Although Friz Freleng was doubtless no less talented than his fellow Warner Brothers director Chuck Jones, his cartoons tend to come off as rather chilly and charmless by comparison ((ndash)) except when he got to set the cartoon to music; then he was on fire. In this hip-50s-nightclub variant of The Three Little Pigs, the Wolf is constantly trying to crash the pigs' act with his lousy trumpet playing ((ndash)) until he resorts to more than simply huffing and puffing to blow the place down.

(This print provided courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive)

The smartly uniformed Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra, from Egypt, are buzzing with excitement as they arrive in Israel to play at the opening of a new Arab cultural centre. As they step off the bus their joy soon changes to confusion, however. There is no delegation to meet them, and the city seems much smaller and dustier than they had imagined. It's not long before the troupe realise they've headed a long way in the wrong direction and it will be another day before they can catch a bus back in the right direction.

Led by a somewhat baffled fellow, whose dour expression could bring any party to a standstill, the band attempt to look after themselves for the night. With little Israeli currency and only cautiously spoken English, a language that is neither their native tongue nor that of the locals, the band befriend a local caf((eacute)) owner and settle in for the night. Plenty of cross-cultural misunderstanding, and heart-warming comedy ensues.

The Band's Visit is an off-beatoffbeat comedy that works to abate Arab-Israeli tensions. It doesn't take the easy route of becoming preachy about cultural understanding and all that guff. Instead it tells a chuckle-worthy tale that plays on the personalities of its individual characters, who aren't stereotyped to their backgrounds. This is an unusual and surprisingly amusing tale.