Flying Circus (Looney Tunes)

"Flying Circus"
"My mama told me there'd be cartoons like this!"
Series: Looney Tunes Episode Number: 992 Air Date: September 14, 1968 Writer: Cal Howard Director: Alex Lovy Previous episode: "3-Ring Wing Ding" Next episode: "Chimp & Zee"

Flying Circus is a 1968 Looney Tunes short directed by Alex Lovy. In this short, an aviator named Ace dogfights against the wartime enemy Fritz Von Wienerschnitzel, who has posed as Ace's superior. It is considered to be one of the worst one-off shorts in the Looney Tunes series, being only beaten by "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" and "Tokio Jokio" in terms of abysmalness.

Why It's a Mooseface

1. The main problem with this short is that it tries too hard to rehash the 1964 short "Dumb Patrol", as the main plot revolves around a French ace (Ace in this case instead of Bugs Bunny) dogfighting against a German army officer (Fritz here over Yosemite Sam). Due to having a World War I-related theme much like "Dumb Patrol", the short rarely airs in US syndication, perhaps to avoid propaganda.
2. Ace's and Fritz's rivalry falls flat as they are both not introduced properly to the audience (unlike other one-offs in the Seven Arts era like the hunter/Chimp and Zee and Rapid Rabbit/Quick Brown Fox) and both are very bland and unfunny.
3. The backgrounds for this cartoon are dull and can rival the backgrounds of "Rodent to Stardom". Even when the cartoon airs on international feeds, the backgrounds are washed-out and overly bright with whiteish blue backgrounds.
4. Very poor animation with constant recycling of animation, such as the hot air balloon scenes being recycled twice in the cartoon and the dogfight at the title card being reused during the cartoon.
5. In addition to the poor animation, it is also lazy to the point where there is stock live-action military footage at the end of the short (taken from the 1961 documentary A Force in Readiness, which was produced by William Hendricks, who by this point, was the Looney Tunes' series producer). Much like the Merlin the Magic Mouse and Second Banana short, "Feud with a Dude", the footage feels out of place compared to the cartoons that used it in the classic era, such as "You Ought to Be in Pictures", "Rabbit Hood", "Rabbit Every Monday", and "Daffy's Inn Trouble".
6. Way too many animation errors, such as Fritz' and Ace's goggles constantly being worn on and off at different times.
7. The sound effects in this cartoon are very limited and annoying at the same time, much like "The Great Carrot-Train Robbery", as the same airplane flight sounds are often heard throughout the cartoon.
8. Weak music from William Lava, typical of any Seven Arts cartoon, especially in comparison to the music in "Dumb Patrol", in which this cartoon tries to emulate the music from.
9. Awful pacing, as it takes half of the cartoon's time to actually get into aerial fighting, and there are very few gags within the actual dogfight.
10. Cheesy dialogue, such as "My mama told me there'd be days like this." and "So long, mooseface!"

Redeeming Qualities

1. Larry Storch's voice acting on the characters is passable at best.
2. The one scene with the cow, while still not good, is mildly amusing to watch.
3. Additionally, the ending is also funny, as the tables turn on Fritz, with Ace posing as Fritz' superior in a repeat of events.

Reception

This short holds an IMDb rating of 4.5/10, making it one of the lowest-rated Looney Tunes shorts on the site. It could perhaps be explained from the overall poor quality of the Seven Arts cartoons, as well as the lack of iconic, classic characters. This cartoon was restored on HBO Max.

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