Pour une poignée de gruyère

"Cannery Woe" has much the same plot line as Speedy Gonzales's first star turn, as the Fastest Mouse In Mexico outwits Sylvester to get cheese for his mice friends. As always, Sylvester sets all manner of traps, but Speedy knows how to make them backfire. Although I do think that Speedy was a really cool character, it sometimes seems like his cartoons were sort of one idea reworked several ways; the cartoons starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and most of the other Looney Tunes usually depicted a new idea each time.

So, even if this one is pretty routine, it's still pretty fun to watch, just knowing what Speedy's about to do to Sylvester. And it I may say so, I wouldn't mind having Speedy's job at the end!

Cannery Woe was quite nice for a Speedy cartoon. As is the case with most Speedy cartoons the pacing is uneven taking a while to get going here and the animation isn't that brilliant though I will say it is one of the better looking Speedy cartoons. The music is good, the dialogue has its amusing moments, the story is surprisingly not bad and the way Speedy outwits Sylvester here raises a number of smiles throughout the course of the cartoon. Speedy gives one of his more tolerable performances, and Sylvester is a worthy foil here. And as usual, Mel Blanc's characterisations are great. Overall, this is a nice Speedy cartoon, better than most of his outings. 8/10 Bethany Cox

A pair of shanty town mice try to get into the Mayor's re-election feast but are rejected. When the feats is halted due to a cat protecting the cheese shop, the two mice come to the rescue by getting Speedy Gonzales to help get past the cat and get the cheese.

I'm not a big fan of Speedy Gonzales. I always prefer the characters (or double acts) where their character is as much a part of them as their physical abilities. With Speedy I've always felt that a mock-Mexican accent and the ability to run fast does not a character make. We already have Road Runner that can do that and he works because his double act is so strong! However this Speedy cartoon is actually quite good.

The plot takes a moment to get going - i.e. until Speedy and Sylvester are actually introduced. Once they are they work quite well with Sylvester not so much trying to catch the mouse as just stop him getting into the cheese shop. Some of it is amusing but really it's all pretty much run of the mill stuff.

The two leads are quite good together - but Sylvester does it for me as Speedy is just a pair of quickly moving legs to me. Overall the cartoon is actually quite good and is certainly much better than some of the awful Speedy Gonzales cartoons that I have seen, but compared to other characters, his stuff is usually fair to middling at best.