Today is the anniversary of the debut of a dark yet beautiful little musical short, Rooty Toot Toot. Directed by John Hubley for UPA, this short is adaption of the Classic song "Frankie and Johnny", and follows the song's story of a woman who murdered her cheating lover.
This short film is fairly dark and incredibly stylish, and this is all elevated by incredible vocal performances by Thurl Ravenscroft and Annette Warren. And it's not a cartoon without a well earned reputation, receiving an Oscar nomination in 1951 (but losing to Tom and Jerry's "The Two Mouseketeers" short), and ranking 41st in that "50 Greatest Cartoons" list I talked about last month. I give this classic short a hard recommendation, especially if you consider yourself an animation enthusiast looking for some lovely stylized limited animation.
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