Claws for Alarm

Chuck Jones's 'Claws for Alarm' is an inferior remake of his own 'Scaredy Cat'. While 'Scaredy Cat' had provided a brilliant combination of laughs and genuinely creepy horror, 'Claws for Alarm' very much concentrates on the former. This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing had 'Scaredy Cat' not done everything 'Claws for Alarm' attempts better already. 'Claws for Alarm' uses more limited animation than the lush 'Scaredy Cat' which, while it is lively and colourful, doesn't come close to creating as affective an atmosphere as the former cartoon's gorgeous, intricate look. The plot is almost entirely identical (Sylvester attempts to rescue Porky Pig from some psychotic mice) except that this time round Porky never realises the truth, eventually driving Sylvester to violence. This leads to an ominous ending which is perhaps the only thing about 'Claws for Alarm' that is actually better than 'Scaredy Cat' (which had a rather weird ending based on an outdated reference). While many people's personal preference may be down to which they saw first, 'Scaredy Cat' is, to my mind, clearly the superior picture and its very existence renders 'Claws for Alarm' entirely redundant.

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 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.

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!

In one of the many classic Looney Tunes cartoons, Porky Pig and Sylvester spend the night in a desert town. The only thing is, this town appears to be haunted or something. So, Porky, completely clueless, goes about doing his business while a gaggle of nasty mice try to kill him. Sure enough, every time that Sylvester narrowly saves Porky, Porky believes him to be insane.

Some of the stuff in here might seem a little far out for a cartoon, especially in the '50s. But that's just why the Looney Tunes were so great: they weren't afraid to do whatever they wanted. You'd better believe that they were all about trashing the rules; and that's just what they do here. These cartoons were truly the gold standard of their era. Really funny.

So yes, do give me a home...