Good Night Elmer (1940) ***

Elmer tries to sleep, but a candle insists on burning all night and there is just no way to extinguish its flame. One of very few Elmer's solo cartoons. In their book "Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies", Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald called it "one of the most irritating cartoons ever made". One must strongly disagree with that opinion. Director Chuck Jones was clearly conducting an experiment here, trying to squeeze as much humor as possible from a simple and ordinary premise. This film might have even inspired Disney's "Drip Dippy Donald" (1948).