"An Itch In Time" (12/4/1943) is a cartoon with very simple premise, and just three characters: a dog, his owner (Elmer Fudd), and a hillbilly flea, all of them introduced within the first 20 seconds. That was enough for Bob Clampett and his amazing crew (Warren Foster, Rod Scribner, Bob McKimson, etc.) to make another miraculously funny, rich and rewarding cartoon. It is one of those cartoons that you can watch dozens of times, and always notice something new.
Take a look at these screenshots...
Between these two screenshots there's a large quantity of funny drawings, enough to fill another post like this.
"Scwatching, scwatching, scwatching! One more scwatch, and I'll give you a bath!"
Elmer has his most cartoony and appealing design in this cartoon - he has never looked better, before or since "An Itch In Time".
I always found this moment very odd and curious. It's a sudden cut from the long shot to the close-up, without any change of the background. Dog simply materialized himself in another position. Was Clampett experimenting with a radical jump-cut, 15 years before Jean-Luc Godard? Or maybe it's simply a mistake? Whatever's the case, it fits well in this cartoon, and emphasize the poor dog's anguished state of mind.
"Hey, I'd better cut this out. I might get to like it!"
This is probably the most famous dirty joke in the classic cartoons, a scene that somehow escaped the censor's scissors. There are few other, more subtle and hidden dirty jokes in this cartoon, for those who like to search for them.
"Now I've seen everything!"
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