The Cagey Canary

You can always tell the early forties Warner cartoons from the others by two things: the animation is more Disney like and the gags are of the same ilk as an MGM cartoon. It was not until after the war that Warners hit it's stride and their characters started to blossom. This one stars a cat and canary who might be the forefathers of Tweety and Sylvester, but feel more like Tom and Jerry or even, on a bad day, Pluto. It may surprise you to hear Tex Avery directed this, until you realize he left Warners before it was finished. Bob Clampett took over, but was apparently too sad to throw in some of his own zaniness.

So here we have a fat cat who really moves like a feline and a yellow Canary that is actually bird shaped. Both are owned by an old hag resembling Olive Oyl's ugly stepmother, who threatens to throw kitty cat out in the rain if he makes a move on the canary. So, the moment she turns off the light, the cat with no name is on the prowl, moving in step to a musical motive that would not be misplaced in 'The Jungle Book'. He does the old tippy toe with the fingers bit (lucky he's got glove-like fur). Although Tex managed to sneak in a gag involving a pin-up for all the boys fighting overseas, this is awfully tame. The characters move too much like real animals. The main gag is that the bird only has to whistle for the cat to get caught. When the cat makes sure the Canary can't, Birdie tries to get cat to whistle instead.

At one point Kitty feeds Birdie some biscuits that not only make him loose his whistle, but his ability to fly too. Intend on taking revenge, the little yellow belly begins teasing his tormentor in ways even Tweety would never imagine, like sliding into his mouth to pull out the tongue. If this little flayer is so strong he's really got nothing to worry about. Naturaly Puss puts some earmuffs on the old hag and the two pets have a stand off to see which one can strike the coolest pose. One notable highlight of animation is a chase through the whole apartment seen from above: all the way from the dining room to the bathroom (you guessed it: no sign of a toilet). For once, both of them get what they deserve in the end, but even that fails to excite.

5 out of 10

"The Cagey Canary" is sort of like a precursor to the popular Sylvester and Tweety cartoons of the late 1940s. You have a cat, a canary and even a protective old woman....and the dynamics are similar, though they look nothing like the later incarnations. So, in this one, the cat is trying to eat the bird...but he's worried the old woman will catch him when the bird whistles for her.

So is this any good? Yes, though it's less fun than the Sylvester and Tweety cartoons because the bird is less of a jerk!

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.

A cat versus bird cartoon before Sylvester and Tweety were born, 'The Cagey Canary' is not among the best work of either Tex Avery or Bob Clampett, both of whom were responsible for many cartoons that ranged from very good to masterpiece. That 'The Cagey Canary' is only pretty good is slightly disappointing but it is better than nothing, even when these two were not at the very top of their game they put a lot of people at their worst to shame, as clichéd as this sounds.

'The Cagey Canary' is fairly formulaic and slight in terms of story, and while it's always engaging and amusing with good pacing it's never hilarious as such or particularly imaginative.

However, the animation is excellent. Beautifully drawn, very detailed and the colours are vibrant, complete with some great expressions for the cat.

Carl Stalling's music score is typically lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms, it's also beautifully synchronised with the action and gestures/expressions and even enhances the impact.

As said, 'The Cagey Canary' is not hilarious but it's very amusing, well-timed and easy to be engaged by. The canary is cute and the old lady is suitably feisty, but the funniest and most interesting character is the cat. Mel Blanc shows off his peerless versatility in the way only he could.

In short, pretty good. 7/10 Bethany Cox