Crying Wolf (1947)
Article 5780 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-29-2020
Directed by Connie Rasinski
Featuring the voices of Dayton Allen, Roy Halee, Tom Morrison
Country: USA
What it is: Mighty Mouse cartoon

The black sheep of a flock keeps scaring the others with his cry of “Wolf!”. But what will happen when a real wolf shows up? And who will save the sheep then?

Instead of defending a bunch of mice against a cat, Mighty Mouse defends a bunch of sheep against a wolf. Though I’m tempted to give the cartoon a bit of credit for varying the formula that little bit, it’s not the first time this substitution was made; try WOLF! WOLF! from 1944. Borrowing part of the premise from the story of the boy who cried wolf isn’t really a plus, either; it only tells you the plot line that the rest of the cartoon will follow. Nevertheless, this is one of the better of the series, largely because the wolves prove a slightly more formidable opponent than the usual cat, and also because it does yield at least one rather amusing gag (that’s one more than many of the Mighty Mouse cartoons pull off). Still, I’m not sure that’s enough to recommend this one; it’s just a marginally more interesting entry in a tired series.