Release Date:

October 7, 1939

Main Character(s):

Inki, Minah Bird

Summary:

While hunting, Inki encounters a lion who sees him as a meal. Throughout the cartoon, a mysterious Minah Bird shows up.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. An unknown original tune by Carl Stalling played under the opening credits:

Supervision: Charles Jones

Story: Robert Givens

Animation: Philip Monroe

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling

This is the first of five cartoons starring a young African hunter named Inki; all of which were completely devoid of dialogue and were directed by Jones. In each cartoon, the character who steals the show is the very nonchalant Minah Bird, who is always completely unconcerned with what’s going on around him, hops to the tune of Mendelssohn’s “Fingal’s Cave Overture”, and always comes out on top. The other four Inki cartoons are “Inki and the Lion” (1941), “Inki and the Minah Bird” (1943), “Inki at the Circus” (1947), and “Caveman Inki”.

Due to containing racial stereotypes, the Inki cartoons no longer air on television and have not turned up on modern home video. All except “Caveman Inki” (due to it being part of the post-July 1948 package) have only been made available on the Golden Age of Looney Tunes laserdisc box sets (which collected every Warner cartoon in the Associated Artists Productions package, barring the Censored Eleven). However, none of the Inki cartoons are in the Censored Eleven.

This is the very first Warner cartoon to lack dialogue.

What I Like About This One:

When Inki’s spear misses a giraffe (who doesn’t notice this at first), the giraffe absentmindedly bites down on the spear, causing his head to vibrate.

Inki following strange footprints into a bush which rustles loudly, which Inki runs away from, thinking there’s a dangerous animal in there. But instead of that, the Minah Bird pops out.

Inki stalking the Minah Bird by imitating his hop while following him.

The Minah Bird going into a hole but when Inki pulls out what he thinks is the Minah Bird, he instead pulls out a sleeping skunk!

The way a turtle dodges Inki’s spear.

After the turtle runs into a hollow log, it suddenly disappears when Inki comes out from the other end of the log. Then, the Minah Bird comes out and steps on Inki (causing him to make funny sound effects).

Inki throwing his spear at the Minah Bird, but the spear only helps the Minah Bird cross a chasm (Jones would later reuse this gag to an even funnier effect in “Robin Hood Daffy”).

When Inki follows the Minah Bird up a tree, the Minah Bird is seen atop Inki’s head, and making a noise by opening and closing his beak. When Inki attempts to grab him, the Minah Bird jumps up, causing Inki to fall down the tree.

Inki listening on the ground when the lion approaches him. Not realizing who he’s communicating to, he shushes the lion , who flicks the ground four times with a loud thump to give him a clue. Inki starts to slowly walk away, before running faster and faster with the lion following him, before Inki hides in a tree.

However, the lion sees Inki’s rear end from the other side of the tree, and taps him on the behind. Upon feeling the lion’s claw, Inki runs off again, and hides in a tree stump.

The lion resting his arm on the stump, before getting distracted by the jungle noise, which allows Inki to sneak away. Realizing the stump is no longer there, he follows Inki and appears in front of him. When he comes out of the stump, Inki wipes his forehead in relief, only to see the lion in front of him.

When the lion lets out a roar, the Minah Bird comes out of the stump. The lion decides to ignore Inki and go after the Minah Bird. He pounces upon him and offscreen fighting noises are heard. But it’s the Minah Bird who emerges victorious and it’s revealed that he managed to tie up the lion. The Minah Bird then lures Inki out of hiding and silently shows Inki what he did to the lion. As Inki looks on in satisfaction, the Minah Bird gives him a swift kick in the rear.

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕 ½