Kitty Kornered

It's evening and homes all over the US are putting out their cats for the night. However when Porky Pig attempts to put out his litter he finds that Sylvester is leading a revolution that tries to change the socially accepted order of things!

Starting out with Porky being thrown out into the snow by his cats, this cartoon is a battle of wills between Porky and his cats, led by the despicable Sylvester. The various rouses they all pull are all funny and the `alien invasion' broadcast is a nice throwaway reference to Orson Welles' reading of War of the Worlds! The gags all work well and things are lively.

The characters in the leads really drive the cartoon. Porky is very animated and funny, while Slyvester is the best of the cats – who, aside from him, are merely sidekicks. Overall I enjoyed the short and it had plenty of gags and imagination – Sylvester is in particularly good form.

In "Kitty Kornered", Porky Pig has a really hard time getting his cats to go out for the night, as they always seem to be one step ahead of him. I assume that the whole part about the Martian invasion was probably a takeoff on Orson Welles's famous (or is that infamous?) radio broadcast. It's the sort of cartoon where they just keep a gag coming every second. But how could it not be, coming as it does from the crowd behind the Looney Tunes cartoons? So, it may not be the greatest cartoon ever created, but you're sure to have a good time watching it. And if you ever hear of a Martian invasion, you know just what to do.

Many of Bob Clampett's cartoons are superbly made, inventive, extremely funny and his style always shines through. Porky is always watchable and Sylvester is one of the funniest and most interesting Looney Tunes character. So 'Kitty Kornered' has much going for it.

Clampett's style certainly shines through in 'Kitty Kornered', not just in the storytelling and gags but also the visual style. It is one of his wildest and wackiest, and also one of his most visually imaginative. The animation is really wonderful here, with several eye-popping and inventively exaggerated moments. It's also very colourful and beautifully detailed.

'Kitty Kornered' features yet another music score from Carl Stalling, which as always is fabulous and reinforces why he is my, and many others, personal favourite regular Looney Tunes composers. Stalling always made a great cartoon even better with his music scores, with its lush and lively orchestration, high energy and character and action-enhancing synchronisation.

The gags, which are many and come by thick and fast, also hit their mark, they are never less than very funny and a vast majority of the time are hilarious. The goldfish gag is a classic, and one will love the references to 'Arsenic and Old Lace', 'Lassie' and 'War of the Worlds' (this reviewer will respectfully disagree about it feeling tacked on). The dialogue has the usual razor sharp Looney Tunes wit, especially with Sylvester though Porky's dialogue is funnier than usual as well. The cartoon is frenetically paced, but never feels rushed or over-the-top.

Porky is always likable and watchable, he can be a little bland when a lead or pitched against characters with stronger personalities but he is far from that here. Even better is Sylvester (looking different than he would become later), who is often a riot and even when evolving his characteristic personality shines constantly. The other cats are fun too, especially Tiny, if not as memorable as Porky and Sylvester. Mel Blanc excels brilliantly as always in multiple roles.

All in all, wonderful cartoon and a Clampett classic. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Bob Clampett was at his creative height and his last year at Warners when he directed this cartoon. The plot involves Porky Pig trying to put his four cats out for the night (one of the cats is an early version of Slyvester). Several scenes parody Arsenic And Old Lace and the Orson Welles' radio play of War Of The Worlds. Everything gels together very nicely in this one; the jokes come fast and furious, the timing is razor sharp, and the art direction, use of color and camera compositions all greatly enhance the scenes. A special standout is the animation, though. It is suitably exaggerated and there are several great eye-popping "takes." The rest of the animators on Clampett's team had finally caught up to Rod Scribner's style of cartooning at this point. (Rod Scribner was one of Clampett's head animators and was instrumental in breaking the Warner cartoons away from the stultifying and literal "realistic" animation of the day to a looser and more expressive style.) A very funny and energetic cartoon that for some reason has hardly been shown on T.V. Highly recommended!

Porky Pig is trying to put out his four cats for the evening and one them is the cat we know as Sylvester, who became a lot more famous when he was paired with Tweetie, which began the year after this cartoon was released.

At 9 p.m., according to this story, all cats were thrown out of their houses for the night, even in the middle of winter. Where did that come from? Well, Porky has three big cats and one little guy. That's the one, the shrimp, with an attitude and there is no way he's going out in the snow. Pretty soon all four cats are inside and Porky is outside and f-f-f-freezing in his nightcap.

There are some funny visuals in here as the cats live it up for a short while, getting drunk on "Arsenic And Old Grape" wine, smoking cigars, binging on chocolates....until Porky gets back inside. Then, look out!

Great visuals and direction by Robert Clampett highlight this, although all the action and noise could give you a headache. This is one, wild cartoon with something loud happening every second. It has to be one of the wilder cartoons of the classic era.

I enjoyed how both sides tried tricks on each other, such as the "Lassie" and "War of the Worlds" imitations.