Chow Hound (1951)

Just what I expected

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

. . . emanates from America's top whistle-blowing outfit of All-Time, Warner Bros.' Animated Shorts Division of the mid-1900s. Warner's Watchdogs focus on a gluttonous bulldog who's a Total Trumpster in CHOW HOUND. This voracious gangster forces a red cat to work at least four jobs for little or no pay (putting at least three felines out of work). It's small wonder that consumers of this behind-the-scene manipulator's offerings are deprived of more than 75% of the services for which they've contracted. (In the case of the Municipal Zoo, the bulldog is defrauding it entirely with his knock-off goods.) This Fat Cat Bulldog also enslaves and demeans a small rodent in his rapacious plot to gorge himself with enough food to maintain the population of a fully-stocked kennel. Taking a Prophetic Page from Trumpenstein's Playbook, the insatiable bulldog begins bouncing out bogus contracts in quadruplicate, accumulating enough ill-gotten Moolah to buy his Own Private Butcher Shop. After biting off more than he can chew, the Trumpish Bulldog's Gravy Train finally derails, indicating that there's hope for America yet, if we all hang together like CHOW HOUND's red cat and abused mouse.

Chuck Jones has been responsible for some of the best cartoons ever made, and among his finest and those best cartoons ever made is Chow Hound. It is animated with fluid detail and with colours that are vibrant but also in keeping with the tone of the writing and story. The music is energetic and has a strong sense of character, while also being orchestrated most beautifully. Chow Hound has some amusing and appropriately witty moments as you'd expect from WB/Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies and Chuck Jones, but it's notable also for having writing that has a dark and cynical tone, shaped and characterised in an adept way and giving Chow Hound some power and depth. The story is one that is very well paced and never short of intriguing, while the characters are likable and written and characterised in a way that makes even the most minor of characters interesting. Mel Blanc, Bea Beanderet and Stan Freberg, three of the finest voice actors of the era(and especially in the case of Blanc of all time too) all give sterling vocal performances, beautifully pitching manic energy and affecting pathos. John T.Smith is also great as Bulldog. In conclusion, one of Chuck Jones' and possibly also animation's masterpieces. 10/10 Bethany Cox

As a boy, every kid in the neighborhood was repeating the "No Gravy?" line. This Chuck Jones at his edgiest. The ending is truly (and deservedly) sadistic. Amazing, that this cartoon couldn't be made today. Now lets hope Warner Bros. releases it on DVD. This is one of those one-off gems that don't make there own collection. To a child, the dog represented everyone who tells you what to do, orders you about, and generally makes life hell. Interesting that the dog, cat, and mouse, behave much like an abusive Father, repressed Mother, and abused child, but that's probably reading too much into it. When the dog receives his gravy, which he has "hounded" the cat & mouse about for the entire cartoon, it is divine justice in the 1951 sense.

Not only is this a great cartoon, but it represents a change in Chuck Jones' style while at Warners. In the late 30's and early 40's Jones made cartoons in the Disney mode, or rather he tried to. Most of those cartoons were rather dull and humorless. By mid-forties, though, Jones had seen the light and started to make funny cartoons like his contemporaries Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng and Frank Tashlin. But it was when he was teamed up with writer Mike Maltese in the late 40's that Jones' cartoons really started to gel; they became funnier and more polished as well as being stylistically unique, especially when compared to the cartoons Freleng and McKimson were turning out during the same period at Warners. Maltese's writing was much darker and more cynical than anything Jones had worked with before. (Jones tended to make rather sweet and sentimental cartoons when left to his own devices.) "Chow Hound" shows how well Jones and Maltese complimented one another's styles. It is Jones' strong sense of design, superior draftsmanship, funny expressive characters, and expert timing that keeps the cartoon from getting too dark or grotesque.The plot involves a bully of a dog (who looks like a beefier version of Charlie Dog) who uses a cat and mouse to run several scams on some unsuspecting pet owners in order to get himself a running supply of meat. However, the dog's own gluttonly and greed drive him to think up the ultimate plan to get a bigger score. The cartoon moves at a brisk pace, and scenes build on top of each other, leading nicely to the next until the final surprise ending. And it is a great ending!In one scene, featuring a close up of a newspaper want ad, several of the animators' name are printed as an injoke.