User reviews

The first pairing of Tweety Bird and Sylvester was also an Oscar winner. Quick, violent and absolutely hilarious. And every time I hear Tweety say "I tawt I taw a puddy tat" I break up. Well worth catching. Also the print I saw had bright, vivid color. TCM usually shows this around Oscar time--look for it!

The first short to pair Sylvester & Tweety was also the first short to win an Oscar for Warner Bros, breaking the streak MGM had going thanks to Tom & Jerry. Which is interesting because, in some ways, the Sylvester & Tweety series was very similar to Tom & Jerry. At least in terms of the basic structure of a cat chasing after a cute little critter. Also, the cat being named Thomas and the human woman who scolds the cat and hits him with a broom are other similarities in this first entry. Obviously there's much more to both series that separates them but there seemed to be something about this premise they both had in common that pleased Oscar voters back then as Tom & Jerry won a bunch of them and Sylvester & Tweety won a couple.

The story here is pretty basic. Sylvester (called Thomas here) catches Tweety outside in the snow. But before he can eat the bird, his owner catches him and brings adorable little Tweety inside. This doesn't stop the cat, who tries repeatedly to get at the bird with comical results. Tweety is much more aggressive (and Jerry-like) in defending himself against Sylvester in this first short. This is a good start to a series that would get much better once Sylvester developed his own personality and Tweety's was fleshed out some more. As it is, it's a funny short with nice animation, music, and voicework. I'm not sure it deserved the Oscar win but the Academy probably wanted to give a win to someone besides MGM or Disney that year and WB's Looney Tunes were screwed out of wins many other times.

In the first pairing of Sylvester and Tweety, the former comes up with another series of schemes to catch the latter, always failing miserably. One thing that raises my eyebrows in "Tweetie Pie" is that Sylvester is for some reason called Thomas (as identified by his stricter-than-strict mistress). What gives? Oh well, it's still a great cartoon. I can see why it won an Academy Award. The winter setting also gives it an interesting spin. But even if it didn't have that, it would still really be something; how could it not be, with Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet doing the voices? A formidable cartoon classic in every way, shape and form.

Sylvester (here called Thomas) the cat first meets Tweety bird in the debut cartoon of the duo that would go onto star in a great many lackluster efforts. This was the best of the bunch which trust me isn't saying that much at all as I actively loathe Tweety bird as a character and always tried to avoid his shorts when I was a kid. Perhaps if the first one didn't win an Oscar the Tweety shorts wouldn't have been so numerous, but who knows, perhaps that's merely wishful thinking on my part. This animated short can be seen on Disc 3 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 and also features an optional commentary by Greg Ford.

My Grade: B

Before I review TWEETIE PIE, I am going to rant a bit. So, hold on tight and I'll get this over with as quickly as I can. In the history of animated shorts, few would argue that there were any better than those of Warner Brothers in the 1940s and 50s. While some of the MGM and Disney cartoons may have looked better (though all three had wonderful animation), none were as consistently funny and entertaining as the Looney Tunes shorts from Warner. However, oddly, this group of amazing artists won very few Oscars. Tom and Jerry (which I love), although highly repetitive, did great at the Oscars. And, amazingly, crap like the UPA shorts (with characters like Gerald McBoing-Boing and Mr. Magoo) cleaned up at the Oscars in the 1950s even though the animation quality was light-years behind Warners. Somehow, the Oscar folks did Looney Tunes dirty again and again...and I have no idea why. Perhaps they just thought that their cartoons weren't artsy enough or hated that they were intended for the common person out there.

Now, despite my rant, on occasion the Academy got it right--such as in the case of TWEETIE PIE. This is exactly the type of short that usually didn't win, as it was funny and extremely sadistic--two things necessary for a great short!! While some even better shorts by Looney Tunes have been ignored (such as the amazing FEED THE KITTY and CANNED FEUD), at least here they got it right.

This is the first pairing of Sylvester and Tweetie, though the cat is called 'Thomas' in this short. Still, it worked well and the combination seemed like a natural--with this first pairing actually being one of their best, if not the best. Great animation, great humor and a generous sprinkling of violence--this is one wonderful Oscar-winning cartoon.

Move over, Gallagher and Sheen, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott ans Costello, Lunt and Fontaine: it's Sylvester and Tweety! In a pairing so obvious as to be almost automatic, Tweety and Sylvester meet up for the first time and take the prize-Oscar, of course. One of the better ones, this pairing is perfect. Highly Recommended.

