The Last Hungry Cat

I've known for years that the people behind the classic Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons liked to spoof the popular culture of the era, but I never would have guessed that they made a cartoon parodying "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". Friz Freleng's "The Last Hungry Cat" is it. It starts with a bear entering an outline and explaining what's about to happen. Then comes the story. After Sylvester sneaks into Tweety's room and through a mix-up mistakenly thinks that he's eaten the little guy, he proceeds to go about his normal life. Except that he hears on TV that the police are looking for a killer known as The Cat, and everything reminds him of this. A Hitchcock movie indeed! So, while it is true that the Looney Tunes era was winding down by 1961, they still managed to turn out some good ones towards the end. They knew how to have just the right amount of twisted sensibility without degenerating into bad taste. This is one that you should like. And also watch Hitch's "Blackmail" to get a good feeling for what this cartoon portrays.

One of the final Sylvester and Tweety shorts of the classic era for Looney Tunes. This one parodies Alfred Hitchcock Presents, with a Hitchcock-inspired bear narrating a story where Sylvester believes he has killed Tweety and feels guilty over it. A clever and funny short that ranks pretty high on my list of favorite Looney Tunes from the '60s, which was not their best decade as quality was deteriorating across the board.

The animation is excellent with a lovely noirish style to it. I didn't even mind the sketchy backgrounds this time as it fit well here. Love the colors, particularly the purples and blues. The music is great and used fittingly throughout the story. The incomparable Mel Blanc does great work, as usual. Ben Frommer did the voice for the Hitchcock bear and I thought it was a poor job. I'm not sure why Blanc didn't do it as he did quite a few impressions and I doubt he could have done worse than Frommer, who sounds less like Hitch and more like a guy with a stuffy nose. The gags and dialogue are very funny, especially in the back and forth between Sylvester and the narrator. This is a different type of short than you likely expect from Sylvester and Tweety (who's barely in it), but it works well.

Failing to come up with a parody name for Alfred Hitchcock, a silhouetted bear has to suffice without an introduction. This nameless narrator presents a story of ‘Birder': While Granny is across the hall visiting with Mrs. Bitts, Sylvester the alleycat grabs his chance to break into her house and get that Tweety bird. The clumsy cat knocks himself cold and comes to with a yellow feather stuck in his mouth. For some reason this makes him believe he actually got rid of that helpless little blue eyed menace to society (as the narrator puts it).

Back in his dump of a home where everything is run down and askew. (I love the triangular chair), the voice of Hitch keeps reminding Sly of his horrible crime. Newspaper headlines involving a criminal nicknamed ‘the cat' and ominous radio announcements only add to the confusion. The guilty conscience forced upon Sylvester by the bear ensures a greater reliance on verbal gags than usual, but this allows the viewer a deeper insight into the felines tormented soul.

It becomes a bit of a guilty pleasure to see poor Sly being manipulated like this. After all he is only a pussycat. He takes up smoking, drinks pots full of coffee and swallows buckets of sleeping pills. Where he gets all this from no one knows (but I suspect the narrator). He even rubs the little green pills all over himself before giving us his patented 'I'm weak, I'm weak' routine from "Bird Anonymous" (1957). Tweety Pie is hardly in it, but is never missed. When the pussycat finally does decide to give himself up, both he and the silhouetted bear end up with a headache.

8 out of 10

Thanks a million to MOVIES Net for running this INSANE Warner Brothers cartoon classic, which I haven't seen in decades, but remember it like yesterday. Beautifully restored in color.

Yes, a take-off on Hitchcock's tv show (which had to be done), because it was such a camp treat. Why not a cartoon spin-off? Character actor Ben Frommer (COLUMBO, ADAM 12 etc) plays the voice of Hitch, and very convincingly, doing the famous dark comedy intro. All about sneaky Sylvester (Mel Blanc), plotting to EAT Tweety (also Blanc) once and for all.

Mission: He has to get around Granny (played to the hilt by June Foray) -- with a BIG broom. Often wondered if the Granny character inspired the producers of the BEVERLY HILLBILLIES. Both Grannies were bananas.

The Hitch Connection; Sylvester belives he did, in fact, eat Tweety and now feels guilty. GUILT was Hitch's favorite emotion, and the writers run away with it. By the way, applause to authors John W. Dunn and David Defiege, who spent lengthy careers writing these goofy stories, and doing a wonderful job. We kids loved it.

What can you say about Mel Blanc, except he's laugh out loud funny. Same for June Foray, even more famous for playing the wacky witch (with the broom and loose bobby pins!) in many cartoons. June passed in 2017 at age 99. A job well done.

WAIT FOR THE END... Hitch does his closing and gets belted? The unforgettable closing line (supplied by Mel Blanc)... "Awww Shut Up!"

Remastered via Warner Brothers dvd, box sets of cartoons, there are several. Also shop on line at TCM, which has a contract WB to show their films, shorts and cartoons.

The Sylvester and Tweety cartoons while enjoyable as an overall series are inconsistent in quality, there are a handful of great ones and a few lacking ones. The Last Hungry Cat is not quite among the classics but it is one of their better later cartoons and the best of the post-Hyde and Go Tweet(the last "great" cartoon of theirs) cartoons that even non-fans are likely to find something to like.

Some of the second half gets slightly silly and a touch slack pace-wise(compared to the rest of the cartoon) and there are a couple of rough-looking backgrounds, but that's pretty much it for the (minor) flaws. The animation on the whole is absolutely great with a very hauntingly atmospheric noir-ish look to it, it's crisply drawn and some of it even very inventive. One of the better and more interesting looking Sylvester and Tweety cartoons from personal opinion. The music score is lively and vibrantly orchestrated with an appropriate eeriness that pulsates with suspense, in perfect keeping with the Hitchcockian vibe the cartoon has.

The Last Hungry Cat is very funny, with razor-sharp and witty dialogue and inventive gags, and some parts are creepy and suspenseful too without being overly so, considering that it parodies Hitchcock and his famous show Alfred Hitchcock Presents and noir-ish approach this worked absolutely brilliantly. It's also story-wise one of the most inventive and clever of the Sylvester and Tweety series and one of the most tightly paced as well. The characters do a great job carrying the cartoon, Tweety is barely in it but this is a case where it didn't harm The Last Hungry Cat at all because the premise gave him a reason to not be, in some of his later cartoons he had a tendency to be a plot-device with very little to do or funny but not here. The bear parodying Hitchcock is a lot of fun and the interaction between him and Sylvester is a joy but Sylvester makes the biggest impression. He was always a hugely entertaining and interesting character and here is no exception and I felt genuinely sorry for him here as well, more so than many of his other cartoons. Mel Blanc is as always fantastic, and Ben Frommer does a more than serviceable Hitchcock impression.

All in all, not quite a Sylvester and Tweety classic but one of their better later ones and the strongest of the post-Hyde and Go Tweet cartoons. 8/10 Bethany Cox