When the Cat's Away

Harman and Ising had a long and checkered career producing cartoons. They started out with Disney, spent the middle part of their career creating Warner's Merry Melodies and Loony Tunes, then wound up at MGM in charge of their cartoon department until they gradually.... stopped in the mid forties. This is a fairly typical production of theirs from thirties: beautifully drawn, in lavish Technicolor, the full use of the MGM symphony orchestra, and they turned out cartoons with bad gags that would offend no one, adorning puerile adaptations of banal stories "fit for children." It wasn't until the mid-forties, when the pair of them went off to do war work, that Hanna & Barbera invented Tom & Jerry, with their elaborate violence, and Tex Avery showed up to spread mayhem that MGM's cartoon department took off.

If you have a technical interest in the history of cartoons, you might want to see this. Otherwise, give it a miss.

When the Cat's Away (1935)

** (out of 4)

A cat leaves its house to go into an alley with other cats so the mice decide to come out and eat everything in the place before breaking out into a song and dance. This Harman and Ising short was produced by MGM and has the added benefit of being in color but unfortunately there's not too much entertainment to be had. It's clear that mice were a big part of early animation but the story here is rather bland but the biggest problem is that there's just nothing too catchy going on. Yes, the mice go through the house causing trouble but none of it is entertaining. The most entertaining sequence has a full banana going into one of the mice and what happens to him will get a split-second smile but that's not enough to carry a film even one that just lasts 8-minutes. The animation looks decent enough but the story doesn't bring us any memorable characters and even the songs aren't all that impressive.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera, Studio Ghibli and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. With significantly broader knowledge of different directors, animation styles and studios, actually appreciate and love it even more now.

As has been said a few times already, 'When the Cat's Away' is fairly typical of Harmon-Ising, leaning towards the cute kind of cartoon with a lot of sentiment in alternative to the laugh a minute and hilarious kind, the latter being the one that a lot seem to prefer (understandably, though am hardly biased against the former). This approach has varied with Ising. In some instances it has been very sweet and charming, in others it can be cloying and too cutesy. Some fit in the former category, others in the latter category. Sadly, 'When the Cat's Away' is one of the latter category cartoons.

'When the Cat's Away' is not an unwatchable cartoon by all means. It may be underwhelming but there are redeeming values as well. Its best asset is the animation, it's vibrantly and atmospherically coloured and shaded, beautifully drawn and rich in meticulous background detail. The music is another big plus, it's lushly orchestrated, full of charm and character and fits with the visuals beautifully.

There are a few cute and charming moments. The rat is the most interesting character, being the only one to have any real personality.

On the other hand, the mice and cockroaches are bland and very difficult to endear to, they may have cute exteriors but their antics can leave a bad taste in the mouth. The story is barely existent and there are times when it drags hard.

Most of 'When the Cat's Away' is too saccharine and cloying and some of the distasteful antics render it mostly charmless. Was not expecting a laugh a minute or hilarious cartoon, but 'When the Cat's Away' is completely humourless (other than agreed the bit with the banana)even the sporadic moments that should have amused a little.

In summation, underwhelming. 4/10 Bethany Cox

The title says it all. When a female cat goes out with her Tomcat boyfriend, the mice come out of their holes and begin to ravage the house. It is syrupy as can be and offers little of interest to the viewer. Pretty much oozing in cute.

I am a huge fan of Hollywood films from the 1930s. I simply adore the movies and shorts and can't get enough of them. There is, however, an exception--most cartoons of the 30s were pretty insipid. Sure, there are some notable exceptions (such as SNOW WHITE), but Disney, Warner Brothers and MGM (among others) insisted on cranking out a huge number of terrible musical films that were just awful. Please understand I am NOT knocking Mickey Mouse or Donald--but the musicals referred to as "Silly Symphonies" (Disney), "Merry Melodies" (Warner) or "Happy Harmonies" (MGM). These cutesy films were often pure drivel (except for some of the "Silly Symphoneis") with practically no humor and no edge--just lots of awful singing and characters so treacly sweet that they are just about unwatchable. The edgy Bugs Bunny or Tex Avery cartoons we know and love today were produced in the following decades. You know it was a bad decade for toons when Popeye and Betty Boop were among the BETTER toons of the age!!! Despite these films being so bad, I recently forced myself to watch a trio of Happy Harmonies shorts. Part of this must be because I am a masochist, but part of it is because I love reviewing the more obscure films--as there is a real scarcity of reviews for older and seldom-seen movies and shorts.

The first of the films shown on TCM was WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY. It featured a female house cat leaving home to run around with a cute male cat. And so, when this cat was away, the mice ran amok in the home--eating everything in sight. Oddly, the lead mouse was kind of cute and wore clothes, but the rest of them really looked and acted like vermin. Instead of the usual cute mice, these looked almost like a cartoon version of WILLARD and they were far from endearing or cute. But, despite them being unlikable, they sang and danced and had a great time. However, I am left wondering how those watching the film could have been anything other than bored or horrified by the mice. And then there was the god-awful music...YECCH!! Watch at your own risk--don't say I didn't warn you!