The Practical Pig

The Practical Pig is a Silly Symphonies cartoon. Released on February 24, 1939, and directed by Dick Rickard. It was the second-to-last Silly Symphony made, and the fourth and final cartoon starring the Three Little Pigs (film). In fact, it was the only Three Little Pigs Silly Symphony that was credited as a "Three Little Pigs Cartoon".

Plot summary

While Practical Pig is hard at work building a new anti-Wolf contraption, this time a lie detector, his two brothers Fiddler and Fifer Pig go swimming despite their brother's warning not to go. Oblivious to the danger around them, they are soon captured by the Big Bad Wolf, who disguises himself as a voluptious mermaid to entice the two hapless porkers and then catching them in a net.

While the Wolf plans to entrap Practical Pig as well using a fake letter requesting help by his brothers, his three sons, who were told that they don't eat until he captured Practical, try to eat one of Fifer's legs as a sandwich but the Wolf, seeing this, promptly blows them down. They then lie that they'll wait until the Wolf returns with Practical. But as soon as he leaves, they prepare to make Fiddler & Fifer into a pork pie.

Practical sees right through the Wolf's messenger boy disguise (due to the Wolf unwittingly blowing the fake letter under the door, in turn blowing his cover) and sees an excellent chance to try out his new invention. The welcome mat drops in beneath the Wolf's feet, and he falls, screaming, into the pit below. He is next seen strapped into a chair in Practical's house, helpless against the technology of the resourceful. When interrogated by Practical about the whereabouts of his brothers, the Wolf lies (claiming he had never heard of them), and the machine goes into action. The Wolf's words are played back on a phonograph, and bulbs light up while an alarm bell sounds. Steam is pumped out, chemicals bubble and churn, electricity sizzles, and finally an indicator on the wall with a needle points to "LIE" and two whistles blow. The Wolf gets his mouth washed out with soap by a scrubbing brush.

The second time he lies (this time, claiming he hadn't seen them), the chair he is sitting in spins around, his pants are pulled down by a hook and he is given a spanking. The third time, the Wolf tries to fool the machine into thinking he and Practical are "pals", but the lie detector sees through the ruse and the Wolf ends up getting his mouth washed out and a spanking, as well as having his knuckles whacked with rulers.

Meanwhile, at the wolves' hideout, the Three Little Wolves are about to bake Fifer & Fiddler in the finished pork pie. The two pigs remind them of the Wolf's warning, of which the young wolves dismiss. But one of the wolves says that they forgot the pepper, and add it onto the pigs. The lid comes off however, and it gets everywhere, causing Fifer and Fiddler to sneeze so hard, that it blows the pie crust right off of the pie and into the wolves, splatting them against the wall. The pigs then escape.

At Practical's house, the Lie Detector machine punishes the Wolf harder and harder (he is now spun round by it, alternating between being spanked and mouth washed out, and his head getting bonked and his rear getting washed) until he gives in and tells the truth. He is then shot right out of the house with a rocket stuck up his shirt. Practical prepares to go save his brothers (he mistakenly picks up a broom as he heads to the door, then he realizes this and goes back to pick up his blunderbuss), but Fiddler and Fifer have since managed to escape from the Three Little Wolves, and return home safe and sound, slamming the door right into Practical and embedding him in the wall. When scolded by their brother (who is not terribly happy) against defying his orders, the two pigs play innocent and tell him they didn't go swimming. But the lie detector springs into action, and the two storytellers are soundly spanked. When Practical warns them "This hurts me worse than it does you!", he gets picked up by the machine and is also given a spanking.