Monday, December 15, 2014

Toon Legends: The Mouse of Tomorrow (1942)

Mighty Mouse wasn't always using that name. Initially, Paul Terry had christened him Super Mouse, as he was always meant to be a parody of Superman. However, in 1944, after 2 years of shorts, Terry learned that Timely Comics (now Marvel) already had a copyrighted character named Super Mouse, forcing the name change. Subsequent reissues of the 1942-4 shorts included new title cards and dubbed over narration.

Here, then, is the short that started it all. "The Mouse of Tomorrow". Castle Films got their hands on a negative of the original, and it is a collector's dream. The narrator, it appears, would be radio (and later TV) announcer Ken Roberts:



Primitive, yes, but you have to start somewhere, right?

Rating: B-.

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