Cellbound- Hit or Miss?

Hit! I love when the Warden dances. Classic Avery

~ Howdy, Folks!

"Cellbound" (1955) is an hilarious cartoon. Definately a HIT! One of Tex's last efforts for MGM before going to work for Walter Lantz.

Hit! There was plenty of humor in Spike escaping from prison, and then hiding in the TV set, where he had to entertain the warden!

The cartoon is a hit for me. Very silly.

I remember watching it on TV about 30 years ago with my older brother and both he and I cracking up at the scene where Spike puts on a one-man boxing match. My favorite scene, however, is when he becomes a one-man Dixieland band.

This is one of a handful of Avery/MGM productions where the layouts and BG's reflected the UPA influence.

The part where he started to dig his way out of the cell with a spoon always amused me. Especially when he counted each scoop, then add it to the huge pile of dirt outside the window. Which nobody noticed!

Definitely a hit with me. Perhaps its most appealing feature is the bad situation made worse premise that triggers an impromptu remedy to keep the whole debacle from being discovered. Much of Lucille Ball's humor as Lucy Ricardo follows this mechanism, and likewise with some of Jackie Gleason's exploits as Ralph Kramden. So the notion that an escaping convict that tunnels his way into the warden's television set, then has to act out assorted scenes to allay suspicion is patently ridiculous, which is really at the heart of funny. Technically, Spike is a criminal, and deserves to do his rightful penance. The thing is, Spike becomes a sympathetic character simply because of the panic-driven insane ingenuity he displays during the course of his escape. "Aw, give 'im a pardon, Warden. He's been through the wringer enuff a'ready."

Definitely a hit, especially the part where Spike does a one man band and the warden dances around to the music. The premise itself is hilarious, most prisoners who attempt to escape wind up in the warden's office much like Yosemite Sam in "Bighouse Bunny." Moving it into the warden's television set makes this cartoon downright hysterical.