IMDb user comments for
Back Alley Oproar (1948)

advertisement

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 2:

[1] [2]

Index

11 comments in total

---

9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
A Singing Sylvester Torments Elmer, 16 April 2007

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

Elmer is "weally sleepy" and quickly heads to bed. Seconds later, Sylvester is climbing the fence, sets up a music stand, works on his pitch with a harmonica....and then starts his opera singing in front of a beautiful, full moon.

Elmer is quickly at the window, telling the cat to scram. Sylvester continues to literally spit out "Figaro," while dodging objects thrown at him. Each time the cat's singing is interrupted, he comes back with a different kind of song (he has a full repertoire) and torments Elmer from outside and later inside the house. I never realized Sylvester had such a good singing voice! (Mel Blanc, the voice of all these Looney Tunes characters, was unbelievably talented.)

This was terrific; much funnier than I expected.

---

7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Make 'Em Laugh!, 9 October 2004

Author: overseer-3 from Florida

Best cartoon ever. Has my children in stitches every time they see it, and they've seen it hundreds of times. Who hasn't been interrupted when they want to sleep by someone being very annoying?

Great line up of old songs. That's partly why I love these vintage Looney Tunes cartoons, it keeps these great old songs like "You're Just An Angel In Disquise" and "Some Sunday Morning" alive for new generations to discover.

As usual the voices are great. Mel Blanc was a phenomena. Too bad they don't have the intelligence to make cartoons like this anymore. The cartoons today are so vapid and devoid of real charm and humor. This one delivers in droves.

---

4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
--Simply one of the finest Warner Brothers cartoons ever--, 18 November 2005

Author: Popeye-8 from Nebraska

This is a prime example of a cartoon that is superior to its original inspiration. This is a remake of Friz Freling's "Notes To You" (with Porky Pig in Elmer's spot). Warners spent a good amount of their releases in the 1940's updating and colorizing old B & W classics in their catalog. Also, they often re-used old gags from other releases, of which this possesses several 'redone' bits.

However, what raises this cartoon to the level of classic is the inspiration that surrounds the reused material. Virtually all sung dialog drives the action as Sylvester leads a backyard cat concert for the suffering Elmer. The ultimate push for genius status goes to the sequence where Sylvester--fleeing Elmer--hands off his songbook to a strange tabby, who appears for all intents to be a chubby male. His transformation into an operatic soprano (just by flipping the songbook over!)is as inspired as any classic moment in the Warner canon.

The tragedy is that this cartoon missed out on TV immortality by just a few months. The TV deal that Warners struck made for all their cartoons produced before June 1948 to be sold into syndication ("Oproar" came out in March), and reserved the rest for what would become that Saturday morning staple, "The Bugs Bunny Show". Still, it has become a constant presence on the BOOMERANG network, so we should be grateful.

---

3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
tickle me Elmer, 27 November 2006

Author: Lee Eisenberg (eisenberg.lee@gmail.com) from Portland, Oregon, USA

In what seems to have been the only pairing of Elmer Fudd and Sylvester the Cat, the former tries to get some sleep, but the latter keeps singing and keeping him awake. While Elmer keeps trying to go after Sylvester - often pretty violently - Sylvester is always ahead of him. "Back Alley Oproar" is, if nothing else, an example of the great results when certain characters co-star. Those guys behind the Looney Tunes cartoons were never afraid to come up with any wacky thing that they wanted. I'll admit that I figured out what was going to happen at the very end before it came, but the rest of the cartoon more than made up for that. Really funny.

Grease and nails...what a combo.

---

3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Simply delightful!, 14 June 2005
Author: slymusic from Tucson, AZ

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"Back Alley Oproar" is a hilarious Elmer Fudd/Sylvester pairing directed by Friz Freleng (who curiously did not seem to care for Elmer Fudd, at least in his pairings with Bugs Bunny).

Here are some of my favorite highlights from this wonderful cartoon (and if you haven't seen this cartoon yet, DO NOT read any further): Sylvester is very funny in his opening scene as he warms up his voice and sings/spits "Largo al factotum" from "The Barber of Seville" (which was used in other Warner Bros. cartoons such as "One Froggy Evening" [1955], "You Ought to Be in Pictures" [1940], and "Long-Haired Hare" [1949]). He finishes one song by telephoning Elmer, who is just trying to get some peace and quiet, and singing the last two words. The disgruntled Elmer then tries to chase after Sylvester, only to slip down some greasy stairs and run his bare feet on a bunch of tacks. (Without the rapid percussion sound effects during Elmer's slipping down the stairs, the humor of this scene would be much less effective.) And finally, Sylvester ends the short with a sudden jazzy version of "You're Just an Angel in Disguise" (also prominently heard in the Porky Pig cartoon "Kitty Kornered" [1946]), complete with guns, bottles, dynamite and bricks!

