Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land
Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land
| 28 November 1931 (USA)
Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land Trailers

Piggy and Fluffy have adventures on a riverboat and Uncle Tom is chased by skeletons promising to take him to Hallelujah Land. One of the "Censored 11" banned from TV syndication by United Artists in 1968 for racist stereotyping.

Reviews
Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined
Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Edgar Allan Pooh . . . Jane Fonda kicked back on their Atlanta Verandah with six pitchers of mint juleps and made a random selection of 11 Looney Tunes to be consigned to the Fire within the 13th Circle of Hell, no evidence has turned up to date that any notes were taken as to any REASON why this "Turner's Dozen" were Damned For All Time, rather than scores of other potentially Equal Opportunity offenders. As was the case with the "Rebellion" of Ted's ancestor Nat, who attacked an apparently random group of victims, there may have been little Rhyme or Reason to Ted's Choice. (This Eenie-Meeni-Ness may run in the family, like hemophilia sometimes does). Assuming that Ted and Jane actually fast-forwarded through what they forbade everyone else to see (as opposed to X-Ing out shorts based on their titles alone--after all, "Hallelujah" is pretty tough to spell, ain't it, Ted?), it seems most likely this booze-addled pair Red-Lined HITTIN' THE TRAIL when they noticed that the male pig loses his shorts about 5:56 into this cartoon as he jumps into the Mississippi River to save Uncle Tom. Looney Tunes are no place for Pig's Feat, eh, Ted?
TheLittleSongbird Not all the "Censored 11" cartoons are bad cartoons. With a good lot of them, you can see why they're not for the easily offended. Some of the cartoons still manage to be entertaining, and a couple especially 'Goldilocks and the Three Jivin' Bears' are pretty tame and entertain enormously.'Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land' is not among the most offensive of the "Censored 11" cartoons. The material is questionable and it's not funny, often cringe-worthy, but there are other cartoons that have far more racial content and to worse effect, especially 'Angel Puss' (also to me the worst of the "Censored 11" cartoons), 'Jungle Jitters' and 'All This and Rabbit Stew', also really disliked the exaggerated character designs in 'Tin Pan Alley Cats'.That aside, it's still one of the dullest. The best thing about it is the animation, which is great, very atmospheric and inventive. The music is also energetic, beautifully orchestrated and effectively spooky in parts. A couple of parts are cute.Conversely, it is too derivative of 'Steamboat Willie' and 'The Skeleton Dance' (two wonderful and iconic cartoons that regardless of age will forever stand the test of time), except with little of the charm and entertainment of the former or little (or as effective) of the imaginative spookiness and wonderful weirdness of the latter. There are small glimpses, but too sporadic.Especially when there is such a wafer-thin story and very dull pacing. What also adds to the dullness is that it is just not funny, didn't detect a single thing worth laughing at and too much of the material was stupid and cringe-worthy, especially everything with the embarrassment that is the Uncle Tom character, who is a poorly drawn (the one thing in the animation that is lacking) and lazily written stereotype.All in all, there are more offensive "Censored 11" cartoons but this is one of the dullest and got nothing out of it outside of the animation and the music. 3/10 Bethany Cox
utgard14 Early Merrie Melodies animated short, directed by Rudolf Isling, notable today for being one of the Censored Eleven. For those who don't know, the Censored Eleven are cartoons that were withheld from syndication because they were considered to be too offensive due to their use of racial stereotypes and imagery. As other reviewers have mentioned, this cartoon pretty shamelessly rips off two famous early Disney cartoons, Steamboat Willie and The Skeleton Dance (although that has nothing to do with the cartoon's banning). The short stars Piggy and Fluffy, familiar-looking characters with debatable origins, along with the character of Uncle Tom. The story starts on a steamboat with some characters that look like monkeys in blackface. Piggy is the steamboat captain and his girlfriend Fluffy joins him. Then we cut to a scene of Uncle Tom in a cemetery being scared by singing skeletons. He runs away and tries to make it to the steamboat, but Piggy has to jump into the water to save him. While Piggy is doing this a mustachioed villain shows up out of nowhere to steal Fluffy. Pretty stupid stuff. The black & white animation is good for the time and the music isn't half-bad. Still, it's hard to watch it without cringing at some parts, particularly any scene involving Uncle Tom. It's one of the least offensive of the Censored Eleven but also one of the most banal.
Robert Reynolds This short is one of eleven that likely won't be seen on television any time soon, if ever again. An innocuous little thing, cute in spots and with some good animation, it also has elements that make it unpalatable to some in the present day culture that has developed a mindset that no one should ever get their feelings hurt. Which, in the case of this short, is really unfortunae, because there is a scene with dancing skeletons which, though a bit derivative, is almost as enjoyable as the short it's emulated, The Skeleton Dance. An engaging cartoon and well worth the time and effort to locate. Most highly recomended.
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