Porky’s Movie Mystery 1939

A playful spoof of Hollywood’s hidden nerves unfolds across a sunlit backlot. A radio news report from Walter Windshield—a cheeky nod to Walter Winchell—spreads that a mysterious phantom has been haunting Hollywood for weeks, wrecking pictures and frightening stars. At Warmer Bros Studios, the spoofed Warner Bros property, the phantom’s rampage continues to ripple through the lot, turning everyday soundstage into a stage for mischief and menace.

Studio cops prowl the grounds, sweeping the lot as they hunt for clues. They even grill famous movie monsters, including Frankenstein, who bites his fingernails in a tense moment of nervous interrogation. The sense of unease grows as the phantom’s antics escalate, leaving the studio’s atmosphere taut with curiosity and fear.

The Phantom’s antics take a literal ascent: he climbs a spiral staircase all the way to the ceiling, then slides back down a pole to the top floor, slipping into the dressing room of the Invisible Man and unmasking himself with theatrical flair. He explains that his tirade is personal—he was fired after starring in one picture, presumably his self-titled film—setting the stage for a broader vendetta against Hollywood. With a chilling zeal, he declares that he will crack every camera, wreck every reel, smash every set and scare off every star away from Hollywood, and then he laughs, a sound that echoes through the studio like a warning.

Fed up with the phantom’s wrath, the public and the police decide to summon Mel Blanc as Porky Pig’s Mr. Motto to stop him. Unfortunately, Mr. Motto is technically on vacation, but the police chief makes it clear that this is a case that cannot wait, and they insist on bringing him in anyway. On a tiny island, Motto ponders Ju Jitsu in a book, only to receive a phone call—well, a coconut, really—that pulls him back to Hollywood. He crashes into the chief’s office in dramatic style, offers a quick apology, then dives straight into the mystery.

As Motto begins his search, the invisibility-obsessed adversary spots him, discards his dark disguise, and bleeds into a movie poster showing an actress named Lotta Dimples in a film called Great Guns. Motto presses on, only to be knocked aside by the Invisible Man’s axe-wielding assault. Cornered at a wall, Motto recalls the very lessons in his book, fights back with grit, and stays in the moment. He retreats momentarily, then charges forward with renewed resolve, spraying anti-invisible juice that reveals the culprit in a final, dramatic reveal. The Phantom is exposed as Hugh Herbert, a twist that lands with a mix of humor and triumph, as Motto stands tall and Hollywood begins to breathe a sigh of relief, the danger dispersed and the studio returning to its familiar rhythm.