TheLittleSongbird Chuck Jones is widely considered one of animation's finest directors/animators and for very good reason. When he was at his best, his cartoons were masterpieces of animation, comic timing, characterisation and wit.The Sniffles cartoon series were very early efforts for Jones, and, while they are interesting from a historical perspective, it is safe to say that from personal opinion they don't see him at his best(though they are a long way from bad). There is somewhat of a still finding his feet feel here, with the humour once he became a regular director for the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons becoming much funnier, more constant and wittier and the characterisation far more interesting.'Sniffles and the Bookworm' is one of the better Sniffles cartoons. The premise is a very familiar one and has been done with more imagination elsewhere, but actually there is not much wrong here. The predictable ending is where 'Sniffles and the Bookworm' is at its weakest.What makes 'Sniffles and the Bookworm' one of his best is that it is one of the crisper paced, it's one of the most amusing ones and it is very charming while being a Sniffles cartoon that doesn't try too hard to be cute. The literary characters coming to life premise is not an original one as said but is still great fun to watch, very nostalgic and has its fair share of visual invention.Have said before that Sniffles is not one of the most interesting and compelling characters, here he is sweet but has grown in personality. The bookworm is a good supporting character and they work very well together. The literary characters are wittily done and the chases are suitably merry.As ever with Jones, the animation is very good. It is lush and vibrant in colour and meticulous and beautifully drawn in detail. The character designs are fluid, well drawn and distinctive Jones, if not the creative ones of his very best cartoons. Carl Stalling's music is lush and characterful, with clever orchestration and a mastery of not just adding to the action but enhancing it as well (Stalling was a near-unequalled master at this, though Scott Bradley gave him a run for his money).On the whole, very good for a Sniffles cartoon. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Vimacone Sniffles was one of Chuck Jones' early characters. This was during his early years when he was attempting to emulate Disney. Sniffles appears in a handful of Jones' shorts from 1939- 41. One of Sniffles regular companions was a mute bookworm. This is his first appearance.Most of Jones' early shorts had sluggish or dramatic pacing, which Jones' colleagues at the time and even contemporary fans have criticized him for. This is the case for the first half of the short until all the characters break into song and dance, which saves the film from being forgettable.This also falls in the genre of book come to life cartoons, which was a staple of WB cartoons throughout the 1930's. The book (or product label) come to life shorts always featured a popular song. This one being a musical number "Mutiny In The Nursery" from the WB feature "Going Places (1938)". The musical sequence is very catchy and makes it one of the best Sniffles entries.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . maroon bow ties, and reading glasses? In SNIFFLES AND THE BOOKWORM, the latter title character scoots his way through a tunnel a couple dozen tomes wide, which he's evidently committed to memory by consuming them. Later, this Creepy Crawly Character is able to elicit the denizens of many volumes to form a jazz ensemble, until Frankenstein's Monster threatens to break up the party. Though Sniffles the Mouse manages to trip up Frank (at least temporarily), perhaps Warner Bros. is using this animated short to warn viewers that we're not out of the woods yet. Just as bookworms endanger entire libraries, Warner warns, film decay--based on the flammable nitrate medium of Sniffle's Day--was (and continues) to endanger the World's Film Heritage. As Steven Spielberg documented, Hugo's mentor had the master copies of his pioneering film shorts turned into World War One ammunition. Maybe the Book People from FAHRENHEIT 451 could preserve the static printed page, but who will come to the rescue of the three million films made before the Digital Age, Warner asks. The World is STILL yearning to see the complete 40-hour director's cut of GREED!

Michael_Elliott Sniffles and the Bookworm (1939) ** (out of 4) A mouse falls asleep in a book store when he is visited by a bookworm, which turns a bunch of book characters into moving creatures. We get appearances from various stories all leading up to the showdown with Frankenstein's monster. All in all I found this animated short to be rather bland because none of the characters were all that interesting and that includes our lead, the mouse. I wasn't even overly impressed with Jones' animation because it too comes off bland and without too much life. The story itself is an interesting one but not much is done with it. There's a musical number that I didn't care too much for but the one interesting this is that the death of the monster here comes somewhat similar to that seen the same year in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN.