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Don't expect any jokes about the late James Dean in this short. Apart from title puns, on the whole classic Loony tunes wisely refrained from spoofing anything topical (unlike some early Nineties episodes from "Animaniacs" that are already hopelessly outdated). This Tweety/Sylvester vehicle takes place in the civil war.

The Confederate signal corps carrier pigeons Jet, Spitfire, Thor and Flying Tiger are all missing in action, leaving just Tweety to bring a top secret message to General Lee. Proving once again that the tiny stubs he calls wings are of no use to anyone (and since when is he a pigeon anyway?), Tweety makes a run for the Mason Dixie Line while being persued by Sylvester the 'Messenger destroyer'.

It is always nice to see the Warner Brothers putting in the extra effort and money to create historical set pieces for their Toon stars. Not only does "Rebel without claws" feature vast battlefields, they even included an early submarine and an ancient tomato soup can (uses by the Tweetster to peddle over to the sub). All the humans are caricatures, with the blue Union soldiers looking only slightly more dastardly then the gray (in a Mad agent from ‘Inspector Gadget' kind of way).

Near the end Sly makes a comment about cats having nine lives, but according to my count, the poor old pussycat has at that point already been shot and/or blown up at least eleven times in a row. Still you can't feel too bad for Sylvester. After all he did get to munch on Jet, Spitfire, Thor and Flying Tiger.

7 out of 10

The Rebel Without Claws is quite good for a later Sylvester and Tweety cartoons, but it also could have been better and there's far better in the series(for me the last great Sylvester and Tweety cartoon is Hyde and Go Tweet).

Where The Rebel Without Claws falls down is mainly in the pacing, though the animation has been better before in previous Sylvester and Tweety cartoons and there are funnier ones too. The Rebel Without Claws from personal view lacks energy, it isn't dull by all means but previous Sylvester and Tweety cartoons show more pizazz and momentum. A notable part is in the gag with the canon, which does go on for too long and is very repetitive and tired. The Rebel Without Claws was also made at a point where the budgets were getting smaller and hurried, and unfortunately it does show in the animation here. The colours are a little overly-vibrant but are easy on the eyes but the cartoon is drawn with a rather scrappy and too simple look, lacking fluidity and imagination. The final gag is also a little drawn out and one that can be smelt a mile away.

Milt Franklyn's music is very characterful and lively with lush scoring, though not one of his better scores. There is some amusing dialogue too, it's not everyday where you hear Tweety utter the word damn and Sylvester's final line is priceless(the only thing that really stands out in that particular gag, while the gags do raise a few chuckles, the story while nothing special is hardly dull either and the civil war setting is enjoyable. But again, there have been far funnier and more inspired Sylvester and Tweety cartoons before. The human characters agreed are caricatures and not particularly memorable ones, but Tweety who has more to do than most of his previous cartoons is cute and not annoying and Sylvester never fails to be funny or one to feel sympathy for. Mel Blanc as ever gives stellar voice work.

Overall, nothing brilliant but quite good. 7/10 Bethany Cox