I Only Have Eyes for You

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Tex Avery was one of the greatest and most influential animation directors there ever was, with a unique visual and humour style and his best work saw some ahead of its time content. 'I Only Have Eyes for You' is not one of his best efforts, it's worth watching, it's well made and it's far from bad, but it is not demonstrative of what made him so great and influential. His work here is competent but it is pretty tame by Avery standards.

'I Only Have Eyes for You's' story is nothing special and pretty flimsy, basically it's a caricature crooner cartoon with birds. The cartoon is amusing enough, but there is little hilarious or imaginative.

However, the animation ranges from good to excellent. It's fluid in movement, vibrant in colour and very meticulous in detail. Most of the pace is lively and the content is charming, amusing and well-timed if with not quite enough to go the extra mile.

Carl Stalling's music is typically superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it. The pre-existing music is catchy and put to inspired use. The characters are likeable and their personalities work well individually and together. The voice acting is solid.

Summing up, well worth watching if not a masterpiece. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Yes, I do enjoy I Only Have Eyes for You. In 1937, with more homes coming within reach of electricity, icemen were on their way out. The spinster bird whom he visited offered goodies but he declined, so he proceeded to the home of Katie Canary, whom he adored. She loved only radio crooners like Bing Crosby, and had the radio on, listening to him sing, "Let It Be Me". So, the iceman came upon Professor Mockingbird, professional imitator. He did several imitations, including the one that I most fondly remember, pretending to play "Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet" on calliope. Then he began to croon "I Only Have Eyes For You", and rode in back of ice truck, to fool Katie Canary, but caught cold so it all backfired. The radio was removed, and an electric refrigerator put in its place, so the iceman would not come to THAT house any more, and his girlfriend got this counterfeit crooner! He wound up marrying the unattractive spinster, enjoying her wonderful cooking.

"I Only Have Eyes for You" in one sense seems like a relic of the days when the Warner Bros. cartoons were just breaking out of the Disney mold but hadn't yet gotten all the way. It portrays an iceman having the hots for a woman who only likes crooners, so he hires a professional imitator to sing like them while the iceman can pretend to sing. Sure enough, the whole plan eventually blows up in their faces. If anything, the iceman was asking for it, given that he was using the imitator as a mere means (that is, using someone so as only to benefit oneself).

I notice that one of the voice artists is Joe Dougherty, who provided Porky Pig's voice before Mel Blanc (and one can hear a Porky-style stutter in the iceman's voice). Mel of course joined the animation studio not long after this, and I would say that his arrival cemented their break away from the Disney mold.

Worth seeing, if only once.