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

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

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)

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