Red Hot Riding Hood is an animated cartoon short subject, directed by Tex Avery and released on May 8, 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1994 it was voted #7 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field, making it the highest ranked MGM cartoon on the list. It is one of Avery's most popular cartoons, inspiring several of his own "sequel" shorts as well as influencing other cartoons and feature films for years afterward.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hot_Riding_Hood
Directed by Tex Avery in 1943, Red Hot Riding Hood began with Little Red Riding Hood skipping through the woods, taking a basket of goodies to her grandma.
But the Big Wolf decided if the story wasn’t going to change, he
wanted no part of it. Riding Hood agreed. Grandma made it unanimous.
Change was a must. The old story was, well, old.
The new story began on the corner of Hollywood and Vine. Wolf was
dressed ‘to the nines,’ driving a sparkly convertible, and howling at
the ladies. A highly modernized grandma lived in the penthouse of a
tall, swanky building.
Likewise, Little Red Riding Hood worked in a nightclub, the wolf ‘hot
on her trail.’ Now called Red Hot Riding Hood, the star of the story
was introduced to the club audience as the ‘Sweetheart of Swing,’ and a
‘red headed ball of fire.’ Her sexy entrance onto the stage drove Big
Wolf absolutely mad, and he acted accordingly.
During a break in her act, Wolf pulled her to his table and asked
about a later date. Red Hot Riding Hood declined, saying she had to go
visit her grandma. She took off in a cab, closely followed by her
discombobulated suitor.
Wolf burst into grandma’s apartment, and GRANDMA went wild. Her
physical attraction to him was immediate and evident. Not what he was
expecting or desiring, Wolf clamored for the door.
Unfortunately,
grandma beat him to it and locked it. In typical cartoon slapstick they
chased and ducked, ducked and chased. To extricate himself, Wolf
jumped out the window, landing where he began, tangled in a streetlamp
at Hollywood and Vine.
The cartoon ended with Wolf seated at the club once again, bandaged
and swearing off women until death. His ghost began where he ended,
making a complete fool of himself as Red Hot Riding Hood once again made
her stage entrance.
Grey Hall
http://www.examiner.com/article/7th-best-cartoon-ever-red-hot-riding-hood
The title character of
Red Hot Riding Hood was designed as a
pin-up, to boost Army morale, but the Hays Office objected to the wolf's
reaction to Red — "showing body heat, the steam coming out of the
collar, and the tongue rolling out" and forced Avery to make cuts.
"Sometimes we would just stiffen him out in mid-air; he'd make a take
and his whole body would stiffen out like an arrow! And they cut that
one out on us." Such imagery was apparently important enough to Avery
that, rather than capitulate, he devised a strategy to salvage it. He
would insert a number of over-the-top gags he knew would be cut, and the
ones he really wanted would be left alone by a then-satisfied censor.
Like Djuna Barnes, Avery knew that kids — and soldiers — "like Red Riding Hood and the wolf in bed!"
Garry Morris
http://brightlightsfilm.com/22/texaverytales.php
Tex Avery's first excursion into animated sexual frenzy is his best. Some have suggested that having the Wolf's pursuit by Grandma
follow the raging libido scene was a mistake in pacing, but it all works
for
me. It's too bad Avery didn't complete the opening misdirection by having
the FIRST title card read "Little Red Riding Hood," but it goes by so
quickly, and is drawn so conservatively that it doesn't really hurt.
Besides, is there a context in which this film could be realistically
expected to be shown where the audience would be truly surprised when it
doesn't turn out to be a straight version of the fairy-tale?
Ted Watson (tbrittreid)
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0036295/reviews
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