Underplayed Gems

Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941)

Mr. Bug Goes to Town poster
Directed by
David Tendlar, Stan Quackenbush, H.C. Ellison, Thomas Johnson
Genre
fantasy film, musical film, children's film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 18m
Rated
G
Rating
6.3 of 10 from 36 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like this

How it feels

A group of insects living in a city garden tries to protect their home from human developers. The story follows a young grasshopper as he helps his friends stand up to the threat.

whimsicallightheartedupbeatold-fashionedplayfulcolorfulgentleoptimistic

What happens

Mr. Bug Goes to Town (also known as Hoppity Goes to Town and Bugville) is a 1941 American animated musical comedy film produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. It was the second and final feature-length film from Fleischer Studios (following Gulliver's Travels in 1939), the sixth animated film produced by an American studio, and the first based largely on an original story. Mr. Bug was envisioned originally as an adaptation of Maurice Maeterlinck's 1901 novel The Life of the Bee, but Paramount was unwilling to purchase the rights from Samuel Goldwyn. Mr. Bug was produced by Max Fleischer and directed by Dave Fleischer, with animation sequences directed by Willard Bowsky, Myron Waldman, Thomas Johnson, David Tendlar, James Culhane, H.C. Ellison, Stan Quackenbush, and Graham Place. It was first previewed on December 4, 1941, in New York, three days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States' subsequent entry into World War II. Paramount eventually released the film in the United Kingdom on January 23, 1942; in California on February 12; and in New York City on February 19. The film became a financial failure due to its botched release, minimal advertising, and short theatrical window. Fleischer Studios, which hoped to recoup the costs spent on Mr. Bug and Gulliver's Travels, was instead reorganized as Famous Studios in May 1942. It was Paramount's last animated feature film until Charlotte's Web (made by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1973). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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