Little Gravel Voice (1942) User Reviews

good story but not the ending

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 28 November 2020]

All the animals avoid the little burro due to his loud braying. When a wolf attacks, the burro is able to scare it away with loud voice.

I like the story but I don't like the ending. The animals should not be scared of the burro. They should celebrate his loud voice. The joke ending should be the burro's loud voice still shocks them despite their acceptance.

Hee Haw!

[boblipton · 5/10 · 28 November 2020]

Down in the Grand Canyon, all the animals get along just fine. When the young burro shows up, everyone likes him. Then he opens his mouth, gives a screeching HEE HAW! And everyone runs away.

Well, some people must have finer tuned nerves than members of the theater audience. We all know how this is going to turn out; someone -- that wolf for example -- is going to threaten some esteemed member of the community, the burro will save him. Having achieved the rank of Useful Idiot, he will be permitted to associate with the critters. Hoo raw.

Rudolph Ising's work is excellent, as usual. The visuals are superb. I just wish he hadn't done this particular plot for the three billionth time.

Nice

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 18 February 2024]

'Little Gravel Voice' (1942)

Opening thoughts: There are cartoons of Rudolf Ising that are good, sweet, charming and amusing (if seldom hilarious). Then there are others that are not so good, too cutesy and tired with bland characters and barely existent storytelling. 'Little Gravel Voice' sees a bit of both extremes, though thankfully with more the former than the latter. Which was surprising, seeing as it has a premise that could easily be entirely the latter and also one that is not that great.

Bad things: It isn't perfect. It is too saccharine, especially going into the middle. Like with all Ising cartoons, the story is best forgotten as there isn't really one, what little there is has too much of a recycled feel and the pacing is not always secure.

The ending also is pretty anaemic and anti-climactic, with a sense that the writers didn't know how to end the cartoon and instead took the easy, safe option out.

Good things: However, it is quite cute and charming with a nice gentle pace and a few moderately amusing moments. The more eventful parts do excite. The characters are engaging enough.

Furthermore, the animation is rich in detail for design and backgrounds, vibrant in colour and crisp. Composer for the prime-era 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons and regular Tex Avery composer Scott Bradley provides a lush and atmospheric music score.

Concluding thoughts: Overall, surprisingly nice and not what was expected from reading the premise.

7/10.

After having a summer job which required me to live in Grand Canyon Village . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 7/10 · 5 December 2020]

. . . for many months, naturally the other members of my Film Club circle wanted my opinion on whether I thought that LITTLE GRAVEL VOICE was set in Arizona's deepest ditch, and if so, exactly how accurate this depiction really is. First off, the slender pinnacles shown rising from the canyon floor in the opening panning shot are more reminiscent of nearby Canyon de Chelly, than of the more popular and much larger national park. However, the wide pathway on which the title character navigates his rugged home turf does bring to mind the accommodating Bright Angel and South Kaibab Trails, both of which were used in the 1900's by Fred Harvey's donkeys to ferry tourists down to the Tonto Plateau, and to resupply Phantom Ranch near the Colorado River at the bottom of this giant hole. Therefore, it's pretty impossible to provide a definitive answer to my fellow movie consumers' queries.

Everybody who still does not know that donkeys are the best needs to watch this one

[Horst_In_Translation · 8/10 · 26 November 2017]

"Little Gravel Voice" is an 8-minute color cartoon from 1942, so this one has its 75th anniversary this year and it is an MGM production directed by Rudolf Ising briefly after he won his first and only Oscar, which was also the last time he was nominated and this one is from his later years of filmmaking. But it may very well be my absolute favorite of his. It sure helps that I am a great donkey fan to be honest, but seriously could the little one in here be any cuter. You just wanna hug him, especially when he keeps tearing up as the other animals reject him repeatedly because of his voice. And I also thought this was a multi-layered story delivering similarly in terms of plot like The Ugly Duckling or Elmer Elephant. So how come this one here is so severely underseen. And why is rating here on IMDb relatively low? Maybe some did not like that the donkey is somewhat shut up eventually and his sounds are not accepted yet? Or didn't they like how it's honestly not too realistic he chases away a wolf only by the sounds he makes? (Wolves sure were everybody's scapegoats back then if you look at stuff like Blitz Wolf or the 3 piggies vs. wolf cartoons in general.) Or did they find the sound just as annoying as the other animals of the area? Or the war bond reference at the very end that works strongly against the peace and tolerance message that is essential before in the film? Or what is the reason here? I am not sure at all as I enjoyed the watch very much and I would have loved to see this cute little donkey in more cartoons, which sadly never happened. It was visually as good as story-wise and after all the years since I saw this one the first time, I must say it is still as good as it was back then, it holds up really well on rewatch. This is my favorite cartoon from 1942 and this means quite something as it was a year that brought out amazing stuff like "Der Fuehrer's Face". I highly recommend seeing it as chances are high you haven't so far. A must-see for lovers of old cartoons and my fellow donkey lovers of course. Highly recommended. Oh yeah final note that makes the watch even easier: There's no spoken language in here, so you won't need subtitles whatsoever.