Paseo de canario

It's Granny's first appearance in a Sylvester & Tweety short, which pretty much makes it a classic for that reason alone. This is a very funny cartoon with a plot that's as simple as they come. Tweety is singing in his cage near an open apartment building window. Sylvester spies him and determines to get the bird. But he wasn't prepared for Tweety's owner, Granny, and her umbrella of pain. Lots of great physical gags in this one with poor old Sylvester the brunt of all of them. Tweety and Granny have many funny lines. The animation is bright and colorful with well-drawn characters and backgrounds. The music is lively and fun. I always love hearing Tweety sing. Wonderful voice work from the great Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet. If you're a fan of Sylvester & Tweety shorts, this is one you won't want to miss.

Oh-Oh! - It looks like that bad, ol' putty-tat is up to no good once again.

Surveying the downtown area from his lookout point inside the office of the "Bird Watchers' Society", Sylvester spies (with his big, bloodshot eyes) a very tasty morsel (across the street) sitting on a windowsill of the Broken Arms Apartments.

And, with that scenario setting the tone of 1950's "Canary Row" - We find Sylvester (that conniving feline), once again, stooping to just about anything in order to capture and consume cute, little Tweety.

But, have no fear! 'Cause Granny is near. And, she will see to it that absolutely no harm comes to her darling, little Tweety... (Yep. You can count on Granny for that)

Friz Freleng's 'Canary Row' is a pretty standard Sylvester and Tweety cartoon that somehow got itself nominated for an Oscar. Even more bizarrely, its producer withdrew the nomination for some unknown reason. The main reason for 'Canary Row' gaining heightened attention is probably the first appearance of Granny. To people like me who have grown up watching these cartoons for years, Granny is a well established character and her appearance here is just standard antics. To an audience who had never seen her before, however, Granny added a certain something new to the old cat and bird formula. Granny undoubtedly steals the cartoon, featuring prominently in the few jokes that work. When she's not on screen, the cartoon sags and reverts to predictable, overused gags. Which is not to say that Granny's presence makes every scene great. She plays a significant role in the extended and thoroughly pointless monkey sequence, the most half-hearted joke of the cartoon after the tired ropeswing-into-the-side-of-the-building time filler. I'm not a huge fan of Friz Freleng's Tweety and Sylvester series (I greatly prefer the characters when they appear without each other) but there are certain episodes that stand out as being vastly superior. 'Canary Row' is certainly not one of them, falling firmly into the run-of-the-mill chase category. Oscar material it ain't!

Sylvester and Tweety had only been co-starring for a few years by this point, but Granny appears to be the prototype for the current - if unrealistic - image of the senior citizen kicking booty. As a cat lover, I've always wondered why Sylvester has to suffer so much in these cartoons, even if he's a sinister predator. But in "Canary Row", he suffers at the hands of Tweety, Granny, and even the desk clerk. Will that feline ever get what he wants?! Anyway, it's a pretty funny cartoon. Tweety is sort of the epitome of a facade hiding something nasty.

Watch for a sign advertising "Friz" (Freleng, that is).

Canary Row (1950)

*** (out of 4)

Tweety Bird is safely in his cage when Sylvester decides to try and kidnap him for dinner. Sylvester seems to have the upper hand until Granny comes to the rescue. This here isn't the best Tweety/Sylvester short out there but the real star is Granny who clearly steals the film. The feisty old lady still knows how to throw a few punches and her protection of Tweety is the main reason to see this film. Believe it or not this series was never one of my favorites but this one here is an enjoyable seven-minutes with some nice laughs and good action.