Underplayed Gems

The Dover Boys at Pimento University or The Rivals of Roquefort Hall (1942)

The Dover Boys at Pimento University or The Rivals of Roquefort Hall poster
Directed by
Chuck Jones
Genre
comedy film
Country
United States
Runtime
9 min
Rated
NR
Rating
6.8 of 10 from 71 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.

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How it feels

Three pompous college brothers chase a villain who has stolen their sweetheart. The cartoon makes fun of old-fashioned adventure stories for boys.

fast-pacedparodicplayfulstylizedwhimsicallighthearteddatedgoofy

What happens

The Dover Boys at Pimento University; or, The Rivals of Roquefort Hall (also known as The Dover Boys) is a 1942 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on September 10, 1942. The cartoon is a parody of the Rover Boys, a popular juvenile fiction book series of the early 20th century. It is one of the first cartoons to make extensive use of limited animation, as well as other techniques that would only be more broadly popularized in the 1950s. Animation historian Michael Barrier writes: "Is The Dover Boys the first 'modern' cartoon? …Chuck Jones stylized the animation in this cartoon in a way that anticipated what several consciously modern studios like UPA would be doing a decade later." The short entered the public domain in 1970, due to United Artists, the holder of the short at the time, failing to renew the copyright by that year. In 1994, the cartoon was voted No. 49 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.