Scaredy Cat

This is the primary pretext of SCAREDY CAT. The feline set also tends to be quite self-centered, evidenced by Sylvester hoisting an anvil over his tuna fish provider P. Pig, forcing him onto the wagon to the killing field. If there were any cats along for the maiden voyage of the Titanic, one can bet that they'd have filled the space on the few available lifeboats as soon as the crow's nest dude yelled "Thar she's blowing free ice cubes for your drinks!" Fluffy does not observe any of the laws stipulating "Women and children first!" Fickle felines always desert just when their owners need them the most. That's why no one writes about "The cats of war" or "Fluffy come home."

While not the best of the Looney Tunes canon, it is still enjoyable with a lot to recommend it. The villainous mice could have been developed more, but other than that I had little problem with Scaredy Cat. Porky and Sylvester are both great, especially Sylvester who gets the worst of the scares, particularly the infamous sequence down in the basement, that and the scene after did scare me as a kid. As well as being freaky, there are some funny moments too, slapsticky yes but they were well timed and funny. The animation is excellent, Sylvester is somewhat different-looking, but Porky is drawn very well and the backgrounds and colouring are audacious. The music is both rousing and atmospheric, the dialogue is great, the gags are fine, the story is well-constructed and quite original and Mel Blanc is once again brilliant as both Sylvester and Porky. Overall, not the best but very well done. 9/10 Bethany Cox

It's easy to confuse this short with "Claws for Alarm" like I did.

Although not the more terrifying of the too this one really does not pull punches on its dark humor and the sequence of one life threatening trick after another narrowly avoided is very sinister.

It's a tremendously satisfying narrative of misunderstanding and redemption which is touching and funny.

This is one of two cartoons I have watched with Porky and Sylvester (the other being "Jumpin' Jupiter"). Personally, I thought this cartoon worked very well, with a new theme of horror (which is both funny and freaky) and the fact that Sylvester never speaks and is a great deal more of a coward than a hunter of Tweety (who is not in this cartoon whatsoever). Porky is an entertaining character here, who is especially heart-warming closer to the end.

In this short, Porky and Sylvester have moved into a big, spooky house and Sylvester is terrified of his new surroundings. He has good reason to be terrified, as the house is populated with horribly murdering mice. Sylvester, as he is a cat who cannot speak, cannot tell Porky of the horrible creatures in the house and just stays close to his owner, hoping that they will not be killed...

I enjoyed this cartoon for the originality of it and for some of the jokes, which, despite being very slapsticky, were quite humorous. I enjoyed the new character of Sylvester, whom I prefer to his character with Tweety, of which he is more famous for.

I recommend this to people who like Sylvester and Porky and who like/don't mind to see cartoon horror. Enjoy "Scaredy Cat"! :-)

Chuck Jones's 'Scaredy Cat' is the best of the few pairings of Porky Pig and Sylvester. Casting Porky as Sylvester's owner (Sylvester is more cat-like than usual, remaining silent for the whole cartoon), 'Scaredy Cat' finds the pair moving into a spooky mansion which terrifies Sylvester from the outset. Rather than ghosts, however, the mansion is populated by murderous mice who ritually execute their victims. Somehow this makes 'Scaredy Cat' all the more frightening. And it is frightening! There are several morbid sequences including a scene of a cat being carted off to his death by a mousey executioner and a moment in which Sylvester attempts suicide rather than being sent out to face the vicious vermin alone. Most terrifying of all though, is an infamous sequence in which the mice take Sylvester to the basement. We never see what they do to him but he emerges nearly three hours later, a pale white zombie scared rigid by what he has experienced. It's a classic example of the human mind conjuring up far worse scenarios when the details are left to the imagination. All in all, 'Scaredy Cat' is an indelibly creepy and extremely well staged cartoon which relies on horror as much as laughs to achieve its impact.