Notes to You (1941) User Reviews

Porky Pig vs. music

[matlefebvre20 · 7/10 · 4 October 2006]

"Notes to You" stars Porky Pig as he prepares himself for a good sleep and a silent night.

Then, a cat climbs on Porky's fence and, unfortunately for Porky, he's a music-loving cat. The maestro feline starts to practice his operas, which evidently disturbs Porky's sleep. The remaining of the cartoon is an operetta showing the pig's attempts to make the cat quiet.

"Notes to You" doesn't lift any big laughs but it gives a smile anyway. This cartoon's highlights are not its laughs but its music. The cat is a good singer and the songs are well appropriate from the first Figaro till the last farewell.

The music is also mixed to Porky's movements. This is particularly evident when Porky runs on one side of a fence and the cat runs on his side in a synchronized way.

The lesson of this cartoon (if we can say it this way) is that it's bad to kill animals. Because Porky shoots the cat at the end. Ultimately, Porky feels sorry for what he did but he gets a punishment. Cats have nine lives but it appears that they have nine ghosts too. So, the ghosts get together and sing like if they were in a choral.

Animation still feels prehistoric but it's not the essential element of this cartoon. The music is all that's needed.

Good short which was re-vamped some years later as Back Alley Oproar

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 8 September 2006]

This short, done in black and white in the early 1940s, was later re-visited and another short (Back Alley Oproar, done in color), which took the same basic idea and even some of the same gags, but embellished on the concept substantially, was the result. While Back Alley Oproar is the better of the two, Notes To You is also a very good short in its own right. I will be discussing some details, so consider this a spoiler warning:

Porky Pig has gone to bed for the night when we see a cat climb up on a fence with a music stand and lots of sheet music. He uses a harmonica to get his "voice" in the correct pitch and then begins singing "Figaro". Porky takes issue with the "caterwauling", so to speak, and throws a vase at the cat and returns to bed. The cat then switches to popular tunes (perhaps under the impression that Porky merely objected to an aria) and Porky throws a book (Fu Manchu) at him. When the book comes back and hits Porky, it reads The Return of Fu Manchu.

Porky and the cat go several rounds, with the cat generally getting the better of their exchanges. Porky finally shoots the cat, which sings a farewell, "Aloha Oe/Farewell To Thee" and Porky tries to go back to bed, only to be "serenaded" by nine ghosts, who are singing more opera, thus bookending "popular music" with opera.

A number of the gags in this are repeated, some with minor variations, in the other short, though the other short has some exceptionally nice bits which were new material. Back Alley Oproar has Elmer Fudd in Porky's stead and Sylvester is the cat in place of the cat here. This is a very good short and I hope that it gets released on a Looney Tunes Golden Collection at some point. Most recommended.

Porky's musical notes

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 10 June 2018]

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna and Barbera and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. Actually appreciate it even more now through young adult eyes, thanks to broader knowledge and taste and more interest in animation styles and various studios and directors.

Have a lot of appreciation and admiration for Friz Freleng, while not one of my all-time favourites in animation. His early work was very variable but when on top form and in his prime the best of his work was great and even more. 'Notes to You' is not one of Freleng's best. It is a very good cartoon though, even there are funnier, wittier and fresher cartoons from him, and saw signs of him finding his feet and settling.

'Notes to You' may be predictable at times and the momentum could have had more sharpness at times.

Porky is amusing and likeable as usual though, with nice chemistry with the funnier character of the alley cat. One can understand his frustration and annoyance. Mel Blanc as always does a fantastic job with the voice work, showing an unparalleled ability to bring individuality to multiple characters.

The animation is as always bright and colourful, with lots of smooth movement, imaginative detail in the gags and rich and meticulous detail in the backgrounds. Carl Stalling's music score is as ever high in energy, liveliness, character, lushness and whimsy, and not only is dynamic and fits effortlessly with the action but enhances everything.

What's more, 'Notes to You' is enormously entertaining, with some amusing wildness, wit and bite starting to show at this point in the dialogue. Plus there are some beautifully timed and animated and imaginative sight gags, that contain some surprises and a lively pace.

Overall, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The Silent Majority of Patriotic Loyal True-Blue Normal Average . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 27 July 2017]

. . . Progressive Union Label Americans will greatly sympathize with Porky's Plight during NOTES TO YOU. This brief cartoon from Warner Bros.' Animated Shorts Seers division (aka, the Looney Tuners) features a sleep-deprived Porky driven beyond all reasonable limits by the incessant racket raised by a Deplorable Alley Cat. Who among us hasn't tried to fall asleep nightly for the past nine months with MSNBC turned down quietly in the background, amid the firestorm of Terrible Twos Tweeting Tantrums from alleged POTUS #45, Red Commie KGB Chief Vlad "The Mad Russian" Putin's Puppet, Don Juan Rump? This self-proclaimed Serial Finger Rapist-in-Chief keeps begging for Right-Thinking Americans to throw the book at him, as Porky brains the cat with a copy of THE RETURN OF FU MANCHU. Porky frequently holds this Fat Cat Rump stand-in at gun point, but does not pull the trigger until his piece of the American Dream is GONE for good! NOTES TO YOU is demanding that one or many of the Capitol Hill Cops, FBI Agents, NSA spooks, Secret Service People, Dress Blues Marines, Generals, Admirals, Colonels, Sheriffs, Congress People, and so forth--ALL of whom have solemnly sworn to Preserve, Protect, and Defend our Constitution--pay more than lip service to their Sacred Duty, and be quicker on the draw than Porky Pig here!