User reviews

Hubie and Burt, two ratty-looking mice, spot some cheese inside and break into a home. (Actually, they just push the window up.) They enjoy the cheese while lounging at the fireplace. "Claude the Cat" them spots them, chases them, but then spots the open window and shuts in. The cat then runs back to its bed and gets out several medicines, saying "I hope I can't catch a cold with that draft, or pneumonia, or athlete's foot!

The cat obviously is a hypochondriac and the mice quickly catch on to that. They tell Claude he looks terrible, so the cat is shaking and feeling worse by the minute. They tell him he looks green, so the cat turns green. They tell him he looks purple, so Claude turns purple. One of the mice says he looks "plaid," so the cat turns plaid. "Don't overdo it," admonishes the smarter of the mice. You get the picture - it gets sillier as the mice pretend to be doctors and operate on the poor Claude, who thinks he's getting worse by the minute.

They put a sign on the cat's butt: "Danger! Men At Work: Excavating!" (Don't ask). As a hypochondriac myself, I was highly offended at this cartoon and the stereotype it portrayed of us poor suffering slobs.

Anyway, the mice don't really operate but pretend to, and the cat faints at the thought. The rest of the cartoon is Claude's dream and it is bizarre - and the best part of the seven minutes - with an even-stranger ending.

Overall, a very odd animated short.

I've never heard of Claude Cat but he's another one of those Cartoon cats who likes to chase after mice/birds but never gets them. Only this time there's a twist...he's a hypochondriac. Dumb mice Bertie and Hubie break into his house (so they are in the wrong!) in order to steal some cheese. Claude doesn't like this and gives chase. Only when he runs past the open window they came in from he gets a sudden chill and believes he might have pneumonia. Trust me, I've had it, and it's a lot worse than a sudden chill.

The mice pretend that Claude is dying and ending convincing him he has died a fake death. Since I have never seen Claude since watching this cartoon today I can only assume his weak personality and unaesthetic appearance only did send him to Cat Heaven forever.

A Hypochondriac Cat is endlessly tomented by two cruel mice. Thes mice are real assholes as they take advantage of the cats worrying and fears and for what? Just for a little bit of cheese. TThey're completely in the wrong here as they break into the house and whatnot. And by the way to a previous reviewer the cat doesn't think he has Pneumonia, just that he might catch a cold and then get it. If all this suggests that I disliked the cartoon, then I'm sorry that I gave the wrong impression as I did like it. This cartoon is on Disk 3 of the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1"

My Grade: B-

I love this cartoon! I don't remember too many Claude Cat cartoons, in fact I can't differentiate the events between the others. But this one sticks out. It's really funny visually, but the real hilarity is verbal. It makes me sad watching it, since the poor cat is defenseless against the sadistic and satanic Hubie and Bertie. It has the whole surgery routine, and Claude's dream is pretty freaky. But I guess he ends up happy in the end. By the way, what IS it with those mice? Claude hardly seems to do anything to them. Back to the visual comedy: Claude's expressions and his antagonists' gleeful and cruel expressions as each brainstorm hits and how their plot seamlessly unfolds are fantastic. Nice ending. Good to see it remastered, restored and uncut on the new Looney Tunes DVD. Looking forward to buying it. Highly recommended.

I've always been a big fan of black comedy so it's hardly surprising that Chuck Jones's Hubie and Bertie cartoons are amongst my favourite Warner creations. These fantastic shorts tackled such dark subjects as mental illness and attempted suicide but 'The Hypo-chondri-cat' is the grimmest of all, focusing on the big one; death itself. Pitted against their regular rival Claude Cat, a neurotic mess of a feline, the sadistic mice set about convincing him that he is fatally ill. This results in a terrific, nightmarishly surreal scene in which Claude visualizes himself being pursued by surgical equipment as he listens to Hubie and Bertie preparing to operate. When he comes round again is when the cartoon gets really cruel as the mice convince a terrified Claude that he didn't survive the operation. It's all very macabre but also hilarious in a deliciously sick way. The cartoon ends on a peaceful but troubling note with Claude still totally unaware he's not dead. With such dark subject matters, it's hardly surprising Hubie and Bertie didn't catch on with a 40s and 50s audience but these cartoons remain incredibly interesting and entertaining forgotten classics that give us a glimpse into the darker side of Warner animation. Riot!

