User Reviews

Odd, because of the subject matter, very ambitious for animation and not done a lot. And fascinating, for the very polarising opinions on the cartoon and how it deals with the subject matter. Make Mine Freedom is not a classic, but it is well done and will be of great interest for animation fans.

Make Mine Freedom is very well-animated. Sure it has a different look to most 40s Hanna-Barbera cartoons, with the character designs more reminiscent of the style of Fritz Freleng, but the animation quality here is still vibrant, beautifully shaded and fluid with the drawing smooth enough too. The music, when used, is characterful, used very cleverly in the first 2 minutes(minus the odd use of the British National Anthem) and sumptuously orchestrated. Make Mine Freedom is smartly scripted with some wittily written narration(which was voiced with great dignity), in a way that entertains and teaches, it's cleverly structured(thankfully not running out of steam too early) and the characters, even when somewhat crudely stereotypical, amuse and engage. The voice acting is fine.

Where Make Mine Freedom isn't so good is that like with anything that deals with any kind of politics it gets a little heavy-handed in places. It has some good important points, it was clear from the get go what the cartoon was trying to do and was clearly intended well, but some of the messaging and delivery was a little over-didactic. Also found myself questioning which target audience Make Mine Freedom is aimed at. The subject is very adult and a lot of the writing adult in tone, so younger audiences might find what the cartoon is trying to say will go over their heads(not all, mind, children's taste in film and such tend to be stereotyped and under-estimated these days). The subject is also very of the time, and, while it holds interesting view points for that time, America and politics have come on a lot since 1948 and views have changed vastly, so some of what is being said is rather out-of-date and not as relevant now. This may not be the case at all, just something that struck me personally while watching.

On the whole, an odd cartoon but also a fascinating one. Worth watching at least once but not a masterpiece or a must see. 7/10 Bethany Cox

"Make Mine Freedom" looks like the sort of film that was made to show high school civics classes. While it is at times heavy-handed and a bit obvious, it does spell out why communism is a bad form of government due to the repression of personal freedoms. It makes its point very well. And, while it looks dated today, it was quite effective in 1948.

I noticed another review questioned if the Hanna-Barbera team actually was behind this production. Well, normally I'd think this isn't that important, but it IS true that this looks absolutely nothing like any of their other films. And, it does look more like a Walter Lantz or a bit like a Warner Brothers film in many ways. I am not sure why, but it looks nothing like an MGM cartoon of the era--especially because in the late 1940s, MGM had the most beautiful cartoons and had a very distinct style--both of which are lacking here.

It lists here that Bill Hanna and Joe Barbara directed this film, but the style of the character designs and even the animation itself are very different from what is seen in H/B MGM shorts from this period. It would appear to me that the labor of actually creating this film was farmed out to other studios, and perhaps was even freelanced. The principle characters in it (the four representatives of labor, industrial management, public service, and agriculture, John Q. Public, and the snake oil salesman) appear to have been designed by Friz Freling's staff at Warner Brothers (he directed several capitalist-inspired shorts himself), while some of the secondary scenes appear to have been designed by Fred Moore, who may have been working for Walter Lantz Productions at the time (he also did a lot of animation for Walt Disney Productions).

This is an interesting 1948 political cartoon promoting freedom though the modern viewer will be confused. The film starts by explaining our freedom and then introduces four people representing labor, management, politicians, and agriculture. Then Dr Utopia shows up trying to sale his ISM product to only to be interrupted by John Q. Public.

The promises Dr. Utopia makes to each person seems to indicates that his ISM could be up to four different forms of government as the pitches he makes to labor and management are practically opposite to each other. Labor is clearly Communism and the "State Concentration camp #5" sign hints at the ISM being given to politicians being Fascism leaving the viewer to try and figure out if the ISMs being given management and agriculture are different aspects of these two or something else entirely.

John Q. Public's warning speech at the about anyone trying to pit us against each other via class warfare, race hatred, or religious intolerance reinforces the idea that Dr. Utopia's ISM is not just one form of government.

Great to see the creative spirit of forward thinking Americans see the impact of communism and socialism added into a capitalist system such as United States. Impressive and well done. there are many cartoons from those years the 50s and 60s that do a great job showing what would happen if progressive-communist-fascists took control of the country and we can see this today in USA as the progressive-communist-fascists are attempting to bankrupt the country and then suggesting a much bigger government to fix the problem. I think we need more schools to make more cartoons that express the real USA as the world lead and save the USA and our kids from the debt that will give the government the ability to take control.

I was wondering if anyone has verified that the 1948 film about freedom was actually made by Harding College and if it was really made in 1948? There was something about the dialogue in the text that seemed as if it were made in very recent times with sophisticated equipment and designed to appear as if it were made in 1948. The presence of the African American girl in the school room seemed very unlikely to have appeared in a movie made in Arkansas in 1948. The dialogue also seems to have been crafted to meet the needs of the current political crisis. In the battle for freedom, we have to be careful to give people the facts and even when we have great media that supports our position, we shouldn't say things about it unless we're sure its accurate.