Ventriloquist Cat

Tex Avery's MGM cartoons are among the very best ever made--and if you haven't seen them, you are in for a treat if you see one. While "Ventriloquist Cat" may not be his very best, it's sure close. And, if after seeing it you STILL don't like his films, then there is no hope for you!

The cartoon begins with a nasty cat doing 'I hate dogs' graffiti everywhere...including on a dog's stomach! The dog is not amused and spends the rest of the film chasing the cat. But the cat is VERY resourceful and uses a trick device to throw his voice--sending the dog on a wild chase all over town trying to find that darned cat. This isn't all, but I won't say more--it would spoil the crazy fun.

While the animation is great, the film is wonderful because it's funny...very funny. And, wildly creative--a characteristic of Avery's fine MGM films. By the way, I mention his MGM films because, oddly, Avery's films he did prior to this were for Looney Tunes--and they were much, much more conventional. Not terrible, but not nearly as much fun as his later films, that's for sure.

Tex Avery was a genius at the art of the animated short. He did for the animated short what Walt Disney did for the feature. Avery seemed to have something of a fondness for black cats, as he did a number of cartoons featuring black cats. Ventriloquist Cat was one of them. Mostly sight-gags fired at the viewer at a very frenetic pace and designed to keep you rolling around on the floor laughing. More often than not, it works. This and most of Avery's shorts are marvelously (sometimes wickedly) funny. Most highly recommended.

Ventriloquist Cat (1950)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Classic Avery cartoon about a cat who becomes a ventriloquist so that he can play a bunch of tricks on a rather dumb bulldog. The premise to this short is a very, very simple one but it works perfectly as it gets one incredibly big laugh after another. One could argue that the same thing keeps happening over and over but that doesn't really matter when you're getting a laugh with the joke. There are countless highlights here including a terrific sequence where the cat makes the bulldog think he's hiding in some clothes, which the dog starts to rip up and he finally makes it to a real police officer and rips his clothes off. Another great scene is the end when the cat thinks it's safe to take the special piece he's been using out of his mouth but the final shot is pure classic. The majority of the jokes come from various explosions where the bulldog is the victim but they're all funny.

A cat uses ventriloquism to torment a dog. Plus dynamite.

The structure is the usual one for a Tex Avery cartoon: one gag after another, until the length of the cartoon is used up.... although there is an ending that's a bit different in tone from the rest. Here, as always, Avery's gags are beautifully composed and executed, with a little fillip at the end of each to induce a further giggle, that makes him one of the great cartoon directors at Termite Terrace at the start of the 1940s, each with their own style. Alas, Avery's theatrical cartoon career would last only another eight years, before the declining economics of the industry drove him to the ad business... where he would prosper, as befitted his genius.

One of Tex Avery's best! A cat uses a device to throw his voice, thus leading a dog into many painful situations. Each gag is fresh and funny. Features the best scene of a dog dressing as a cat I've seen in a cartoon. The twist ending is hilarious. A classic!