The 'Little Red Riding Hood' story is one of the most parodied stories in animation, mostly by Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies. Almost all these stories while putting their own spin on it (such as with the humour and featuring iconic characters in the roles) stick to the basic story where the wolf is the villain and Red and Granny the good characters.What a surprise to see a cartoon that not only put its own irreverent and incredibly wild spin on the tale, but portrays it in a completely different light. Here Red is the complete anti-thesis of the innocent character that she is always portrayed as, she is very brutal here actually, and Granny has most of the funniest moments, is almost as interesting a character as the Wolf and every bit as brutal. Meanwhile, the wolf while still untrustworthy, you are apprehensive as to whether to believe him or not, is the character that 'The Trial of Mr Wolf' aims to make the viewer relate most to him and it succeeds more than very well at that.'The Trial of Mr Wolf' contains some spectacular animation. Throughout there are gorgeously vibrant colours, backgrounds that are rich in detail and the characters are smoothly drawn. Carl Stalling never disappoints and one of my favourite composers in cartoon history, 'The Trial of Mr Wolf' does nothing to change that perception. Anybody expecting luscious orchestration, characterful rhythms, clever use of instrumentation and sounds and the ability to elevate gags to a greater level rather than just adding to it will find all of those aplenty.Another great asset is how well the humour comes over, to describe it as funny doesn't sum it up enough. The dialogue is hilariously wild and one is shocked at how much the cartoon gets away with, and there is not one misfire in the many gags that come by thick and fast but timed impeccably. The Wolf's re-enactments in flashback structure are cleverly done, and the courtroom scenes equally so, while the Katharine Hepburn imitation is spot on and Granny has a priceless moment towards the end. All three main characters are interesting and funny, and it was refreshing seeing them portrayed so differently.Mel Blanc and Sara Berner do top-notch jobs with the voice work. The element in fact that comes off least, though it does still manage to be amusing, is the ending which does creep up a bit too suddenly and ends in a somewhat "that's it?" way.Otherwise, 'The Trial of Mr Wolf' was a brilliantly clever, refreshing and unlike-anything-you've-seen-before take on an age-old story. 9/10 Bethany Cox

. . . anthropologists and zoologists agree that there were between 12 and 14 wolves here per human being. Most Pre-Columbian Peoples treated Wolves as Demigods (not unlike how the people of India respect Sacred Cows). But by 1941, humans outnumbered wolves by a 42,378 to 1 ratio in the U.S. To help rectify this scandalous state of affairs, Warner Bros. released this animated short--THE TRIAL OF MR. WOLF--that year to set the story straight. Red Riding is portrayed here as a sleazy, mercenary siren chick, luring Mr. Wolf to his Doom on behalf of Big Ranching. These Land Hogs have been getting away with appointing themselves as their own private Hitlers over 1,000 acres of your land and mine for every one acre for which they've actually bought and paid. Beginning with wolves, these Rich People Party Red-Staters have decimated our formerly Great West, clear-cutting the indigenous Wildlife, while leaving the Land Unfit for anything but the Factory Farm Reign of Terror against inbred "Domesticated" critters gobbling up 10 calories of feed for every single calorie of human food that they "produce." With THE TRIAL OF MR. WOLF, Warner predicts a Day of Reckoning is coming that will clip the wings of these Free-Ranging Ranchers!

OK, so a number of cartoons have used fairy tales as their basis, and Little Red Riding Hood is one of the prime examples. In the early '40s, Warner Bros. alone released several cartoons featuring renditions of the story. One example is Friz Freleng's "The Trial of Mr. Wolf", in which the story's lupine co-star tells his version of the events: Little Red and grandmother are a pair of homicidal maniacs bent on turning him into a fur coat. Of course, we the audience doubt Mr. Wolf's credibility the whole time.I suspect that this cartoon was a place holder in between the really great cartoons of that year (1941 saw Bugs Bunny's ascendancy to cartoon superstar in shorts such as "Elmer's Pet Rabbit", "Tortoise Beats Hare" and "Wabbit Twouble"). So we can forgive it if it doesn't quite reach the hilarity level achieved by Warner's more famous cartoons. Worth seeing for what it is. Available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 Disc 2.

This short takes the Little Red Riding Hood tale and flips it around, with an amusing (if improbable) version being told by the Wolf on the witness stand. As I want to discuss some of the details, this is a spoiler warning: The short opens with the introduction of the case of the Big Bad Wolf versus Little Red Riding Hood, in a bit of a role reversal, with the Wolf bringing charges against Little Red Riding Hood, with his attorney making an opening statement to a jury comprised of a majority of wolves (and one very lonely skunk at the FAR end of the jury box. The Wolf is on the witness stand. Given the story he's relating, if he's under oath, he may well be up on perjury charges before the day is out! He portrays himself in such sweetly decorous behavior that he makes Buster Brown look like one of the Dead End Kids. He's so infantile that a bird yells at him, telling him harshly to act his own age. The Wolf then paints a picture of Little Red Riding Hood (with a voice styled after Katharine Hepburn) out to be a conniving trader in fur coats. He winds up at Grandma's house, where Red disappears from the short after pushing him inside and locking a whole flock of doors. Grandma is in bed and you hear a variation on the exchange between Red and the Wolf, only with the Wolf delivering Red's standard lines and Grandma doing the Wolf's. Grandma then spends most of the rest of the short trying to separate the Wolf from his hide (strangely enough, Grandma isn't in the dock with Red, though she supposedly tries to kill him and skin him repeatedly.We finally return to the Wolf rather energetically trying to testify, only to find that even a packed jury doesn't believe his baloney. The ending is cute and I won't spoil it here. This one is well worth watching, if you get the opportunity. Recommended.