Fish Tales 1936

Porky Pig heads out for a quiet day of fishing, only to be joined by two unexpected companions: two worms that creep from their hole and trail him all the way to his boat. The first worm eagerly hops into the can, while the second worm—portrayed as a woman wearing gloves and high heels—begins the day coy, but is quickly hauled inside as well.

Porky starts the engine, and the boat comes alive, its motion turning wild and unpredictable as it shoots across the water toward the open ocean. The vessel shoots straight toward a distant battleship, then dives and rises from beneath the waves, wiping out the calm with a chaotic flip of the sea. On the return trip, the boat crashes into the battleship, scattering sailors and splitting a dinner table in half. The dramatic collision ends with the boat pushing clear of the ship, which then sinks to the deep.

Once free, Porky manages to bring the boat to a halt. He unfurls a fishing rod, and after a few flubs and false starts, he settles into the patient rhythm of fishing. He reels in a heady trophy—a fish head—before tossing it back into the water. A steady stream of catches follows, and Porky fills a bucket with his haul. Yet the exertion takes its toll, and he yawns, exhaustion brushing his whiskered face. He arranges a rope as a pillow and drifts off to sleep, sinking into a dream that turns the day surreal.

In the dream, a hunter fish—anthropomorphic and armed with a rod-gun—prepares to shoot at Porky from the harbor of the boat. Porky wakes to find a ring shaped like a doughnut; he reaches for it, only to be seized by the ring and reeled in by the hunting fish. The predator carries Porky to an underwater home where a fish wife and two fish kids await him, all watching with mixed curiosity and amusement.

The hunter presents Porky, hanging upside down, to the family. The kids laugh and tremble, and Porky’s strange, fish-like movements evoke both humor and fear. The hunter escorts Porky into the kitchen, where a knife is used to slice Porky’s shirt until he is naked, and Porky is slid into a pan. Pepper, carrots, potatoes, and an apple are placed around him as if to prepare a whimsical, perilous meal, and Porky slides into an oven where dancing flames threaten his breath.

Inside the oven, the flames swirl and Porky feels suffocated, coughing out, “let me outta here!” > let me outta here! He escapes the oven just as the dream spirals into a chase. He runs from the house, encountering an eel, a giant fish, and a swordfish, only to be captured by an octopus that entangles him in its tentacles.

Porky jolts awake, still naked and tangled in rope, and he begins tossing everything into the water, stoking the engine, and driving the boat away with renewed urgency.