The Hypo-chondri-cat 1950 (Dir Chuck Jones)

I remember an English professor, telling me that the only thing that is considered taboo in literature and film is the subject of death, more so if the dead act like living people or if a film or book is narrated by someone who is deceased.

In that case I guess that would put The Hypo-chondri-cat in an interesting person cause it is about a cat who thinks he is dead but really isn't.

Out of Chuck Jones' characters I think that Hubie and Bertie are the most sinister and devious in character. They may look like two stupid mice but Hubie's brain is always thinking of new ways of causing some type of mental torture, while Bertie carries it out with glee.

I also think that Claude Cat is the most loserish creation in the Jones stable, even more so than Wile E. Coyote. He never wins, is always tortured and is constantly the victim of anything and everything. He will never be triumphant. Also Claude has never really had a definite features from day one, while his nemesis' ( Bertie and Hubie,Frisky Puppy and Marc Anthony) have always maintained the same type of form.

The short starts off with Bertie and Hubie spotting a piece of cheese in a house and immediately attacking it (well Bertie forgets to open the window and crashes into the glass) Suddenly Claude is on the horizon ( as a yellow cat with a white belly and eye patch) and begins chasing the mice.

so far so good.

but then he passes by the window that the mice opened in order to break into the house and he closes the window, begins to swallow handfuls of pills, check his temperature and get the shivers. Once he gets over it, he tries to chase the mice again, passes by the open window, which Hubie reopens and it's back to square one.

Hubie then thinks of a plan.

He goes and tells Claude that he is looking sickly. Being a hypochondriac, Claude believes him and begins to feel every symptom the mice chuck at him. That is until they tell him that an operation is the only cure. Claude agrees. Obviously when they conk him out, the mice do absolutely nothing.

When Claude regains consciousness he has two cardboard wings and a flour sack gown on him, he goes to the window and overhears the mice staging a chat on how the 'operation failed' and Claude died. The cat then freaks out and the mice tell him that he's dead and point to a grave.That is when he really believes them.

They then tell Claude that he has to go to cat heaven, at first the cat is hesitant cause he doesn't think can fly but he jumps off a cliff and we find out (unbeknowst to him) that there is a helium balloon tied to his waist. Claude waves goodbye and flies off into the dark skies. Hubie and Bert are smug.

On re-watching this cartoon at midnight, I couldn't help thinking that this short is rather sinister and creepy. Considering that it takes place at night adds to this atmosphere.Really it is a film about the afterlife, except in a semi-humorous manner. To evoke such feelings from a cartoon only cements Jones' talent as a cartoon director. Plus it is animated so slickly that every frame is memorable. An odd but nonetheless wonderful cartoon.