The Cats Bah (1954)

A Masterpiece!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Specifically, "The Cat's Bah" bears more than a passing resemblance to "The Continental," a television series of that era in which an actor named Renzo Cesana played an amorous type who offers champagne and cigarettes (and says supposedly-romantic things) to an unseen woman in his apartment, represented by the camera. That is essentially the setup for this cartoon. While funny enough, perhaps the ultimate Pepe cartoon, it is somewhat dated, not only in the presence of cigarettes but his overall treatment of females (in this case, a cat). It is perhaps no wonder that the cartoon has been so chopped up for television airing.

"The Cat's Bah" is another cartoon favorite starring Pepe le Pew after watching the 1938 movie "Algiers," which gave some inspiration for Pepe's character. Also I had wondered what the Casbah is in the phrase "Come with me to the Casbah." This cartoon is basically Pepe being interview about "the greatest love" of his life, and as his story unfolds we see him meet Penelope Pussycat as a pet of an American tourist; then white paint splats on her back from a ship painter's brush. This cartoon was also the first one in which Penelope's name was mention, and was officially given the name ever since.As I had said before: I do not have one particular scene I like because I love this cartoon from beginning to end.

" . . . and make love right away," misogynistic skunk Henry-the-serial-rapist (a.k.a., "Pepe Le Pew") remarks to the kitty Penelope, his latest inter-species molestation victim, in his hyper-sexualized Looney Tunes outing (which at least could have served as a wrong-headed PSA if it had thrown in some product placement for a KY lubricant to off-set Pepe's having dispensed with foreplay). Many people thought that they'd seen everything possible along these lines after Marlon Brando commanded the wayward bride to clip her fingernail during LAST TANGO IN PAR!S. Obviously, these folks had missed THE CAT'S BAH. The anti-woman debauchery of Brando's live-action feature film (not even targeted at very young kids) pales in comparison to the living hell Henry imposes upon victim after victim in his masochistic cartoon series. Take the final scene of THE CAT'S BAH, for instance. Surely it inspired the writers of the initial SAW film (a movie definitely NOT intended for the Looney Tunes crowd). The arrogant Henry has been chain-smoking throughout THE CAT'S BAH (as he continually talks to the camera). For his grand finale, in a touch reminiscent of Hitchcock, the camera pulls back from the Bloviating skunk to reveal that he's used ankle shackles to affix Penelope to himself as a semi-permanent Sex Slave. This abused Kitty grabs a saw, and is about to sacrifice a foot in her desperation to flee Henry's second-hand smoke (if an STD doesn't kill her, cancer surely will!). Mercifully, Warner flings up an "That's all, folks" on the screen as this juncture.

To skunkfanatic, I can easily say, truer words were never spoken. I was/am a closet Pepe Le Pew fan ever since I was 14 and I sometimes question why I like the character, and you (basically) answered my question. This is one of my favorite PLP (Pepe Le Pew) cartoons and most likely, the most (and only) stylish one ever done.BTW: It may be uncomforting to know that when this cartoon was on ABC as part of the "Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show" (which is now cancelled), the entire beginning, where Pepe greets the viewer with a cigarette and champagne was cut out because of its references to alcohol and tobacco. Another cut was on Nickelodeon a couple of years ago (this is the spoiler I mentioned above), in the end scene where Pepe explains that Penelope was shy and the camera shows them shackled together and Penelope tries to escape with a hacksaw (or was it a nail file?). Anyway Nick's edit to it was because the censors saw it as sexually perverted (who wouldn't?) because of the bondage. Thank God Cartoon Network airs this uncut.