Such a frustrating disappointment

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

. . . (without being part of an attacking Yankee military unit) is totally nuts, Warner Bros. warns us with THE WEARING OF THE GRIN, just one in a continuing series of world travel alerts Warner produced in the form of animated shorts. GRIN does for Ireland what MY BUNNY LIES OVER THE SEA did for Scotland. Porky Pig has thrown caution to the wind, and has reached suburban Dublin as GRIN opens. Expecting to enjoy the hospitality of a nearby castle as the Emerald Isle's notoriously rugged weather sets in, the trusting porker is struck down in a booby-trapped fortress entry way. Stunted bearded bozos then try to drown this stunned American tourist. Failing at that, the loony locals terrorize poor Porky out of his wits. (Water boarding may sound a tad harsh, but it pales in comparison to the Horrors of Involuntary Tap Dancing!) If director Eli Roth's GREEN INFERNO and HOSTEL flicks haven't been enough to make your impressionable youngsters swear off "study abroad" programs and other forms of foreign travel forever, show them Warner's THE WEARING OF THE GRIN and the many related Looney Tunes. (And if they're STILL hankering for dangerous adventures, you can suggest that they try to jog through the streets of North Charleston, SC, to find out if they'll be stoned, as I recently was there.)

This was the final solo cartoon starring Porky Pig, and fittingly, it is also one of his most surreal. The whole thing is a dream (or is it?) where Porky goes into the Daliesque world he inhabited in Bob Clampett's 1938 classic PORKY IN WACKYLAND, only with an Irish bent to it this time around. The short is also satirizing the Hans Christian Andersen story, THE RED SHOES, which had recently been adapted for the screen, in 1948, by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger when this cartoon went into production. The Leprechauns popped up later in the audience watching the basketball game in SPACE JAM. Porky would go on to be teamed with Daffy or Sylvester throughout the golden age, but never again as a solo performer.

The Wearing of the Grin is not a favourite by all means, but I liked it a lot. The animation is very good, with beautiful colouring, convincing character features and dream-like visual effects. The music as pretty much always is a delight as well, as are the sight gags(beware of the leprechauns was a good one). I for one enjoyed the climax, it was funny if a tad predictable, and the dialogue comes by thick and fast. The story is effective if slight, and the characters are good too. Porky is suitably timid here, but it is O Pat and O Mike who steal the show, they could be seen as stereotypical but they were funny, that's what mattered to me. And of course Mel Blanc is excellent. Overall, it is visually imaginative and definitely worth a look at least once. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Porky Pig looking to get out of the rain while in Ireland, stops in an old castle inhabited by the wee' people, don't ya know? They think he's after their pot o' gold, and so sentence him to were the Green shoes, it's at this point that the film takes a surreal tone. Does this film stereotype the Irish? Yup, but who cares, I'm Irish and it didn't bother me (when I first signed onto IMDb, I typoed my last name, but trust me I'm Irish with a capital O'). It was funny and when it comes down to it, that's all that matters. This cartoon is on Disk 2 of the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1" It also has an optional commentary as well as a small featurette.My Grade: B+