Believe It or Else (1939)

One of Avery's pet projects was satirizing popular American culture. Chief among these were well known stories and documentaries. Here he parodies Ripley's Believe It Or Not in the spot gag format which he established the year before. It's a collection of sight gags of outrageous oddities from around the world. Egghead (or the proto-Elmer version of Egghead) is thrown in for good measure as a running gag expressing blatant skepticism throughout the picture.Since Ripley's Believe It Or Not is still around today, the gist of the parody should not be lost to modern viewers aside from a few topical gags (i.e. the Buck Rogers reference) and some elements of Ripley's from this time period. Many fans have expressed disdain for the spot gag cartoons, but they didn't start becoming stale until late 1940. I believe Avery himself had the same sentiment, based on an interview he did with Joe Adamson. I've always had a fondness for this short, but it's mostly nostalgia speaking.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best cartoons ever made by anybody. 'Believe It or Else' is not one of my favourites and is to me an uneven effort of his, but even lesser Avery is still worth watching and much better than the lesser efforts of most others. It's best to forget the story, which is basically a series of gags strung along. Egghead is okay but a fairly limited character whose material is pretty repetitive even for a running gag. Avery is no stranger to running gags, but other cartoons of his have done them with much more variety.In terms of humour, 'Believe it or Else' varies. Parts are very amusing, especially the Buck Dodgers spoof and the ending. Others aren't as well timed and come over as unusually corny for Avery and it would definitely help to be familiar with what each gag is parodying, this aspect was hit and miss for me too. Avery has done funnier, wilder and more imaginative cartoons that took more risks.However, it is no surprise that, as with a vast majority of Avery's cartoons regardless of the period, the animation is excellent. Beautifully drawn, very detailed and the colours are vibrant.Carl Stalling's music score is typically lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms, it's also beautifully synchronised with the action and gestures/expressions and even enhances the impact.Some amusing moments, if never hilarious, decent timing and lively supporting characters are further things to like. As is the very good voice acting, Mel Blanc showing off his envious unparalleled versatility again.Overall, uneven but still worth watching. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Another of Tex Avery's funny shorts that's basically just a series of gags connected by a single premise, in this case a spoof of Ripley's Believe It or Not. It's notable for being one of the final appearances of Egghead, who pretty much vanished after Elmer Fudd came on the scene. He appears here and there throughout, usually walking across the screen carrying a sign expressing disbelief at whatever's going on behind him. Basically the entire cartoon is one bit after another where, like the Ripley's show, we see different oddball characters that have something unbelievable about them. We have a fat guy whose been drinking fifty quarts of milk a day for two years, a Hindu snake charmer, a bottle ship builder, a hog caller, a "bad boy," the human basketball, a knife thrower, and so on. Most of these gags are corny but I think they were supposed to be, even back then. The highlight is probably the "life on Mars" bit with Buck Dodgers. The animation is beautiful with nicely detailed characters and backgrounds and rich colors. The voice work and music are good. It's not a bad cartoon by any means, just nothing extraordinary. How much you like it will probably depend on how much you like sight gags or how familiar you are with some of the stuff that's being spoofed.

Tex Avery loved to do spoofs of things and this one was a spoof of Robert Ripley's column/program, "Believe It or Not", where he detailed odd or unusual events, items and the like for his readers' edification. This is Avery doing the same, but Avery's way. The running gag (Avery almost always used one in his shorts) consists of Egghead (Elmer Fudd in the larval stage) periodically showing up to scoff at various claims, saying, "I don't believe it!" The ending is probably the best gag, the rest being either mildly amusing or falling a bit flat, with one or two not working in the slightest. Egghead basically makes this one worth watching. Decent idea, with some funny gags, but the parts are definitely greater than the sum. Average Avery, which means that it's equal to quite a few other directors' better work, but a simple finger exercise for the maestro, Still worth watching. Recommended.