Kit for Cat

Sylvester the cat is trashcan diving for his dinner when he runs into an little orange kitty trying to take food from the same trashcans. It's extremely cold outside so Sylvester is happy when he's taken in by Elmer Fudd. But here comes that darn orange kitty again and Elmer can only keep one. So it's a battle of wills to see who stays while Elmer sleeps on the dilemma. This cartoon is great and further proves (if any were truly needed) that Sylvester was the TRUE star of his pairings with Tweety bird. As he excels in this solo outing. Plus the kitten makes an excellent foil. This animated short can be found on disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1.

My Grade: A+

Having seen "Back Alley Oproar" and "Kit for Cat", I wish that Elmer Fudd and Sylvester could have co-starred more often. This one has Sylvester and an orange kitten vying for adoption by Elmer one cold night, and they both keep trying to frame each other for making noise, in the hope that Elmer will throw out the other. I never predicted what would happen at the end! One thing that I wondered while watching the cartoon was about the radio show with which they try to awaken Elmer. It features a character named "Melvin". Knowing that the Man of 1,000 Voices himself - Mel Blanc, that is - provided the vocalizations here, I wonder whether or not that character was named after him.

Oh well. I probably shouldn't get hung up on that. The point is that this is a hilarious cartoon.

As a big fan of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies, I naturally wanted to see Kit for Cat after seeing it lauded as one of Freleng's best and most memorable. After seeing it, I agree, while starting off a tad slow, it picks up very quickly right up until the corker of an ending, which is both hilarious and intense. The animation is beautifully done in especially the colours, which are rich and plentiful. The music has a huge amount of energy and fits very well with every scene it features in, the writing and quotes are one big jewel after another and just get better and better and the sight gags are clever(ie. balancing of the falling plates). Sylvester is very well-rounded here, the other feline is a worthy contrast while Elmer while maintaining the dim-witted character that makes him so endearing is also quite kindly. All in all, very, very entertaining. 9/10 Bethany Cox

A homeless Sylvester bullies a small orange cat and kicks him out of his garbage can territory. But the night grows colder and Sylvester knocks on the door of a random house for sanctuary. Elmer Fudd answers and takes him in. But seconds later the orange kitty is back and Elmer takes him in too. He'd like to keep them both but can only keep one. After attempts at out-cutting each other fail the cats finally decide to frame each other as noise pets as Elmer tries to sleep.

It's fun to watch Sylvester's plans back fire on him and desperately trying to stop the kitty's evil ways. I love Sylvester. Who goes in the end? Well you'll have to watch it to find out.

Kit for Cat (1948)

**** (out of 4)

An orphan kitten and Sylvester the Cat are brought in by Elmer Fudd on a cold night. He can't keep both of them but says he'll make up his mind in the morning. This gives the cats enough time to try and make the other one look bad. Here's another favorite of mine as we get non-stop laughs from start to finish as well as some great characters. I've always been impressed with what they did with Elmer here and that's making him a rather angry character. I find it downright hysterical when he has his sleep interrupted and runs downstairs ready to fight. The orphan kitten is also very cute and adds a few laughs. Sylvester is the poor guy here as he's constantly trying to do something good but failing miserably.