The Cuckoo Clock (1950)

A cat is driven up the wall by the inhabitant of the cuckoo clock, so he spends the film trying to catch him...

Director:

Tex Avery

Writer:

Rich Hogan (story)

Stars:

Daws Butler

Cast

Uncredited cast:
Daws Butler	...	Narrator / Cat (voice) (uncredited)

Storyline

While this could very well be a germ-of-an-idea parody of an Edgar Allan Poe story, The Tell-Tale Heart, there is no way on this earth that Mr. Poe, credited or uncredited, had anything to do with this cartoon, in spite of the fact somebody has given him an (uncredited) as a writer. Bottom line, a cat is more than a bit annoyed at the cuckoo in a clock, and sets out to get rid of it, but ends up getting blown to the hereafter while the clock plays an fitting tune.

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Plot Keywords:

cat | cuckoo clock | parody | scheme | surrealism | 

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Short | Family

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 June 1950 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cuckoo Murder Case

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

6 min

Sound Mix:

Perspecta Stereo (Westrex Recording System) (re-release) Mono (Western Electric Sound System) (original release)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Symphony in Slang (1951)

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Soundtracks

"The Man on the Flying Trapeze"
Music by Gaston Lyle

User Reviews

A free adaptation of Poe in Tex Avery-style

Certainly what is most interesting in this short cartoon is its rare immersion in a dark and Gothic universe more associate with the psychological dramas of the previous decade (a mansion, a tortured main character) as with Poe's short story in which is informally based. At same time it could be inspired by a prior free short cartoon version of Poe's tale produced twenty years before - "The Cuckoo Murder Case" by Ub Iwerks. Avery tone of course is more subordinate to the generic conventions of the cartoon universe of its time, as show the fast reorganization from its uncommon prologue to more usual clichés of the cat-search-a bird in a Sylvester-Tweety style. Curiously, only 3 years after, a more radical and credited version of Poe's tale - "The Tell-Tale Heart", by Ted Parmlee for UPA Studios would be made. Anyway, it is noticeable the interesting solution Avery uses to adapt the clichés of cartoon universe to show the split personality of his psychotic feline in the beginning.