The Cagey Canary (1941)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Writer:

Michael Maltese (story)

Release Date:

26 December 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Animation | Short | Comedy

Plot:

A cat (not Sylvester) tries to capture a little canary bird (not Tweety), and not get caught by protective Granny. |

Plot Keywords:

Bird | Cat | Cuckoo Clock | Tongue | Surrealism

Cast

Mel Blanc

...

Canary (voice) (uncredited)

Runtime:

8 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Leon Schlesinger Studios

Trivia:

Robert Clampett completed the film after director Tex Avery left Warner Brothers.

Soundtrack:

Yankee Doodle

We join the fight already in progress

You can always tell the early forties Warner cartoons from the others by two things: the animation is more Disney like and the gags are of the same ilk as an MGM cartoon. It was not until after the war that Warners hit it's stride and their characters started to blossom. This one stars a cat and canary who might be the forefathers of Tweety and Sylvester, but feel more like Tom and Jerry or even, on a bad day, Pluto. It may surprise you to hear Tex Avery directed this, until you realize he left Warners before it was finished. Bob Clampett took over, but was apparently too sad to throw in some of his own zaniness.

So here we have a fat cat who really moves like a feline and a yellow Canary that is actually bird shaped. Both are owned by an old hag resembling Olive Oyl's ugly stepmother, who threatens to throw kitty cat out in the rain if he makes a move on the canary. So, the moment she turns off the light, the cat with no name is on the prowl, moving in step to a musical motive that would not be misplaced in 'The Jungle Book'. He does the old tippy toe with the fingers bit (lucky he's got glove-like fur). Although Tex managed to sneak in a gag involving a pin-up for all the boys fighting overseas, this is awfully tame. The characters move too much like real animals. The main gag is that the bird only has to whistle for the cat to get caught. When the cat makes sure the Canary can't, Birdie tries to get cat to whistle instead.

At one point Kitty feeds Birdie some biscuits that not only make him loose his whistle, but his ability to fly too. Intend on taking revenge, the little yellow belly begins teasing his tormentor in ways even Tweety would never imagine, like sliding into his mouth to pull out the tongue. If this little flayer is so strong he's really got nothing to worry about. Naturaly Puss puts some earmuffs on the old hag and the two pets have a stand off to see which one can strike the coolest pose. One notable highlight of animation is a chase through the whole apartment seen from above: all the way from the dining room to the bathroom (you guessed it: no sign of a toilet). For once, both of them get what they deserve in the end, but even that fails to excite.

5 out of 10