Cheese it, The Cat! is a nice enough cartoon. However, in my view it is nothing particularly memorable either. The animation is quite good, the characters are drawn well and the colours and backgrounds are attractive. The music is energetic and tongue in cheek, the characters are likable and Daws Butler's voice work is outstanding. Mel Blanc as the cat is also good, while he only has one line excluding the numerous meows and such he is required to me, he does do something fun with it. On the other hand, the story is rather predictable and thin, and one or two of the gags had the sense you knew what was going to happen. The writing was decent and the gags in general are interesting, but they aren't particularly funny in my opinion. The funniest Cheese it, the Cat! gets is the last thirty seconds, and those last thirty seconds are actually very amusing. All in all, nice but somewhat unmemorable apart from the last thirty seconds and the voice work. 6/10 Bethany Cox
3 Reviews
No casualties Ralph!
Tweekums18 July 2012
Warning: Spoilers
When Ralph the mouse comes home to prepare a surprise party for his wife the only thing he still needs to get is the cake; there is a problem though; there is a cat in the kitchen between him and the refrigerator. Seeking help he goes to see his friend Morton; who has just the thing for Ralph... a tank! One would think that would deal with the cat but it just puts a finger in its barrel leaving Ralph somewhat singed. In order to get his own back he paints Morton with 'invisible ink'... Morton then goes out, plucks the cats whiskers and gets some cake, which he eats; all while totally visible! Ralph has less luck when he tries it! They then start working together and it is the cat's turn to suffer.
This short might not contain any well known characters but that is part of its charm; the cat here has a rather unpleasant look due to the differing colours of its eyes and the two mice are fun too; particularly the thin and slightly gormless Morton who manages to avoid harm while his apparently more intelligent friend, the tubby Ralph, keeps getting hurt. As with all such cartoons it is fairly violent in a comic sort of way; one of the funniest, and cruellest, moments is when the cat is fed into the garbage disposal system and comes out bald. The funniest moment though comes right at the end when Morton utters the immortal words 'No casualties Ralph' after and explosion that left the cat very much a casualty... I hadn't seen this short for over thirty years but searched for it just to hear that line again!
This short might not contain any well known characters but that is part of its charm; the cat here has a rather unpleasant look due to the differing colours of its eyes and the two mice are fun too; particularly the thin and slightly gormless Morton who manages to avoid harm while his apparently more intelligent friend, the tubby Ralph, keeps getting hurt. As with all such cartoons it is fairly violent in a comic sort of way; one of the funniest, and cruellest, moments is when the cat is fed into the garbage disposal system and comes out bald. The funniest moment though comes right at the end when Morton utters the immortal words 'No casualties Ralph' after and explosion that left the cat very much a casualty... I hadn't seen this short for over thirty years but searched for it just to hear that line again!
The HoneyMousers
boblipton18 January 2009
The principal gag in this one is that the two lead characters -- who are mice -- are drawn and voiced as Ralph Kramden and Ed Nortion (Jackie Gleason and Art Carney) from THE HONEYMOONERS. There had been several Termite Terrace efforts in this vein, including A TALE OF TWO KITTIES (Abbot & Costello, the introduction of Tweety Bird) but McKimson brings little to this but the conceit.
Although a very competent cartoon director, Robert McKimson suffers a bit because Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones, who ran the other two cartoon units at Warner Brothers in this period, were geniuses. I have the impression that he wanted to move to live action directing, as had ex-Schlesinger cartoonist Frank Tashlin (and earlier, Gregory LaCava), but never got the chance.
Although a very competent cartoon director, Robert McKimson suffers a bit because Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones, who ran the other two cartoon units at Warner Brothers in this period, were geniuses. I have the impression that he wanted to move to live action directing, as had ex-Schlesinger cartoonist Frank Tashlin (and earlier, Gregory LaCava), but never got the chance.
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