There are better Looney Tunes cartoons than the Sylvester and Tweety series but the series is still entertaining and nice to watch. Sylvester and Tweety are not among Looney Tunes' greatest duos, but at least their duo makes sense and doesn't feel odd(unlike Daffy and Speedy). Tweetie Pie signals their debut together- having been seen before solo- and it is a great one and one of their better cartoons. The cruelty of Sylvester/Thomas' owner is a turn-off point, the one character here who you dislike from the get go, but that's a personal nit-pick above all else. The animation is vibrant and detailed and with plenty of bounce, both Tweety and Thomas/Sylvester well and recognisably drawn and Thomas/Sylvester's facial expressions are expressively done. Carl Stalling's music not only is orchestrated beautifully but rhythmically it bursts with character and it gives great energy to the action. It's not just it sounding nice and that it's action-enhancing but also how well it accompanies the gestures and expressions of the characters and even the sound effects too. The dialogue is sharp and the gags while not surprising are made funny, in some instances hilarious(especially the one with Thomas/Sylvester trying to fly up to the cage via an electric fan), by the interactions between the duo and Thomas/Sylvester's facial expressions. Which like with Wile E. Coyote induces some of the laughs on their own, I don't think the fireplace gag would have worked quite so well without his reaction to that he was burning. Tweetie Pie is violent but actually not in a sadistic or bizarre way that it churns the stomach like the Gene Deitch Tom and Jerry cartoons did. Tweety has the cute- but not too sickly sweet- persona that he is now famous for but he also has shades of the anarchic personality that was given to him in the Bob Clampett outings. But Thomas/Sylvester makes the biggest impression, not just because he has the funniest moments but you also root for him, and this is in general not just here. He may have a different name and be fatter but the voice and the catchphrase are unmistakable. The two work great together and as aforementioned at the beginning of the review their chemistry makes sense, plus as usual Mel Blanc voices superbly. All in all, a great debut for this bird and mouse duo, one of their best if not their very best. 9/10 Bethany Cox

If you watch a number of these Tweety and Sylvester cartoons you'll notice the two stars with different owners. "Granny" is the usual owner of Tweetie, but not always. Here, in this cartoon we see a woman who already owns Sylvester, taking in Tweetie whom she thinks is an abandoned bird. She calls our cat here "Thomas," too, and she's a nasty woman. She would be reported for animal abuse, in this day and age, as she constantly beats Sylvester with a broom.

This gets off to a good start as Tweetie is outside freezing in the show. Sylvester is hidden inside a snow man waiting for the right time. That comes along quickly and Sylvester jumps out, puts on his snow shoes and starts stalking the little bird. When he pounces, he grabs the little heater that Tweety was using to get warm, instead of the bird. A second try succeeds, but the cat's owner comes out and demands to know what he's hiding inside his paws. She winds up taking in the bird.

The rest of the cartoon is the standard material of the cat trying to catch the bird who is in his cage way up in the ceiling.

This was passable but I didn't care for the beatings "Thomas" took from the owner. I understand this was the first pairing of the two main characters, so it explains why we see different names and different owners. I'm glad "Granny" took over from this woman and Sylvester didn't have to hang around this house for too long.

This is not only the first Sylvester and Tweety short but the first Warner Bros. animated short to win an Oscar! The Oscar was well deserved and long over-due. I must point out that perhaps Friz Freleng's inspiration for this duo was Tom and Jerry. In a way this short resembles the first Tom and Jerry short. However this short is WAY better then the first Tom and Jerry short! Also if you think about it Sylvester and Tweety are basically Tom and Jerry's competition but in my opinion there is no winner! Now what I find unique about this short is that the characters are already fully developed! Then again this isn't the first Sylvester or Tweety short. They had already been introduced before. However, this is the first short where Tweety is fully developed. While Sylvester however, is a unique character cause since his first appearance he was already fully developed.

4(****)out of 4(****)stars

...that this was the first episode where Sylvester and Tweetie Pie star together. When I first watched this, I presumed it was one of the first, as Sylvester seemed to be called Thomas and the granny was not featured, but little did I realise it was the very first.

Personally I think this is a good episode, it is very funny and Tweetie Pie rules. I admire Sylvester in this episode in the way that he never surrenders, despite having his plans failed and being beaten with a broom by the woman that owns him. Both in cartoons and in real life, it takes guts and heart to not surrender so long.

In this particular episode of Tweety Pie and Sylvester, Sylvester - who is here called Thomas, finds a little yellow bird in the snow, who is Tweety Pie (duh). Thomas is about to eat him, until his woman owner sees the little bird and decides to keep him - and keep him safe from Thomas. Annoyingly, Sylvester has tricks up his fur to capture Tweety Pie and have a nice feathery snack...

I recommend this to anyone who likes Tweety Pie and Sylvester and who likes old slapstick jokes. Enjoy! :-)

I caught this on MeTV shows Tune in With Me morning show and they were doing Friz Freleng cartoons that day and finished it (saved the best for the episode's finale) with Tweetie Pie. Now, this routine had been done before with Tweetie and Babbit and Catstello in the earlier Tale Of Two Kitties which was Tweetie's first cartoon, BTW. Maybe I had seen so many Tweetie and Sylvester cartoons that I lost track but watching it today seemed very funny to me. It's got an early Tom and Jerry with the house maid feel to it, this time the "maid" being the house's owner voiced by the Petticoat Junction/ Beverly Hillbillies actress, Bea Benaderet! The schemes Sylvester tries are many and the laughs are heavy in this one. I would say that the Tweetie versus cat skit started before this one, but this is the episode that's lasted to this day repeated many times since with these two cartoon characters. 10 stars!