Manic Expression

Hello & welcome back to Classic Shorts Showcase. Today, I'll be taking taking a look at Who Killed Cock Robin? This short is perhaps one of the most intriguing that I've watched.

The Plot

The entire thing is set in a world of birds with bright and vibrant colors that contrasts the story which is a murder trial. This is really dark and it surprisingly works. This short is so clever, the idea of setting a murder trial against the backdrop of woodland creatures works in giving this story a feeling that off sets the mood and clashes in a good way. This is one of the best shorts that I've seen in a while and I think something that totally works in this short's favor is that they play the murder trial straight as if it were a serious crime drama albeit with birds instead of people.

Characters

I'm going to do something a little different here. Instead of my usual categories, I'll be breaking this down into Victim Witness & Suspects, Law and Culprit. I thought why not go along with the murder trial theme. It seems like a really fun idea. With that out of the way, let's go.

Victim

Cock Robin

Poor Cock Robin, he didn't even see it coming. He was standing there serenading his love Jenny Wren with a crooner type voice. It's hard to explain his voice but he sounded like Bing I guess. I'm not sure and then out of nowhere, a bow comes and shoots him and knocks him off the tree where he was singing but he goes down with a smile on his face. As the title asks though, who shot Cock Robin? I'll present to you the suspects and perhaps you can figure out who did it? Before we get to them though, there is one thing that I must say surprised me, Cock Robin's dead body was on display in the courtroom for all to see.

Witness

Jenny Wren

Robin's love, Jenny Wren was the only one at the scene of the crime when it occurred. Jenny Wren is a lady that is very confident in herself and proud of her looks but didn't use them to her advantage. Now it's true that men do fall for her and her voice is very sultry. When she enters the courtroom, all of the men fall for her hard. I know she doesn't every say that who the culprit is but in part that is because the true culprit reveals himself.

Suspects

Here we go, whodunit. This is where we take a look at the suspects. Was it the Crow, the Cuckoo, or Legs Sparrow, the gangster bird. Who do you think did it?

Crow

I doubt it was the Crow. Just look at him, he's looks to nervous or could it be a ruse to hide the fact that he really did it. Doubtful as his body was quivering and if he was shaking that much, I don't think that he'd be able to hold a bow as that was the weapon of choice of her culprit and you need to have a steady hand err wing to shoot.

Cuckoo

Or was it this Harpo Marx esque bird. He was a crazy little bird that didn't seem to have a clue as to what was the heck was going on. When asked what was going on and who killed Cock Robin, he pointed to the judge and the prosecutor. I don't think it was this Cuckoo bird either. Because he just seems to crazy to try to pull something like this off.

Legs Sparrow

Was it Legs Sparrow, the tough guy. The one willing to fight the coppers and knock them out. Again, I don't think it was as he came across as the type of character that would boast about it if he did it.

Law

Now we take a look at the law. The ones wanting answers.

Judge Owl

I have to say that I love the casting of an owl as the judge and I know that I haven't been listing voice actors. That's mainly because I was only able to find one and I run into that problem a lot with these shorts. Anyways, I bring this up because Billy Bletecher, the original Pete voiced the judge and you can't even tell. That's awesome. Now back to the proceedings. The judge was harsh and stern and when he didn't get answers from any of the suspects, he was going to hang them all. All the more reason to enjoy this short as you wouldn't see something like that in a short made today.

Prosecutor

Our prosecutor was a tough no hold barred guy who grilled all of the suspects but always came up short when it came to answers. I find that using a parrot as the prosecutor was an inspired choice and I loved it. I'm sorry but I gotta include this.

Jury

The Jury were probably the least interesting group of characters but with a short like this that's okay seeing as this short is more about the story than the characters. They came across as just being mimics and repeating everything that the judge said.

Culprit

So, have you figured out who the culprit is? Well, fear not, I'm about to reveal who it was. The true culprit was...

Cupid

Yes, the true culprit in all of this was Cupid. He shot in Cock Robin in the heart and even admitted to it. Robin wasn't dead. He was in love. Now I'll admit that Cupid did come across as a bit flamboyant and I'll admit that while this may sound for odd a Disney short, I swear he was gay. Seriously, he seemed like a gay stereotype before gay stereotypes were around. I mean this short came out in 1935 and I don't think homosexuality was as accepted back then as it is today and I'm probably just reading into it too much but he seemed gay. It's not a bad thing but rather just an observation.

My Final Thoughts

Well, the case is closed and we know who shot Cock Robin. Seriously, though all of this could have been avoided if someone checked his pulse. All the same this was a great short. One that I highly suggest. It was a lot of fun to watch and to review as well. Let me know what you thought of this format in the comments Join me next time as I look at ...

The Little House