That was an excellent one.

Let's be realistic.

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

. . . (without being part of an attacking Yankee military unit) is totally nuts, Warner Bros. warns us with THE WEARING OF THE GRIN, just one in a continuing series of world travel alerts Warner produced in the form of animated shorts. GRIN does for Ireland what MY BUNNY LIES OVER THE SEA did for Scotland. Porky Pig has thrown caution to the wind, and has reached suburban Dublin as GRIN opens. Expecting to enjoy the hospitality of a nearby castle as the Emerald Isle's notoriously rugged weather sets in, the trusting porker is struck down in a booby-trapped fortress entry way. Stunted bearded bozos then try to drown this stunned American tourist. Failing at that, the loony locals terrorize poor Porky out of his wits. (Water boarding may sound a tad harsh, but it pales in comparison to the Horrors of Involuntary Tap Dancing!) If director Eli Roth's GREEN INFERNO and HOSTEL flicks haven't been enough to make your impressionable youngsters swear off "study abroad" programs and other forms of foreign travel forever, show them Warner's THE WEARING OF THE GRIN and the many related Looney Tunes. (And if they're STILL hankering for dangerous adventures, you can suggest that they try to jog through the streets of North Charleston, SC, to find out if they'll be stoned, as I recently was there.)

Chuck Jones's 'The Wearing of the Grin' is a genuine oddity. While he would ultimately utilise Porky Pig brilliantly as Daffy Duck's sidekick in several genre spoofs, Jones seems here to be struggling to find a use for a character whose personality doesn't extend far beyond his stutter. 'The Wearing of the Grin' largely eschews gags in favour of a creepy atmosphere and a sense of the surreal. Caught in a storm, Porky seeks refuge in an old castle where he encounters a pair of Irish leprechauns. While the strange sense of otherness is well evoked, 'The Wearing of the Grin' fails to generate that much interest. This is due largely to the boring characters of the leprechaun antagonists. The short build to a brief surreal set piece in which Porky is pursued by a pair of shoes. This is undoubtedly the high point of the cartoon yet it falls short on inventiveness and is ultimately quite dry. This sense of disappointment is compounded by a predictable and unfunny climax. All in all, 'The Wearing of the Grin' is notable for its unusualness but has little else to recommend it.

It's pouring out and traveler Porky is looking for some refuge in the storm. He wonders if the people in "that quaint old castle" on top of the nearby hill will put him up for the night. En route, he sees a sign that says, "Beware of the Leprechauns." What nonsense, Porky thinks. Upon entering the castle, he meets "Seamus O'Toole," caretaker of the "Clarey Castle.""Seamus" is really two leprechauns standing on top of the other. They are "O'Pat" and "O'Mike" and they think Porky has come to steal their pot of gold. What happens after that, with the magical green shoes, is bizarre with dream-like sequences. There are some very cool visuals. The artwork in here is just beautiful, start-to-finish. Most of these cartoons in the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection" are restored to bold, bright colors and give the excellent artists who drew these animated short subjects their due.

Caught in a rain storm while on his way to Dublin, Porky seeks refuge in an old castle despite warnings that it is inhabited by leprechauns. When he arrives seeking a room for the night, the two leprechauns assume that he is after their gold and decide to keep him away from it, one way or another.I could get all up in arms about Irish stereotypes and so on, but who cares? If you ignore this rather crude image and take it in the affectionate spirit it was intended then this is quite funny. Porky does some good double takes when first discovering the identity of his hosts (especially when approached by one of the leprechauns who says `pardon me sir, but have ye seen the lower part of me about?' - had me rolling!).The characters keep it amusing, even if the plot takes it places that don't totally work, but it is still quite funny and is different enough to hold it's own. One thing I didn't get was the way that the little fellas smoked their pipes upside down - is this the way it's meant to be done? Ah well, probably doesn't matter!