Putty Tat Trouble 1951 ( Dir Friz Freleng)

As you probably have guessed from the title it is a Sylvester and Tweety cartoon. However there is one small added twist - there is another cat introduced so this time round Sylvester has a rival.

Putty Tat Trouble can be said to be divided in three conscise segments. The first few minutes take place outdoors, then a lengthy scene that takes place in a cellar and the remaining two minutes on a pond.

There really isn't much to say. Both cats battle it out for tweety and in the end fall into lake and catch colds. The cellar scene is a bit boring as it focus on both cats pushing Tweety in their mouth and small gags based on the antiques found in the attic.

It's a no brainer cartoon, yet one that is well animated but to repetative to fully enjoy it.

Kit for Kat 1948 ( Dir Friz Freleng)

Kit for Kat is one of early Sylvester cartoons. By watching the cartoon you can see that his feartures are still a bit lanky and has something Clampett-esque about him. Although he is not with Tweety in this cartoon, it is worth noting that he had been paired up with that yellow nuisance a year prior to this cartoon.

Sylvester is hungry. He is looking for food in alleyway trash cans. After a few minutes of searching he is joined by a smaller, cuter looking cat, whom he banishes.

It is a cold night and Sylvester needs some shelter so he goes to Elmer Fudd's house and feigns sickness. Elmer takes pity on him and accepts Sylvester in his house.

so far so good.

While Sylvester is comfy and content, Elmer hears a knock on his door and it's the kitten who Sylvester banished earlier. Now Elmer is in a quandary. He can't keep two cats so one has to go out. He advises both cats that he'll make his decision in the morning. Making a big emphasis on the kitten cuteness.

Sylvester, one who knows when he's in trouble, is now plotting to kill the kittem. Naturally all of his plans go horribly wrong. Framing the kitten, keeping him trapped in a mousehole and at one point hypnotising him to beat Elmer up with a baseball bat. Each ploy wakes up Elmer and he gets angrier at Sylvester.

Elemer's breaking point happens when the kitten tries to get the upper hand of the situation and creates even noise to drown out judgement day. Elmer wakes up furious and ready to kick one cat out, but then a hand comes out of nowhere ( deus ex machina? hmmmmm) and gives Elmer an eviction notice.

The cartoon ends with all three rummaging through trash cans.

For soem reason this cartoon would crop up a lot on video compialtions and saturday tv shows. I found boring then and I still do now. There are Freleng cartoons that I like but so far it's been a weak beginning.

Bunker Hill Bunny 1950 (Dir : Friz Freleng)

Oh dear here we start with Bugs Bunny again. It's not that I dislike the character but, funnily enough I think his cartoons are the weakest out of the whole Looney Tunes stable.But then the ones that are great stand out as bona fide classics ( I'm thinking What's Opera Doc at this point)

Bunke Hill Bunny is, however, not a great cartoon.

So far the four Yosemite Sam/Bugs Bunny offerings on the boxset have been a teensy bit weak. it's on boxset four that the really good ones start pouring in so there will be a bit of a wait.

As with Freleng cartoon, we are plunged straight into the action as the whole picture starts with images of the 1776 Amercian Civil war. The picture then cuts to Yosemite Sam as a Hessian and Bugs as a minuteman battling it out with cannons.

sam then declares that since he's outnumbered Bugs 'one to one' he should surrender. Bugs refuses and this leads to a series of visual gags involving bombs ( the bomb/baseball sequence is great and unmissable) cannons , dynamite and gunpowder ( another very good scene) Sam gives up and anounces that he's a Hessian without agression and joins Bugs in they march into the sunset.

It's a bit difficult to comment on this without repeating myself. It's a solid no frills cartoon. I'll watch it but it's not one I come back to. Plus it's way too similar to 1949's Buccaneer Bunny.

Canary Row 1950 (Dir Friz Freleng)

Vol 1 Disc 4

I have a certain apathy towards Tweety. The fact that he is annoying, brutal and ruthless bothers me. Also the fact that he think he's so great makes me REALLY want to pulverize that annoying yellow pest. To frank Sylvester should have chewed up that cretin long ago.

ANYWAY

As wikipedia is assuring me Canary Row ( it's a pun - Cannary Row) this is the first cartoon that features Granny, tweety's owner. Mind you she's equally bothersome. Like most Tweety and Sylvester cartoons - or most of Friz Freleng's cartoons, the plot is very simple and build around visual gags. By the way Tweety is a Clampett creation, while Sylvester is a Freleng one (albeit it a slightly evolved version of a Clampett cat, check out 1946's Kitty Kornered).

