Little Beau Pepé (1952) User Reviews

Back around 1939 or so the most famous version of a Foreign Legion yarn titled . . .

[pixrox1 · 6/10 · 7 May 2021]

. . . BEAU GESTE was released. Google says that this foreign lingo phrase is supposed to mean fine gesture (though many cannot see how THAT should rate a commemorative, First Class U. S. Postage stamp). One of Mother Goose's fairy tale characters was named "Little BO Peep" (though who pays any attention nowadays to Isaac Goose's second wife, Elizabeth Foster Goose--not to be confused with that impostor, Mary Goose, later buried in Boston's Old Granary Cemetery). Of course, blue collar working stiff Revolutionary War Hero Captain Henry Livingston has been irrefutably proven to be the author of "The Night Before Christmas" (aka, "A Visit from Saint Nick") and NOT that senile unprincipled plagiarist Tory traitor dullard Clem Moore, but that's another story of an even bigger stinker than LITTLE BEAU PEPE.

The French Foreign Legion has long been known . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 11 October 2015]

. . . as the last refuge of the stinky skunks fleeing their wives and kids, so you'd think that the self-styled "Pepe Le Pew" (a.k.a., Henry the wayward dad and husband) would fit right in. But as Germany proved twice between 1914 and 1939, the French are total pushovers when it comes to any kind of invasion. True to form, one glimpse of Pepe proves enough to send an entire outpost of Frenchmen fleeing at the beginning of the Warner Bros. animated short, LITTLE BEAU PEPE. The main action then starts when the post's Left Behind female cat rubs the fresh whitewash off the bottom rung of a ladder with her back. Pepe erroneously concludes that this tainted kitty is a virginal skunk, opening another episode in his serial stalking career. Sensing a possible B.O. problem, Pepe next sprays himself with an ultra-smelly cocktail made from an entire shelf of exotic perfumes, which he's mixed together. A stray feline pheromone heats up the previously frigid kitty. As soon as the tables are turned, Pepe flees his prey-turned-pursuer, showing that his true stripes are Yellow.

The tale of the biter bit.

[llltdesq · 9/10 · 1 August 2003]

The whole premise of the Pepe Le Pew cartoons is based on a whopping bit of irony-a French skunk styling himself as "the great lover" (think Charles Boyer squared) but, for reasons obvious to everyone save himself, he finds it difficult to get a date on Saturday nights. Like a great many would-be Lotharios, when the tables turn, Pepe turns chicken and runs. A very funny cartoon, with a joke that will be particularly enjoyable for horse racing fans, at least older ones anyway. One party-pooper note: by law (unless it's been changed) French nationals cannot join the French Foreign Legion, which, given the name, should be stunningly obvious. Well worth tracking down. Recommended.

Pepe Le Pew and the Foreign Legion

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 15 June 2007]

This is yet another fun and typical Pepe Le Pew cartoon. While the formula is pretty well set and there are no huge surprises, it is a fun and very pleasant cartoon--and features some wonderful Chuck Jones animation.

The film begins in a fort in North Africa manned by the French Foreign Legion. Their mascot is a cat and NATURALLY she is accidentally painted to look like a skunk. When a real skunk appears (Pepe), the Legionaires run--leaving Pepe to pursue la petite femme skunk! The action seems like a combination of a Foreign Legion film and THE SHEIK and what's best about it is its funny ending when the hunter becomes the hunted. Great stuff and hard to beat entertainment.

Lots of fun as you'd expect from Pepe

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 17 January 2013]

Pepe Le Pew is not my favourite Looney Tunes character, but he is an entertaining one and also one that I appreciate much more than I did as a 10-year child 10 years ago. For me, For Scent-imental Reasons is Pepe's best cartoon, but Little Beau Pepe is still great. The animation is done in an elegant and beautifully-coloured style, one of the better-looking Pepe cartoons for me. The music is full of character and has a wonderful sense of irony and lush affection that suits Pepe and Looney Tunes cartoons so well. The writing has wit and that delicious self-irony that is an essential part of Pepe's character. The gags are just as clever and well timed, the ending is particularly great. The story is simple but effective in that regard, and is very crisply paced. Pepe and Penelope are very easy to like sort of characters, and Mel Blanc's vocals are superb.

In conclusion, lots of fun. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Sexual Humor **Before** Three's Company (Contains Spoiler)

[Angel-Marie · 7 October 2001]

Warning: May contain spoilers that may shock or disturb younger or more sensitive viewers. Please don't sue if your kid reads this and cries.

Though "The Cats Bah" took first place for Most Stylishly Done PLP (Pepe Le Pew) Cartoon, I have to give this one honorary mention, because of the styling of the Sahara Desert, the oasis, and the tent with the many purple and pink throw pillows and lace curtains (I can still see it when I shut my eyes!)

Anyway...

Like I said about "Scent Of The Matterhorn", "Two Scents Worth"...well, pretty much all 17 of the Jones-directed Pepe Le Pew cartoons (except for "Dog Pounded, which was directed by Freleng, and "Odor of the Day", directed by Arthur Davis--and including the 1959 one directed by Jones' animator, Abe Levitow), this one just oozes a subtle (sometimes overt) sense of sex appeal that only WW-II era cartoons and "Three's Company" could measure up to, but never beat. The entire last part where Pepe carries his unconscious object of desire to a tent all the way out in an oasis decorated with what I had mentioned earlier and makes an aphrodisiac out of really strong perfumes that work too well, which sends Pepe racing across the desert while his aphrodisiac-affected Penelope pursues him (reminiscent of "For Scent-imental Reasons, BTW) unsettled me (at first) and Pepe's ending remark, "Why is it that whenever a man is captured by a woman, all he wish to do is get away?" was a little sexist, but true to life.

9 stars out of ten.