La fifa fa novanta

Chuck Jones's 'Scaredy Cat' is the best of the few pairings of Porky Pig and Sylvester. Casting Porky as Sylvester's owner (Sylvester is more cat-like than usual, remaining silent for the whole cartoon), 'Scaredy Cat' finds the pair moving into a spooky mansion which terrifies Sylvester from the outset. Rather than ghosts, however, the mansion is populated by murderous mice who ritually execute their victims. Somehow this makes 'Scaredy Cat' all the more frightening. And it is frightening! There are several morbid sequences including a scene of a cat being carted off to his death by a mousey executioner and a moment in which Sylvester attempts suicide rather than being sent out to face the vicious vermin alone. Most terrifying of all though, is an infamous sequence in which the mice take Sylvester to the basement. We never see what they do to him but he emerges nearly three hours later, a pale white zombie scared rigid by what he has experienced. It's a classic example of the human mind conjuring up far worse scenarios when the details are left to the imagination. All in all, 'Scaredy Cat' is an indelibly creepy and extremely well staged cartoon which relies on horror as much as laughs to achieve its impact.

Scaredy Cat is the first in a series of Porky/Sylvester teamings directed by Chuck Jones, and the series certainly started with a bang. Sylvester and his master Porky move into the last house the real estate agent had, for reasons only Sylvester understands. The house is inhabited by homicidal mice, who will stop at nothing to kill the intruders most painfully. Sylvester is the only one who knows what's going on, and the oblivious Porky mistakes Sylvester's attempts to save him as murderous. The animation of Porky is good, but Sylvester doesn't really look like himself. We must take into consideration that Sylvester was quite a new face in '48, and besides Jones never really drew him like Freleng did. The best horror scenes are those in which the mice's plans don't come off, like Sylvester's empty basket descending. The audience never knows what happened to the basket, nor what happened to Sylvester when he goes all white. This is a brilliantly funny cartoon, essential for all Looney Tunes fans, and as all Looney Tunes fans will have the Golden Collection DVD, all fans will see it!

Scaredy Cat (1948)

*** (out of 4)

Fun Merrie Melodies short has Porky Pig buying a new house but his cat Sylvester is the only one that can see the strange things going on in it. This leads to some misunderstanding as Porky doesn't realize the danger inside the house and Sylvester will have to build up the courage to fight it. This is a pretty good entry in the series as both Porky and Sylvester are at the top of their game. The biggest weakness is that the mice really aren't developed too well so they're only middle ground villains. The best sequence in the movie is when the mice push the bed out the window and Sylvester gets blamed for what follows even though he's just trying to save Porky.

While not the best of the Looney Tunes canon, it is still enjoyable with a lot to recommend it. The villainous mice could have been developed more, but other than that I had little problem with Scaredy Cat. Porky and Sylvester are both great, especially Sylvester who gets the worst of the scares, particularly the infamous sequence down in the basement, that and the scene after did scare me as a kid. As well as being freaky, there are some funny moments too, slapsticky yes but they were well timed and funny. The animation is excellent, Sylvester is somewhat different-looking, but Porky is drawn very well and the backgrounds and colouring are audacious. The music is both rousing and atmospheric, the dialogue is great, the gags are fine, the story is well-constructed and quite original and Mel Blanc is once again brilliant as both Sylvester and Porky. Overall, not the best but very well done. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Classic Chuck Jones short with Porky Pig and his cat Sylvester moving into a run-down old house. Sylvester soon discovers the house is full of not-so-friendly mice that try to kill them at every turn. This is the first of three cartoons that paired Porky and Sylvester in a spooky place where strange things are happening. The animation is fluid and beautiful with rich Technicolor and well-drawn characters and backgrounds. Excellent voice work from Mel Blanc. Lively music by Carl Stalling. This is a great cartoon with nice atmosphere and lots of humor. Sylvester gets the funniest bits, despite his not talking in this entire short. The mice are a hoot! Love the ending.