The cartoon begins with Sylvester and Tweety watching each other from adjacent buildings. As soon as tweety utters his famous ' I thought I taw a Puddy Tat' and 'I did , I did tee a puddy tat!' Sylvester licks his chops and races in the building. Two seconds later and he gets booted out due to the fact that it's a hotel and dogs or cats aren't allowed in the building.

This means that Sylvester has to find a way to get in the building unnoticed.

At first Sylvester tries the direct approach and manages to go up on the window sill but Tweety cries for help and granny comes rushing, chucking the cat out of the building.

After the next incident which involves a drainpipe and a bowling ball ( all gone horribly wrong) Sylvester decides to be more cunning and disguises himself as an organ grinders monkey and although he manages to get into the building, Granny sees through his disguise and wallops him with an umbrella.

Sylvester's next ruse is to dress up as a bellboy ( as he finds out that Granny will be leaving the hotel) in order to collect the cage. Finally Sylvester manages to grab Tweety's cage. As soon as he runs outside and pulls away the drop cloth we find granny in the cage and she again clobbers him with her umbrella.

After two more failed attempts, Sylvester's last plan is to get to Tweety's window by balancing upon a series of tram wires. Suddenly a tram comes by and electrocutes sylvester. The driver of the tram? - Tweety and Granny. Both repeat the 'I tawt I taw a puddy tat'

Sylvester loses again - bah - oh yeah notice the advertisement on the wall about 'Friz Drinks' It was common to but Warner Bros cartoon unit staff names on billboards and adverts.

To sum up the cartoon, it's just your typical cat and bird scenario. Nothing new but nothing bad either. Functional.

Tortoise wins by a Hare 1943 ( Dir Bob Clampett)

This is the last cartoon on disc three. The next disc will consist of various Looney Tunes.Ten are directed by Friz Freleng and the remaining four by Bob McKimson.

One thing I liked about Bob Clampett was his depiction of Bugs Bunny. For Clampett Bugs is a lesser intelligent stooge who has a tendency of losing his battles. Although Tortoise wins by a hare is a sort of sequel to Tex Avery's 1941 cartoon 'Tortoise beats Hare' you could say that Clampett leaves his own original mark on the cartoon.

Tortoise beats... has a sort of prelude, It starts off with Cecil Tortoise ( a great character) racing against Bugs and winning, despite Bugs is obviously in the lead. We then find out that Bugs was watching a film of the race and that he desperately wants to know the tortoises' secret ( he states at one point that he's so sporty that he has athlete's foot!), so he hatches up a plan.

Bugs dresses up (badly) as an old man and goes to Cecil's house in order to get some dirt out and Cecil confesses (although he sees through his disguise) that his success lies in the streamlined shell, and he shows him the blueprints and he can't help insulting rabbits in the process while doing this.

Bugs gets excited, builds a turtle shell, wears a bathing cap and challenges Cecil to another race and there is a big fuss about it.

To add another dimension to the plot a Rabbit mob have been placing bets on Bugs and are ready to kill Cecil if he is in the lead.

On the big day, Bugs is all cocky and arrogant about his victory while Cecil is his usual laid back self. When they start running Bugs is in the lead and then slips on his tortoise costume and is way ahead.

Then the Rabbit mob spot him and mistake Bugs for Cecil and beat him up. Despite Bugs' protests they wont believe him. This is accentuated even more when we find out that Cecil is dressed as a rabbit and continues to run the race, is getting closer to the finishing line. Bugs finally manages to break free from the thugs and runs for his life and overtakes Cecil but the gangsters catch him again, while another group grab Cecil ( dressed as a rabbit) and run to the finishing line.

When Bugs pulls off his turtle costume the rabbit thugs look at each other and say in unison.

now he tells us!

The leader puts a gun to his head and commits suicide. The rest follow suite.

Typical Clampett. A twisted narrative - it blurs the idea of who is the tortoise and who is the hare, hugely entertaining and gripping as well. My only qualm is that it's not littered with so many double entendres as previous cartoons are ( although detail is as fine as usual - look at the crushed carrots in Bugs' mouth!). This is nit picking though. It's great fun from the first second.

Bugs Bunny gets the Boid 1942 ( Bob Clampett)

After 12 Chuck Jones shorts, it is a bit refreshing to see a Bob Clampett cartoon, and one of his best ones too!

I love Beaky Buzzard, his idiotic giggling, his slower than a crippled tortoise voice, his politness. This whole cartoon just makes me laugh from beginning to end (and it's Beaky's first appearance). It is one of Clampett's higlights and it's far superior than the Clampett cartoon that was one the Bugs Bunny disc.

