The Night Watchman (1938)

Touches You

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Director: CHARLES M. JONES. Story: Tedd Pierce. Animation: Ken Harris. Music director: Carl W. Stalling. Color by Technicolor. Producer: Leon Schlesinger. A Warner Bros. "Merrie Melodies" cartoon. Songs include "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" and "Yankee Doodle". Copyright 19 November 1938 by The Vitaphone Corp. U.S. release: 19 November 1938. 7 minutes. COMMENT: Thomas, the night watchman cat is sick, so assigns his little nephew to guard the household kitchen against a tough band of food-marauding mice. Although originally intimidated, the little nephew wins the day. A mildly entertaining entry, but the idea would seem to hold more promise than what is actually developed on the screen, namely fairly familiar fisticuffs, that are not particularly imaginative.

"The Night Watchman" is a very good Warner Bros. cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. A friendly little cat is hired by his ailing dad as the night watchman guarding the abundant kitchen against a treacherous gang of mice.Since I am a jazz musician, my absolute favorite sequence from this short is the floor show, in which a trio of mice sing a swinging version of "In the Shade of the Apple Tree", accompanied by a big band of mice playing kitchen utensils as instruments.One final point: As much as I like "The Night Watchman", I am so glad I did not see it as a kid, because I would have identified with the poor little cat and wept with him after he took all that physical abuse from the mice.

'The Night Watchman' was the debut directional effort by that great master of animation, Chuck Jones. Typical of Jones's serviceable but rather dull Disney pastiches that characterised his early work, 'The Night Watchman' is an unbearably gooey little offering with a constant lack of energy that is sorely required to bolster the wafer thin plot. A young cat (a clear prototype for Jones's cloying early character Sniffles) takes over the post of night watchman when his father is too ill to carry out the job. Immediately, he falls foul of some tough guy rats who push him around and take advantage of the absence of any real threat to gorge themselves with food and have a big night out in the kitchen. Of course, the cat finally turns the tables when his conscience buoys him up for a big final showdown. Betraying none of the talent he would become famous for (and, let's be fair, this was his first film), Jones lays out the story in a straightforward, no-frills manner. The characters are all severely lacking in charisma, particularly the so-wet-you-almost-don't-feel-sorry-for-him cat, the animation is lumbering and predictable, the musical number is flat and the story doesn't build naturally, instead resorting to a tacked on and completely unsatisfying finale in which the cat does a too-sudden about face and metes out a workmanlike beating to each individual rat, a production line revenge that is less than thrilling to watch. Of course, Warner Bros. was still finding its feet as an animation studio and 'The Night Watchman' is not significantly worse than many of the lesser cartoons of the time but, other than its historical importance as Jones's debut, there's really nothing here that I'd recommend to the casual cartoon fan.

"Thos. Cat," the night watchman, is too sick to go to work so he gives his cap and flashlight to his little son.Soon, the mice (they look more like rats) see the little guy, find out he's subbing for his dad, and then go to work devouring all the food in the building's kitchen. How they eat the food, from bananas to olives to pretzels to watermelons, etc., is very funny.The mice even start cooking some steaks and the little tabby tells them, "Hey, fellas, please don't eat all the food. I'm supposed to protect this place." They tell him to scram, put on a quick floor show and then punch him out. The little mouse's guardian angel gives him a pep talk and things begin to change.Not bad: a cute little cartoon.