Among the least used but best characters Looney Tunes developed were Hubie and Bert--two extremely funny and sadistic little mice. Again and again, their cartoons make me laugh and I have no idea why they didn't make more. Perhaps audiences of the day didn't like how mean this pair was, but I thought their antics were hysterical.

"The Hypo-chondri-cat" is not their best appearance, but it's still classic Hubie and Bert. In this case, the pair wander into a house with a cat and are shocked to see that the cat is a hypochondriac and isn't a threat at all. So, they do what any mice would do--they torment the poor cat relentlessly!! They offer to help the cat with his fake illness but mostly just torture him and make the cat miserable. First, they tell them they're going to operate. Second, when the cat awakens, they've dressed him as an angel and the pair behave as if he's dead!! Third, and perhaps worst of all, they later say they CAN see him and offer to help him up to Heaven!! It's all a bit morbid and cruel--and that's exactly why I liked this one! Exceptional but I still prefer the one where Hubie and Bert convince another cat that he's living upside down--and you have to see this one to believe it!

I swear that Hubie and Bertie get downright nasty when trying to expel Claude from the house that they want to inhabit (they also did in "Mouse Wreckers"). In this case, they play off of Claude's cryophobia to perform what he thinks is a lethal operation on him. I wonder why they can't just try and negotiate with him; if that cat's so afraid of the cold, couldn't he be willing to hold talks with a pair of wise guy mice? Oh well. "The Hypo-Chondri-Cat" is still a pretty funny cartoon, even if it is a little weird what Hubie and Bertie end up doing to Claude. Still, my favorite Hubie and Bertie-Claude pairing is "Cheese Chasers".

There are not many Hubie and Bertie cartoons around, and it's a shame. As well as hilarious and well-made they are wonderfully disturbing and deal with daring and dark subjects, especially this and 'Cheese Chasers' without ever trivialising.

While not their best cartoon, 'Cheese Chasers' and 'Mouse Wreckers' are superior, 'The Hypo-Chondri-Cat' is still fantastic.

It contains excellent animation, very like in 'Cheese Chasers' and 'Mouse Wreckers'. Attention to detail is meticulous, the colours are rich and vibrant and the characters are designed in a way that's distinctively Chuck Jones. Music from Carl Stalling always elevates cartoons he composes for to a higher level, have always said that he's my favourite of the regular Looney Tunes composers and he rarely puts a foot wrong and I don't think any differently still.

Here in 'The Hypo-Chondri-Cat', the orchestration is clever, rich and luscious, the energy, character and appropriately dark atmosphere are evident throughout and it not only fits with what's going on but adds to it.

Reviewers have commented on its very dark nature, and it's true that 'The Hypo-Chondri-Cat' is the grimmest and saddest of the Hubie and Bertie cartoons, not just the sometimes disturbing execution but the subject matter itself. That said, it is also very funny and entertaining, with the usual razor sharp wittiness and imaginative gags. The dream sequence is wonderfully surreal, and is as nightmarish to the cartoon's viewers as it is to Claude.

Even with the Hubie and Bertie cartoons adopting a bold twist on the cat and mouse dynamic, with the mice being the antagonists and the cat the victims, Hubie and Bertie are colourful and appealing characters and one does feel immense sympathy for poor Claude. Nothing to complain about with the vocal characterisations either.

Overall, fantastic cartoon though not my favourite of their cartoons. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Hypo-Chondri-Cat, The (1950)

*** (out of 4)

The cat Claude is chasing mice Hubie and Bertie when he passes an open window and fears he's going to get sick. The cat, terrified of colds, soon starts to freak out when the mice make it seem like he's about to die. This is certainly middle ground Merrie Melodies but it's still got enough charm to make it worth sitting through. This is a rather mean-spirited short, which is why many people like it. I think it gives the short a certain edge that makes it worth watching but at the same time you can't help but feel sorry for this cat who is clearly terrified out of his wits. None of the three characters were all that strong. They weren't bad but they just weren't characters that I'd sit through various shorts with. Fans of animation will certainly want to check this out even though it's not the best of what's out there.

I first saw this cartoon when I was a little kid, and naturally, I had no idea what was going on. I was utterly clueless that Claude the Cat has hypochondria and that Bert & Hubie decide to take advantage of it to their full potential. In a way, the whole cartoon is really sad, and Claude's dream sure has the potential to freak out any young child. Of course, for those of us who do understand hypochondria and know how Claude thinks that he has every disease known to man, it's a laugh riot.