We begin with the mother buzzard telling her four children to get food for dinner and three rush off enthusiastically, however Beaky ( here nicknamed killer) refuses to get food ( this is done by Beaky repeating nope nope nope and rubbing his head against his mum's body) so his mother encourages him to get something small, Beaky still refuses so she literally kicks him into the sky.

when he realises that he has to fly, he goes into full Mortimer Snerd ( a famous ventriloquest puppet) mode and begins to sing a country hick song. On spying Bugs he tries to grab him in one fel swoop but he fails and crashes into the ground, due to Bugs giving him the wrong angles to land.

When the dust falls Bugs asks what Beaky's looking for and he takes a awhile to remember, when he does, Bugs tells him to wait so that he'll prepare himself. After Beaky realises that Bugs may be tricking, he reaches down Bugs' warren and a chase begins.

Beaky does manage to catch Bugs but drops him after being tickled with one of his own feathers. Bugs then lands on cattle skeleton and falls in the ground waist up. This gives the impression that Bugs has turned into a skeleton, with only his upper torso as the only living thing. This fools Bugs momentarily and he gets out of the ground and moves on.

Beaky manages to catch Bugs again but then Bugs turns it into some type of dance and twirls Beaky so hard that he lands in the skeleton. Beaky really thinks he's dead and begins to cry. Suddenly Mama buzzard comes along and demands to Bugs why her son his like this. When Bugs pulls Beaky out of the ground she pronounces him as the hero and Bugs begins to blush and giggle stupidly.

.... gets the Boid is Clampett through and through. Zany, cultural references, breakneck animation ( thanks to Clampett's partner in crime, top animator Rod Schribner) and laughs by the dozen. Like most cartoons, it's a chase but one that takes some bizarre detours.

In NO WAY can a summary do justice to this cartoon. I cannot mention every single detail and Clampett's cartoons are brimming with them. I urge you to try find this gem and watch it.

Don't Give Up the Sheep 1953 ( Dir Chuck Jones)

I can't help liking the Ralph and Sam cartoons. Although it's the same old chase theme that Jones had perfected with previous cartoons, there is a lot of charm. The idea of two characters going to work as friends and yet during their jobs play the roles of enemies is quite intelligent.

The Sam and Ralph cartoons always have the same structure. Ralph is a wolf (not dissimilar to Wil E. Coyote and Sam is a sheepdog. They both punch in for work and seem to be the best of friends.

That is until the whistle that jumpstarts their day begins. They then start to fulfill their roles. The wolf tries to steal the sheep and Sam foils his plans, usually hurting Ralph in the process. Usually during their lunch break they are friendly again but when work resumes they return to their roles till the end of the day. Usually Ralph is a total mess and Sam is triumphant.

Don't give up the Sheep is the first cartoon out of the six that Jones directed ( there is a seventh that was written by Jones but tackled by a different director) and I would say that it's the best one (although 1960's Ready, Woolen and Able comes very very close)

The cartoon starts with Sam punching in for work ( Ralph appears as a colleague from 1954's Sheep Ahoy onwards) and beginning to watch the sheep. Ralph enters the scene and begins to steal Sam's protoge's Like the Wil E. Coyote films im going to list down the various ploys.

1. First Ralph messes with Sam's punch clock
2. Ralph hides under a bush and steals a sheep. Sam hides under a tree and whacks him until he replaces the sheep.
3. Ralph tries to play the pan flute in order to lull Sam. Ralph just gets punched in the face.
4. Ralph digs a whole underground and starts to steal sheep. He accidentally grabs Sam, gets punched and replaces the sheep.
5. Ralph tries to set a wildcat loose on Sam. The wildcat takes a detour and attacks Ralph instead.
6. Ralph swings from a tree in order to swipe a sheep. He gets Sam instead. Luckily Ralph escapes and goes on a tree branch and saws it off. He then finds Sam behind him sawing off the branch, Sam then finds ralph behind him sawing another portion of the branch. Ralph then finds Sam chopping the tree down. Ralph then uses a pickaxe to loosen the cliff edge where Sam is sitting but Ralph's portion of the cliff falls instead. Sam shrugs.
7. Ralph tries to steal sheep while underwater, using a reed as a breathing apparatus. Sam drops a stick of dynamite down the reed. The water bubbles and burbles. Ralph rises to the surface and sinks like a ship.

Sam punches out for the day while his replacement comes over. Sam takes a club and starts beating him. We actually find out it is the wolf in disguise. Sam starts to club the wolf on the behind while Sam's real replacement arrives.Sam hands him the club and he starts his day by beating Ralph on the behind.

It's 7 mins of pure visual gags but it's mesmirising. Like the rooadrunner cartoon we know that the wolf will lose but it's interesting to see how the plans will backfire. In the case of Ralph and Sam it's a three way relationship which gives the chase a bit more of a dimension ( although the sheep are passive) Either way the stalker is the true victim.