Putty Tat Trouble

I hate Tweety. I hate his stupid head, his stupid eyes, his stupid voice and that whole androgynous thing he has going on. At one point in this cartoon Sylvester even gets him in his mouth but doesn't swallow. Why? I want Tweety to be digested and never seen again!

The story in this one is the rivalry between Sylvester and another, uglier, cat out for Tweety's blood. As they are constantly working against each other the annoying bird always gets away. If they just cooperated they might have put and end to his irritating catchphrase once and for all.

The Xmas theme gives it a cheery holiday feel though.

In the large Looney Tunes canon of some of the greatest cartoons ever made, the Tweety and Sylvester entries give them even further solidity by being one of their most popular series and never letting the audience down with a below par effort. Most, including this one in particular, have an elegance enhanced by the music of Carl Stalling. Many of the gags are of the two putty tats competing against one another to be the one to catch Tweety, but when the action comes out of the cold outdoors to the scene in the basement of one of the apartment buildings, we have one of those transcendental moments of pure Looney Tunes genius when the little yellow bird meets another little yellow bird perched on a glass of water.

I wonder why Sylvester doesn't just give up on trying to get Tweety. Clearly that bird has a bad-ass streak. But Sylvester keeps going after him, and in "Putty Tat Trouble" has to vie with an unidentified orange tabby around Christmas. Needless to say, their attempts have rather detrimental results (to them, that is).

I agree with a previous reviewer that Sylvester and the other cat could have just made a deal to divide up Tweety equally. But it appears that they're both really greedy (these toons have a real problem with that, don't they?). And anyway, their misfortunes are their own fault for trying to harm someone else.

So, it's not the best Sylvester-Tweety cartoon, but still worth seeing.

Putty Tat Trouble may have a formulaic story with an ending that doesn't come too much of a surprise, if you are familiar with the formula of the Sylvester/Tweety series there's not much new here. But in all honesty most of their cartoons are on the formulaic side anyway. That said, Putty Tat Trouble is great stuff and among their better cartoons. The bold and colourful animation with fluid detail aplenty is a definite thing to like as well as Carl Stalling's characterful and lively music score that not only is orchestrated so lushly but accentuates the action so well. Putty Tat Trouble has dialogue that will make you laugh and put you in a good line, Tweety's rather cutesy conversation with the mechanical bird being the only lull, the action is violent without being sadistic and exciting and the gags, especially the orange cat mistaking the mechanical yellow bird for Tweety and Sylvester and the orange cat literally bashing each other over the heads fighting over Tweety(doing so repeatedly but in different ways that are inventive and funny, no repetition whatsoever). The story is relentlessly energetic and for there is a festive feel and a real sense of the holiday season even amid the humour and manic mayhem. Tweety shows both his cute and anarchic sides and is not annoying at all(unlike some people I never had a problem with him) but the best moments are between the two cats, who are more interesting characters and have meatier material(that is true generally with Sylvester in his cartoons with Tweety), at the end you do feel sympathy for them. Mel Blanc as ever provides stellar vocals. All in all, lots of fun and among the better entries of a mostly entertaining if routine series of cartoons. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Oh-me! Oh-my! - Who would've ever thought that being a sweet, little bird like Tweety would also have its fair share of hazards and drawbacks, too?

But - Hey! - When you've got a totally determined and persistent putty-tat like Sylvester continually stalking you for his next meal - How can Tweety's diminutive size not make him a victim who is repeatedly finding himself on the lookout for any dangerous traps that are being cleverly set for his inevitable capture?

Anyway - This pre-CGI animated short from 1951 was (IMO) quite an enjoyable view. It was delightfully directed by Friz Freleng with the added bonus of featuring the always-amusing voice-talents of Mel Blanc.