The Alley Cat (1941) Online

Generally,as far as most of the animated shorts that MGM produced back in their glory days (the 1940's & 1950's), I most admired the work of Hanna/Barbara & Tex Avery. Most of the Hugh Harmon shorts, although beautifully animated, were far too cute for their own good (I mean, how many times do you want to see cute,little fluffy wuffy bunnies in danger in the forest prime evil?). Harmon, however did manage to break out of this groove & surprised everyone with an animated short that not only entertained the little ones, but the parents too. The Alley Cat from 1941 was one of these surprises. A high society cat is romanced by a rather scruffy alley cat (who sounded very much like Donald Duck--but is not voiced by Clarence Nash,just somebody who sounded like him). The only thing keeping this lady cat from being with Mr.alley cat is the family butler who turns the bulldog loose on Mr. Cat. What results is a fast paced,funny short that can (and does)appeal to the grown ups, too. Harmon directed/supervised some other quality shorts for MGM, as well (read the various blogs for 'The Blue Danube',from 1939)

A penthouse-dwelling society kitty finds herself attracted to the black cat serenading her from the alley. The pompous butler sends the bulldog after him, but the cat is too tricky and the dog is too easily intimidated. The alley cat eventually makes his way into the apartment where he and the rich feline dance to "La cucaracha" on the radio. The bulldog returns to continue the battle, resulting in the complete destruction of the apartment.

The animation is typically lush for this Hugh Harman production, but the story, gags and characterizations are also typically weak. Any short piece of this film would make it look sprightly and amusing, but the plot has no momentum and the whole thing is an obese nine-and-a-half minutes, when cartoon short subjects of the day were typically six to seven minutes. The alley cat has an annoying Donald Duck-like voice, which the society cat, for some reason, adopts at odd times. The film looks especially weak next to the "Tom and Jerry" series, which was just about to begin officially. "Tom and Jerry," in fact, did variations on this particular story several times, and each time did it far better.