It would not be wrong to suggest that the Sylvester/Tweetie series is just another variation on the gleefully vicious Tom and Jerry model, in which a seemingly insignificant creature constantly outwits and eludes his prodigious feline foe. In 1940s Hollywood, however, unlike today, formula was not necessarily a synonym creative laziness, and these short six minutes are packed with hilarity, invention and hilariously inventive violence.
The chief pleasures are Mel Blanc's gloriously funny, iconic, voice-doubling (he does both Thylvesther and 'I tawt I taw' Tweety); the transformation of the seemingly restricted domestic milieu (with its representative prisons, the cage and catbasket) as a space for anarchy and freedom, with Sylvester the cat-rebel constantly undermining the mistress (the only human we see - husband at work? War victim?), by eating her canaries; the beautiful, cool secondary candy colours and strong outlines, reminiscent of THE PINK PANTHER (cartoon) and EUROTRASH; a compositional style that is almost surreal in its well-chosen placing of resonant signifiers in an otherwise minimalist environment; and the exquisite action which is not too far from Itchy and Scratchy in its choreographed sadism.
The film's movement is almost theoremetical (sic?), as Sylvester the budgie murderer becomes the budgie murdered, while Tweetie takes over his power and his murderous characteristics (marked in the shifts from catbasket to cage and vice versa). Sylvester's death is a bit of a shock here, considering the longevity of the series - this must have been intended as a one-off; the final division of spoils tells you a lot about the filmmakers' intentions.
The chief pleasures are Mel Blanc's gloriously funny, iconic, voice-doubling (he does both Thylvesther and 'I tawt I taw' Tweety); the transformation of the seemingly restricted domestic milieu (with its representative prisons, the cage and catbasket) as a space for anarchy and freedom, with Sylvester the cat-rebel constantly undermining the mistress (the only human we see - husband at work? War victim?), by eating her canaries; the beautiful, cool secondary candy colours and strong outlines, reminiscent of THE PINK PANTHER (cartoon) and EUROTRASH; a compositional style that is almost surreal in its well-chosen placing of resonant signifiers in an otherwise minimalist environment; and the exquisite action which is not too far from Itchy and Scratchy in its choreographed sadism.
The film's movement is almost theoremetical (sic?), as Sylvester the budgie murderer becomes the budgie murdered, while Tweetie takes over his power and his murderous characteristics (marked in the shifts from catbasket to cage and vice versa). Sylvester's death is a bit of a shock here, considering the longevity of the series - this must have been intended as a one-off; the final division of spoils tells you a lot about the filmmakers' intentions.