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As a kid, we had this kids' show here in Finland called Harlekiini (Harlequin) that featured lot of different shows aimed for children. One of those was as Casper the Friendly Ghost that basically was the US-equilavent of the Harveytoons Show from 60s.
I liked the showtune-song it had about Casper and his many friends. And one of those friends was Little Audrey. She was the craziest little redhead that I had seen, with fun adventures.
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Harveytoons
Little Audrey - The Seapreme Court (1953)
Right off the bat, I like the font used on the title-card, and emphasis on Sea-part. The lush colour of red on the backdrop is something interesting as well, since most underwater-scenes are showcased with hues of blue and green.
The episode begins with Audrey fallen asleep while fishing. In the beginning she had couple of dream-sequence episodes, which I always liked. We don't see anything that she would have caught, but her can looks to be empty from baits.
She gets a pull, but it is revealed to be only an old boot, from which all the little fishes escape. At this point we see that she actually has no bait at the end of her hook, so that might explain her lack of catches.
She gets another bite and gets pulled underwater. As a kid, I could never understand why none of the characters in these situations never seem to let go of the rod. It is hilarious how small of a fish is on the other end pulling Audrey with such speed. Eventually the fish escapes and Audrey finds herself surrounded by fishes.
I like the underwater-effect they use over on all the water-based scenes. Would like to know how it is achieved. The whole scene where our main character is pulled underwater goes so fast that while it feels like we are witnessing actual events, the fact that she can breathe and talk underwater as well as communicate with the fishes, subconciously assures it's all just a dream.
The fish-police cuffs her with a crab-cuffs and her astonished expression is fantastic as she doesn't understand what is going on.
As audience, we also don't know what to expect, and that is part of the charm of the episode.
From the Octopus-jailer to sardine-jury and quick pun on the word "hearing", there is so much to explore in the fish-world, but we unfortunately don't have time for it. The plot unravels at such a speed that I recommend anyone who has this in their collection to pause every now and then just to take it all in.
We hear testimonials from different witnesses to the crimes that humans do and while these have a slight preachy tone to them, they don't derive from the mood on the piece.
Little Audrey tries to plead her case, but the judge rules against her and sentences her to the Eel-Lectric Chair.
I like how the judge can go through a variety of emotions as he listens to the testimonies and given very expressive poses where he is the active and reactive party in the cause.
You really can feel Audrey's distraught and fear in how her complete pose shows the effort to escape from the grip of the Jailer.
She escapes and while trying to get away, needs to fend off swordfish and oyster-clam and others that prevent her running away.
In the end, she gets captured and as she is placed on the Eel-Lectric Chair, she wakes up and discovers it has all been a dream.
It is interesting to see that her can is now full with worm-baits. I could never figure out, wheter this was a mistake or intentional on some level.
She catches a fish and I really like the close-up image of Audrey and her sad expression as she and the fish exchange glances. It is one of those moments in these where character expressions are always exaggerated from extremely happy to clearly sad or astonished, this one quick scene show Audrey with an subtle expression.
And you can clearly see she ponders about the fate of the fish and decides to send it back to the water.
She also releases all her baits into the water and snaps the fishing-rod into pieces, throws them away.
I like how she takes a moment of gratification for her decision. It goes very quickly, like so many other scenes in this episode, but makes the point clear of her doing something good just for the sake of doing good things. I really wish this would have been prolonged even for two or three more seconds, because at the same time on the lower corner the recently released fish almost steals focus.
Audrey receives a badge for Offishial Pardon from the fish and laughs it out as the episode ends. The animation-cycle of her laughing and head making a small motion from one side to the other is very cute and comes off looking natural. Her voice-actress Mae Questel provides a sweet laughter that I always liked (as well as her potrayal of Olive Oyl in the Popeye-shorts). A heart-warming way to finish the episode.
The story has it's moral side, but that isn't potrayed in too heavily which makes Audrey's adventure very enjoyable. I only wish we could have stayed more under water, discovering the imaginative things in there; big and small.
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Harveytoons - The Complete Collection (2006)
http://www.amazon.com/Harvey-Toons-Artist-Not-Provided/dp/B000GG4XWE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1264538569&sr=8-1
