," he goes hilariously insane! On the big screen, the Masked Marvel and his horse Sterling break into a jive dance and sing "Loch Lomond" while on the trail of desperadoes; one particular kid in the audience fires a slingshot at the screen, and the shot hits the horse!

"The Film Fan" is simply a joyous cartoon. The Porky Pig we see in this film is the Porky that I most admire: sweet, lovable, and dependable, even if he temporarily forgets that his mother sent him on an errand to buy milk & bread and come home right away!