All a Bir-r-r-d

Tweety run... Tweety hide... Tweety fly away - 'Cause that bad, ol' putty-tat is out to get you and you've gotta have a good escape plan in order to avoid being caught in his clawing clutches.

For the most part - I found "All a Bir-r-r-d" to be a fairly enjoyable "Merrie Melodie" where that conniving feline, Sylvester gets a whole lot more than he bargained for after he defiantly mouths off at the snarling bulldog in the cage next to him.

Yep. You can be sure that Sylvester is now in big-big trouble (much to the relief of the harassed little Tweety, who's now gonna be awfully lonesome from here to Pasadena).

It so happens that Tweety and Sylvester are on the same train. Of course fur and feathers fly. There isn't anything unusual about this one, but the animation and the story line work quite well. Sylvester is more enterprising here as he does a kind of Wile e Coyote thing, never being deterred. It's no secret who will win the ultimate confrontation, but it's fun getting there.

Friz Freleng's 'All Abir-r-r-d' is one of the best Sylvester and Tweety cartoons. Unlike the many repetitive cartoons in the series which simply transplant the same tired gags to a new setting, 'All Abir-r-r-d' makes the most of its concept. Tweety and Sylvester are domestic pets who are being sent unattended across country by train. With both a watchful official and a vicious bulldog to deal with, Sylvester has his work cut out. The Sylvester and Tweety cartoons always benefited from some extra participants and 'All Abir-r-r-d' is a good example of how much these additional characters help. Although they are not especially memorable creations, they throw some more obstacles in Sylvester's path and make for a more interesting battle. This early Sylvester and Tweety short presses many of the right buttons and, while Tweety is often particularly irritating with his forced cuteness, there's some deliciously violent antics between Sylvester and the dog, culminating in a surprisingly brutal climax which is unfortunately marred by a final unfunny non-quip by Tweety.

Pretty simple Sylvester & Tweety short. The duo plus a bulldog are all on a train together in the baggage car. Sylvester tries to eat Tweety repeatedly and is stopped by the conductor and the bulldog. It's a formulaic cartoon but a fun one. A lot of people don't care for this series of shorts but I find myself enjoying every one that I see. Mel Blanc is terrific, as usual. Beautiful, colorful animation. Love all the train stuff. Carl Stalling's music is great. Tweety is adorable and funny. He sings his "I'm a tweet wittle bird in a diwlded tage" song. I believe the bulldog is Hector but he isn't named here. He looks like Hector, though. It's always fun to watch Sylvester get knocked around and there's plenty of those gags in this short. Like I said, you either like Tweety & Sylvester cartoons or you don't. If you do, you'll surely like this one.

Sylvester cat, Tweety bird, and a bulldog are all on a train. Obviosly Sylvester wants to eat Tweety, but is hampered greatly by the vicious dog, and to a very lesser degree the conductor. This cartoon was not good nor bad it was simply there. It didn't help my theory I formed while watching the previous short on disc 3 "Bad Ol' Putty Tat", because the bird's presence was incidental at best, and it just seemed to me to be a Sylvester versus some random dog cartoon. Basically consisting of said dog beating the snot out of the cat. This animated short can be seen on Disc 3 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2.

My Grade: C