Claws for Alarm

Porky Pig and Sylvester are driving in a spooky town looking for a place to stay the night. When Porky finds a hotel, Sylvester is scared silly. An unseen presence keeps trying to kill Porky only to be saved by Sylvester, but Porky never sees it. Porky thinks that Sylvester is going crazy.

This is a great little Looney Tunes for Halloween. I love the start of the unlikely duo driving into a spooky town and I love the designs of the buildings. I do wonder if WB shouldn't show a bunch of these cartoons for Halloween although they may be too morbidly violent for today. I can see parents groups going crazy.

In my opinion, one of the greatest Warner Bros. cartoons ever. Another of the long list of great Chuck Jones shorts of the '50s ("Drip-Along Daffy", "Rabbit Seasoning", "One Froggy Evening") and another in which Porky Pig and (here, his pet cat) Sylvester go on a trip and face disaster, unknown to Porky (see also "Jumpin' Jupiter", 1955).

Porky and Sylvester check into an abandoned hotel, and are menaced by evil (satanic?) mice intent on killing them both. It's beyond me how such subversive stuff was put on cinema screens in 1954. The collaboration of Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese brings about a level of twisted genius, as well as cockeyed comedy, that few cartoons, even WB cartoons, can ever hope to match. A true masterpiece of short animation.

Porky and Sylvester stop for the night at a dilapidated old hotel. Porky ignores the obvious signs that this place is haunted but Sylvester is very much aware of all the spooky goings-on. Chuck Jones does a great job here with the comedy and the creepiness. There's a really nice dark atmosphere with this short. Mel Blanc outdoes himself with some very funny stuttering punchlines for Porky. This is a follow-up to the awesome Scaredy Cat, which also starred Porky and Sylvester. In many ways, it's even better than that short. Both are classics, however, so we're really splitting hairs trying to decide which is best. Love that final shot!

A comedic but genuinely terrifying piece of vintage animation.

It really gets to me, these gremlin on the plane scenarios, in which only one character sees the danger but is not believed.

The archetypally creepy house with Porky just totally oblivious to any possible danger could teach the horror movies a thing or two. There is a skin crawlingly real sense of an unseen menace that could be just about anywhere.

Yes, it's funny too and also somewhat poignant and the pay off is great.

I really like this silent Courage the Cowardly Dog-esque version of Sylvester and with that I think I have a sufficient character count.

Porky and Sylvester are teamed as owner and pet in this one. They are out driving somewhere in the middle of night in the middle of nowhere but Porky is excited to drive up to "Dry Gulch," which looks like a ghost town. Sylvester sees it for what it is but Porky, for some unknown reason, sees it "as a perfectly splendid place to spend the night." To him, the fact nobody is around just means these country folks must go to bed early.

This is a theme I saw in another Porky & Sylvester cartoon in which Porky doesn't wake up to reality until the last minute and poor Sylvester constantly gets accused of being a "scaredy cat." The only thing different is the setting: this being in a ghost town out West.

Poor Sylvester gets accused of every mental illness you can think of, after each time he saves his dumb master's life because the latter doesn't see what's really going on. It's deadly mice trying to kill Porky.....a slew of them, but our loyal cat is up to the task, even if he's not appreciated. This, like the other cartoon with the same theme, is both funny but frustrating we wait - and hope - Sylvester gets the credit he deserves.

I can't give away the ending.....but it's downright diabolical! This cartoon can be seen on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Three.