Le Noiraud porte-malheur

It's a classic Tex Avery cartoon -- what, again?! -- in which a large, mean dog torments a small cat, until the latter is approached by a black alley cat, who offers to bring bad luck to the dog by crossing his path whenever the small cat blows a whistle. The gags consist of the variety of increasingly absurd ways the black cat enters and exits the frame, and the increasing large objects that fall from the sky onto the victim. They start with flowerpots, and end up battleships.

It's a nicely graded assortment of gags, increasingly odd and immense, that makes this Avery cartoon simultaneously standard and so very funny.

Tex Avery strikes again with this funny little cartoon. It's about a little cat who's been bullied by a large bulldog, and so turns to the services of the "Black Cat Bad Luck Company," which offers "Paths Crossed - Guaranteed Bad Luck." As soon as the streetwise alley cat crosses the dog's path, a flower pot drops from the sky and knocks him out. Given a whistle, the little cat can summon help anytime - which he does, again and again. The gag is repetitive, but the variations on the theme are amusing, including the dog trying to reverse his fortunes with a horseshoe, getting his hands on the whistle, and using some white paint. The various ways his body contorts and how he runs along on two fingers are funny, but note there is one unfortunate Asian stereotype when he's gone up the chimney of an outdoor grill (mercifully it's very brief). Overall, quite entertaining.

This short from 1949 was included from the early "Tom and Jerry" series the episode called "Bad Luck Blackie" was one of Tex Avery's best. The short was smart and clever. As the story moves with logic and makes sense and with a typical cartoon it has chase and action, it just doesn't have Tom cat or Jerry mouse in it. The story involves a bullied and tormented kitten who just can't escape the paws and jaws of a big unique laughing bulldog. Only things change when little kitty finds the services of a black cat named "Bad Luck Blackie". And on the side the trick is a piece of equipment that the cat carries that is a little whistle and with one blow the black cat crosses the big bulldog's path to save the day for little kitty. Things that drop from the sky to punish the bulldog are simple to far out from a flowerpot, to bigger items like a piano, a bomb and other things. The only short and slim luck the dog has is some white paint only the little kitten has learned the game and outsmarts the big dog! Really this short stayed true to the old myth of being aware and scared of crossing black cats. Overall well done short that's enjoyable and teaches a superstition like themed message!

Bad Luck Blackie is an animated short about an adorable kitten and a mean bulldog willing to do anything to anger and hurt the kitten. Luckily, the kitten finds another cat who can cause bad luck to anyone. With the help of this cat, the bulldog gets a taste of it's own medicine, and the viewers get even more laughs. It's pretty much your basic dog chases cat cartoon, but that excellent twist makes it a lot of fun to watch. From start to finish you'll find that there are tons of smart ironic jokes and lots of laugh out loud slapstick comedy. I can honestly say that I don't often laugh out loud or even crack a smile at these kinds of things, but I found myself trying to control my laughter as I watched late at night while everyone else in the house was in bed. It's just a fun little film to make you laugh, and nothing else. Don't expect writing or acting or anything that you'll remember for the rest of your lives.

I liked this quite a bit, I think anyone who likes any of this stuff will too. I rate it a seven out of ten.

There's a lesson to be learned here..but who cares? Don't mess around with the little cat, Spike..even after the bad luck inherent in the noir feline is negated by a dousing of white paint, fate learns to associate bad luck with a whistle..larger and larger objects come into contact with Spike's noggin, and though most would be daunted by the repeated application of anvils, safes and the like to their cranium, this cretinous canine continues causing chaos throughout the film..to the audience's glee.