Three Little Pigs (1933)

We've all seen this a hundred times. The lazy pigs build houses of straw and sticks and fool around, singing that song. Meanwhile, the practical third one is putting up a brick building. The wolf is lurking and has pork chops on his mind. After accosting the first two pigs, he must make it past the door of the third little pig. The animation is wonderful. This is Disney and it is pristine, far superior to other efforts at that time. There is a great deal of humor, particularly related to the arrogant bragging of the first two pigs. The wolf is a sight to behold. He is obviously born of poverty, but more of a symbol of the threat that faced those who had little in 1933. Disney was just getting his chops in the animation business and the rest is history.

Three Little Pigs is a cheerful, fun and lovable little classic that I have loved ever since I was a child. While the pacing is a tad too quick in places it is still hugely enjoyable for a number of reasons.When I was little, I marvelled at how good the animation was for its time. From a 17 year old perspective it is still very very good, with colourful backgrounds and beautiful colours.I also remembered singing along to the song Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? That song has to be one of the most memorable songs ever in a Silly Symphony, it is ever so catchy and easy to sing along to.The dialogue is great. The Big Bad Wolf has some classic lines, but I think the best of them come from Fifer and Fiddler. There is one funny part when the Wolf dresses up in the sheepskin, the dialogue Fifer and Fiddler say cracks me up every time.The Wolf, like the Three Little Pigs, is a truly memorable character. Sinister and rapacious, he did scare me when I was little, not so much now but the animation and voice work is wonderfully impressive even by today's standards. I do think the Wolf from Peter and the Wolf is scarier, me and sister haven't got over how scared we used to be of him.The voice work is excellent. Billy Bletcher is perfect as the Big Bad Wolf and Walt Disney I recognised immediately from his voicing of Mickey in cartoons like Boat Builders and Mickey's Good Deed. Pinto Colvig, the original voice of Goofy, also does a stellar job.Overall, hugely enjoyable childhood favourite. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

I remember first watching this before Pollyanna on "The Wonderful World of Disney" in 1981 and enjoying it so I decided to see this again on YouTube. Still enjoyable and hearing "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" brings such nice memories of being a child. Did not see the controversial version with the wolf posing as a Jewish peddler with the big nose but that's the only disappoint I got from this. (Just to make this clear: I'm disappointed not because I wanted to see a Jewish stereotype but because I wanted to see this short the way it was originally presented.) Burt Gillett really did a fine job as director with the music and the houses being blown down and the first two pigs still not completely learning their lesson as evidenced by the worker pig doing a trick on them at the end. So with all that said, I highly recommend The Three Little Pigs. Update 3/3/11-I just saw the excised scene on YouTube.

I've heard about the politically incorrect version...the original version...of this cartoon, but have never seen it until today. It's the theatrical release that featured the wolf dressed as a jewish peddler, complete with a BIG false nose, beard, long black hair and hints of Yiddishe music for a few bars in the background as he gets hit over the head by Practical Pig (A clever(?) disguise as why would a Jew be at the door going after some pork?) In the latter day, "cleansed" version (circa???), Disney artists edited this part out and REDREW the scene aping the old classic style, changing the Big Bad Wolf into a harmless Fuller Brush Man, sans Jewish features. This modern whitewashing happened due to protests from folks over offensive stereotypes, but anyone whose seen pre-code movies knows Jewish peddlers were omnipresent whenever street scenes were shown, as were all ethnic stereotypes On the "forbidden" video I viewed, the second cartoon featuring the wolf in "Little Red Riding Hood" ('34), he dons a fairy outfit and minces about in the forest in an openly gay manner (it's hysterical), enticing Bo Peep and two of the Little Pigs. I don't know if this scene has been subsequently cleaned-up as well for today's uneasy audiences, but I have never seen this cartoon before. In fact, it was a well-kept secret, never featured on any Disney TV show to the best of my knowledge. The video I previewed is fairly recent, released circa 1995 (I thought it was cleaned-up in the '50's or '60's...the old version being yanked from circulation around the same time). Other videos I have seen feature the "scrubbed" PC version from an even earlier date, so I don't really know what's going on over at Disney. All I can say is that I'm Jewish, and love watching stuff like this. I don't believe in censorship, revisionism, correctness, or cowardice for that matter. These films are a chronicle of their age, and should be left alone. I'd like a show of hands...have any of you seen one or both versions...and do you deplore the Disney clean-up...or condone it?