JohnHowardReid Players: "Inki", "Minah Bird", "Lion".Director: CHARLES M. JONES. Animators: Robert Cannon, Shamus Culhane. Lay-outs: John McGrew. Color by Technicolor. Producer: Leon Schlesinger.Copyright 31 October 1949 (in notice: 1942) by The Vitaphone Corp. (Which means of course that the film is actually not copyright at all as the statutory period for registering the original copyright had long since expired. However, it would be foolhardy to risk making a copy as Vitaphone have access to some very smart lawyers who could tie you up for years in court). A Warner Bros "Merrie Melodies" cartoon. U.S. release: 13 November 1943. 1 reel. 7 minutes.COMMENT: This "Merrie Melodies" cartoon entry comes across as rather more than somewhat below par. It should in fact really be titled "Inki, the Lion and the Minah Bird". A great deal of the action actually centers on the first two, namely Inki and the Lion - and neither very witty nor smartly paced action it actually is either. Indeed, despite the charm of some of the backgrounds, this entry signally lacks comic invention in both spot gags and situations.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . We Americans of (The Then) Far Future of Our Time of Tribulations under the Putin\Rump Administration. Warner's always prophetic Animated Shorts Seers unit (aka, The Looney Tuners) picture Red Commie KGB Chief Vlad "The Mad Russian" Putin as a not-so-ferocious mangy lion sporting dentures throughout INKI AND THE MINAH BIRD. The short would-be hunter Inki serves as Warner's stand-in for Putin's White House Sock Puppet Don Juan Rump, of course. The strange Bromance between Vlad and Don Juan is best illustrated from about 4:20 to 4:40 of this cartoon, when the pair are first shown hugging, followed up by Inki climbing into the lion's mouth. Inki emerges from this cozy position wearing the lion's dentures, which is Warner's shorthand way of conveying the idea that Rump is merely Putin's mouthpiece. Stalking this pair of Evil Doers throughout the story is the Minah Bird, none other than our fearless Special Counsel Bob Mueller. Warner includes several scenes in which this trio disappears into Cyclonic Blur of Whirlwinds, denoting God's Punishment (through Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Jose) for the hypocritical White Holy Rollers (who, according to a 9/7/17 USA TODAY analysis, are in the third stage of mourning--i.e., bargaining--on the Kubler Ross Scale, meaning that they've all signed on the dotted line with Satan by voting for and stubbornly continuing to support the despicable Putin\Rump Administration, as that Team of Demons does its best to destroy what's left of the American Empire), and the necessity when Mueller emerges with the Whole Truth (as the Minah Bird winds up this cartoon wearing the lion's dentures) of appeasing God by publicly giving ALL the Highly Treasonous Quisling Traitors their well-earned Joan of Arc-Style Roasting!

ricknorwood If a joke doesn't offend anybody, it isn't funny.The Inki cartoons are offensive, no doubt about it. So is rap music. Get over it. I suspect that any sane Black person will find the Inki cartoons hilarious, and that the people who are offended by them White people who still think Black's need their patronizing protection against racist humor.Seriously, the Inki cartoons are funny. It saddens me that, not because anybody is really offended, but because somebody might, just might, be offended, I can't buy Inki cartoons or The African Queen or Song of the South on DVD.

Lee Eisenberg The offensively portrayed Inki continues his hunt throughout the jungle, antagonizing a lion. It's no surprise that cartoons like "Inki and the Minah Bird" are harder to find than Warner Bros.'s most famous cartoons, given how they drew Inki. It's very much a product of the old style Euro-American view of Africa.I get the feeling that these cartoons won't come to DVD anytime soon. If Warner Bros. brings these to DVD, they should put them in a section identifying that these were creations of a pre-conscious era. There were a number of their cartoons like this; others included "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs". Good to see as a historical reference.