Chips Off the Old Block

Robert Allen directed many a fine animated short for MGM, from the Captain & The Kids shorts from 1938/1939, and beyond. This is another cute short that could have turned out to be too cute for it's own good (but thankfully wasn't). A house cat,named Butch (sounding like that alley cat with the Donald Duck voice, from the aptly named 'The Alley Cat')has just found a basket of kittens on the front porch of his house,with the kittens bearing an unmistakable resemblance to him. He tries to keep them a secret from his master,with some very funny results. Some fine animation & a well written script keeps this breezy little short a delight to watch. Perfect for the whole family.

Butch, while napping, is awakened by two knocks on the door. Butch really hit his chin, with a paw to wake him up completely. And after opening the door, he sees a basket, with a cloth cover. When he lifts the cloth, he sees four look alike kittens. They all purr at Butch. Butch realizes they all look like him "in his earlier days". Atfirst, he faints in shock, then the four look-alike little feline rascals wake him up, licking his furry face. Butch deeply fears the lady that owns him, will send him away and keep the four kittens! After being awakened, he tries to bury them alive. After the quick bury, he heavily sighs, so do the four kittens sigh, (following their paw's steps). Fortunately, the basket had a weak base and the four kittens were not buried alive, Butch then tries to be a Pied Piper cat, but does not succeed, because he stopped piping too soon, to pursue the one kitten, that walked inside his emergency door entrance and into the house! After the first kitten goes inside, (while Butch was being a feline Pied Piper) he successfully led three out the fence door, but stopped piping too soon, to chase the first kitten. While inside the house, to chase the first kitten already inside, the three others come inside (still hearing the Pied Piper's charm). Butch captures the first kitten, after his owner thinks he is going back to his second kitten-hood. The second kitten causes "trouble" by grabbing onto her knitting thread (and completely undoing her labor, of her knitting) and gets Butch to grab onto the thread, also! Then, she immediately starts chasing Butch, with the big glass vase. As she starts chasing Butch. Butch captures the third and fourth kittens. Butch then quickly takes the vase out through the front door. The vase breaks and then Butch's owner sees the four "extra furry fuzzball rascals". There, she sees Butch, just outside, she sees what Butch was worried about. She accepts them and keeps Butch, also. The animation humor would have been much more stronger if Disney's Clarence Nash was the voice of Butch and his fearful remarks of thinking the owner was going to keep the four kittens and send Butch away from the four kittens!

This is a one-shot cartoon, which MGM did with some frequency, featuring a cat with a voice somewhat reminiscent of John Byner's "duck" voice. While I don't imagine a cat sounding quite like this, it's still quite engaging at times, with a tender moment or two mixed in with the general mayhem. Good animation helps. Well worth seeing and recommended.

Butch the cat is happily sleeping when someone knocks on the door. There is a basket and four little kittens inside. The tiny lookalikes are rather shocking to his system. He has to hide them from his owner.

This is an MGM cartoon. I am not a big fan of the design of Butch. His head is too small and he is bottom heavy. There is an uncomfortable idea behind this cartoon. He is an absentee father and who knows what happened to the mother. It's a little awkward. At least, he isn't trying to dump them or not trying that hard. I have trouble understanding the last line of dialogue. Butch needs to be a little clearer.

Butch the tomcat gets a basket with four little kittens. He tries to get them away from the house and out of trouble with the lady at home without success. It's a little cuter than I like in terms of cartoon mischief. Still, the amount of mayhem that the kittens get into is highly amusing in this cartoon directed by. Robert Allen for Rudolf Ising.

It also shows the hand of Joseph Hanna int e way the woman is portrayed; usually it's just her lower half, but we do get quick glimpses of her from behind, keeping the focus on the cats. Peculiarly, Butch is voiced by Harry Lang to sound like Clarence Nash doing Donald Duck.