Identify old bee-fighting cartoon

September 20, 2006 4:39 PM

Help me win a bet by identifying old-tyme cartoon for my dad.

My dad has done a lot of research to try and identify this cartoon, and I bet him that I could find out within a few days. I'm basically relying entirely on you guys :)

Here's what he remembers, though the details may be off:

It was an old cartoon (1950-1970?) that mixed live action and animation. After going out to a mailbox, a boy and his sister are shrunk to the size of bees and are taken to a bee hive. They are taken before the queen and later attacked by wasps. The boy manages to find a pin which he uses as a weapon against the wasp's stingers. He successfully protects the hive, becoming a hero. They're eventually brought back to regular size and begin walking home on the road.

Help me win this bet!

posted by TimeTravelSpeed to media & arts (13 comments total)

Since one is allowed to fudge the details a bit, it does sound a lot like Jeannot l'intrépide. Another possibility that deviates rather more from the details is Joë petit boum-boum.
posted by mdevore at 6:14 PM on September 20, 2006

Reading the IMDB entry for "Jeannot l'intrépide" further, it appears the USA version, known as "Johnny Little and the Giant" or "Johnny the Giant Killer", was butchered from 80 minutes of the original French version down to 58 minutes, which might account for details being lost or changed. Even if it's not your movie, it does make one wonder what might have so offended 1950-ish USA audience sensibilities to lose 22 minutes.
posted by mdevore at 6:30 PM on September 20, 2006

Here's the poster from Jeannot l'intrepide, so your dad can see if the image matches his memory.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:29 PM on September 20, 2006

And here are what seem to be images from Joe Petit Boum-Boum. I don't read French; looks like these might be from an animated series rather than a single movie?
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:33 PM on September 20, 2006

Was the cartoon on TV or in the theaters? In France or the USA? Is he sure there was live action involved as well as animation?

Assuming we're not barking up the wrong tree, here's more info about the two possibilities mdevore raised. There were two Joe the Little Boom-Boom cartoons by Jean Image, a three-season French TV series from 1960-63 and a 60-minute movie remake in 1973. I don't know if they were dubbed into English or ever shown on US television, though. Here's a page in English with a link to an image gallery.

Jean Image released Jeannot l'intrépide in 1950, which was shortened and released as Johnny the Giant Killer in the USA in 1953. Here are lots of details and five pages of images. It looks amazing.

[quote for mdevore: The shocking scene where the ogre prepares to eat a lion sandwich is cut from extant US prints - one wonders how grisly the original French version was.]
posted by mediareport at 7:00 AM on September 21, 2006

I've looked at all your links, and boy if it's not Joe the Little Boom Boom, I can't imagine it being anything else.

I've called my dad and although he doesn't remember it by name, he'll be looking at these links today and getting back to me. I'll post my findings then.

Thanks!
posted by TimeTravelSpeed at 9:42 AM on September 21, 2006

mediareport, while I know he saw it in the USA, I'm not certain if he saw it on TV or in theaters. He's always described it as a movie though, so I imagine he saw it in theaters.
posted by TimeTravelSpeed at 9:48 AM on September 21, 2006

And he seemed adamant that there was live action in it.
posted by TimeTravelSpeed at 9:53 AM on September 21, 2006

Sorry, I meant that I think Jeannot l'intrépide is the match, not Boom-Boom. That coffee should set in any moment now.
posted by TimeTravelSpeed at 10:19 AM on September 21, 2006

Okay, my dad saw a few of the links. He doesn't remember the part about the giant, but it's been about fifty years since he's seen the cartoon. We've decided to get our hands on a copy of Johnny the Giant Killer and see if it rings any bells.

He says he thinks he saw it on TV and that it seemed like it was 2-3 hours long with commercials. This seems to fit with the running time for Jeannot/Johnny.

Also, I did some searching and found out that the show was aired as "Johnny Little and the Giant" on a show called Capt'n Sailorbird (scroll to bottom). This show took foreign cartoons and dubbed them in english. This could be where he saw it.

Lastly, my dad had mentioned that he thought he remembered the character shrinking at a mailbox. This led me to a theory that he's mixing the live-action/cartooniness of Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller with Jeannot. In it, the main character is shrunk onto a stamp at a mailbox.
posted by TimeTravelSpeed at 11:43 AM on September 21, 2006

We've decided to get our hands on a copy of Johnny the Giant Killer

Er, better hurry; I just bought one of the two that were listed at Amazon. :)
posted by mediareport at 7:35 AM on September 22, 2006

Bastard! Oh well, mind if we watch it at your place?
posted by TimeTravelSpeed at 8:11 AM on September 22, 2006

:P

(There's still one left.)
posted by mediareport at 6:57 PM on September 22, 2006