O Gato Hipocondríaco

Hubie and Burt, two ratty-looking mice, spot some cheese inside and break into a home. (Actually, they just push the window up.) They enjoy the cheese while lounging at the fireplace. "Claude the Cat" them spots them, chases them, but then spots the open window and shuts in. The cat then runs back to its bed and gets out several medicines, saying "I hope I can't catch a cold with that draft, or pneumonia, or athlete's foot!

The cat obviously is a hypochondriac and the mice quickly catch on to that. They tell Claude he looks terrible, so the cat is shaking and feeling worse by the minute. They tell him he looks green, so the cat turns green. They tell him he looks purple, so Claude turns purple. One of the mice says he looks "plaid," so the cat turns plaid. "Don't overdo it," admonishes the smarter of the mice. You get the picture - it gets sillier as the mice pretend to be doctors and operate on the poor Claude, who thinks he's getting worse by the minute.

They put a sign on the cat's butt: "Danger! Men At Work: Excavating!" (Don't ask). As a hypochondriac myself, I was highly offended at this cartoon and the stereotype it portrayed of us poor suffering slobs.

Anyway, the mice don't really operate but pretend to, and the cat faints at the thought. The rest of the cartoon is Claude's dream and it is bizarre - and the best part of the seven minutes - with an even-stranger ending.

Overall, a very odd animated short.

Among the least used but best characters Looney Tunes developed were Hubie and Bert--two extremely funny and sadistic little mice. Again and again, their cartoons make me laugh and I have no idea why they didn't make more. Perhaps audiences of the day didn't like how mean this pair was, but I thought their antics were hysterical.

"The Hypo-chondri-cat" is not their best appearance, but it's still classic Hubie and Bert. In this case, the pair wander into a house with a cat and are shocked to see that the cat is a hypochondriac and isn't a threat at all. So, they do what any mice would do--they torment the poor cat relentlessly!! They offer to help the cat with his fake illness but mostly just torture him and make the cat miserable. First, they tell them they're going to operate. Second, when the cat awakens, they've dressed him as an angel and the pair behave as if he's dead!! Third, and perhaps worst of all, they later say they CAN see him and offer to help him up to Heaven!! It's all a bit morbid and cruel--and that's exactly why I liked this one! Exceptional but I still prefer the one where Hubie and Bert convince another cat that he's living upside down--and you have to see this one to believe it!

I love this cartoon! I don't remember too many Claude Cat cartoons, in fact I can't differentiate the events between the others. But this one sticks out. It's really funny visually, but the real hilarity is verbal. It makes me sad watching it, since the poor cat is defenseless against the sadistic and satanic Hubie and Bertie. It has the whole surgery routine, and Claude's dream is pretty freaky. But I guess he ends up happy in the end. By the way, what IS it with those mice? Claude hardly seems to do anything to them. Back to the visual comedy: Claude's expressions and his antagonists' gleeful and cruel expressions as each brainstorm hits and how their plot seamlessly unfolds are fantastic. Nice ending. Good to see it remastered, restored and uncut on the new Looney Tunes DVD. Looking forward to buying it. Highly recommended.

I've never heard of Claude Cat but he's another one of those Cartoon cats who likes to chase after mice/birds but never gets them. Only this time there's a twist...he's a hypochondriac. Dumb mice Bertie and Hubie break into his house (so they are in the wrong!) in order to steal some cheese. Claude doesn't like this and gives chase. Only when he runs past the open window they came in from he gets a sudden chill and believes he might have pneumonia. Trust me, I've had it, and it's a lot worse than a sudden chill.

The mice pretend that Claude is dying and ending convincing him he has died a fake death. Since I have never seen Claude since watching this cartoon today I can only assume his weak personality and unaesthetic appearance only did send him to Cat Heaven forever.

A Hypochondriac Cat is endlessly tomented by two cruel mice. Thes mice are real assholes as they take advantage of the cats worrying and fears and for what? Just for a little bit of cheese. TThey're completely in the wrong here as they break into the house and whatnot. And by the way to a previous reviewer the cat doesn't think he has Pneumonia, just that he might catch a cold and then get it. If all this suggests that I disliked the cartoon, then I'm sorry that I gave the wrong impression as I did like it. This cartoon is on Disk 3 of the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1"

My Grade: B-