Overall, "Back Alley Oproar" is an enjoyable cartoon, proving that the men and women who worked on the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies had put their heart and souls into these films and just had fun doing it.

---

2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Formulaic cartoon that's all the better for its formula; Sylvester gives his best performance, Elmer is an excellent straight man; plus: a hilarious cameo from an unnamed cat, 27 February 2007

Author: J. Spurlin from Chicago, Illinois

Sylvester the cat is one of the great, underrated performers. He's certainly underrated by Elmer Fudd who only wants a good night's sleep, not a late-night opera from a caterwauling cat. Elmer's shoe to the cat's noggin ends the kitty's Rossini performance. But that unkind gesture makes the red-clown-nosed kitty mad; and for his next performance he clomps up and down the stairs doing Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody."

This means war. Elmer throws books at him, ties him up, feeds him alum and tries to blow him up with dynamite. The kitty retaliates with a greased staircase, a floor full of thumb tacks for Elmer's bare feet and a surprising ability to chase him into the hereafter.

Meanwhile, a tabby cat with an unexpectedly beautiful female singing voice, becomes an unwitting participant in this mess. "You Never Know Where You're Going' Till You Get There" sings Sylvester; and that proves true for him, the tabby and especially Elmer.

Warner Brothers cartoons prove again and again that following a formula does not inhibit success—it creates it. A cat that sings all night and keeps some poor sap awake? It was done before; it was done later. Similar ideas involving cats that cause their owners trouble at night; insomniacs thwarted from sleep by a noisy neighbor or a dripping faucet? Very familiar. This remake of "Notes to You" (1941), which starred Porky Pig and an anonymous cat, stands out not because of a novel premise. It stands out because it's very, very funny.

As the cartoonist Greg Ford says in his DVD commentary track ("Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Two," Disc 4), this is Sylvester's finest hour. Sylvester—meaning Mel Blanc, his director Friz Freleng, and his animators—tops his work with Tweety, Speedy Gonzales and certainly Sylvester Jr. It's a great musical-comedy performance worthy of Danny Kaye (and worthy of Daffy Duck's imitation of Danny Kaye in "Book Revue" (1946)). It's so good that somehow we side with him over Elmer, even though he's completely in the wrong and Elmer is totally in the right.

Elmer is an excellent straight man—a thankless job, as Bud Abbott, Dean Martin and countless others will tell you. We also get a hilarious cameo performance from an unnamed orange cat who looks too stupid to sing like Jeanette MacDonald. But he—she?—does. Thanks for the laugh, unnamed kitty.

NOTE: Beware of censored TV prints that cut out the scene where Elmer walks over the thumbtacks with his bare feet. Why was it cut? Did someone worry that kids would imitate Elmer Fudd and walk over thumbtacks themselves?

---

3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Cute, 31 October 2005

Author: movieman_kev from United States

Elmer Fudd is settling in for the night when he's constantly disrupted by Sylvester cat's singing. Fudd will go to any lengths to get a good night sleep, which makes the ending all the more funny. This is just simply a cute cartoon with all the singing and commotion and what not. It's a remake though which I can't help but hold against this short, but it's still good for what it is. That being a musical centric cartoon. This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 and also features an optional commentary by Greg Ford.

My Grade: B-

---

A great musical performance from Sylvester, 22 November 2007

Author: Julia Arsenault (ja_kitty_71) from Canada

I like it, I thought it was enjoyable film; Sylvester gave us all a great musical performance; and I should tell you all that this cartoon is a remake of an early Friz Freleng cartoon "Notes to You" starring Porky Pig and an unknown cat; And in this short,Elmer Fudd is the sleep-deprived victim (not Porky).

I do remember having "Notes to You" on VHS as a kid; but sadly it has been lost over the years; but after watching this short, I found it even better than the other one.The one thing that disturb me, was that dumb-lookin' tabby sang like a GIRL! (like Oh My God! What the F*** was that all about huh?).

---

2 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Back Alley Op-roar, 14 March 2005

Author: srw6666 from United States

It's a classic, but is actually a remake of an earlier (pre-War) cartoon with Porky Pig in Elmer Fudd's role, and an anonymous cat. I wish I could recall the name of the original, but it is seen far less than this remake. Michael Maltese also wrote the original. The book gag is in the original, only Porky throws "The Falcon" and gets clobbered with "The Falcon Returns." I believe (not 100% certain), that Sylvester's 9 lives singing the "Sextet from Lucia" at the end of "Back Alley Op-roar" is a straight dub from the original's closing gag.

There are some great gags here, and tho' maybe overused, I've always enjoyed where a singer takes in a little alum, tries to sing, and then we watch his head shrink to the size of a pin while his key goes up several octaves!

---

3 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Hysterically Funny, 9 June 1999

Author: Pumpkin-22 from Destin, Florida

Classic pairing of Elmer Fudd and Sylvester makes me wonder why they didn't team up more. Sylvester's singing repertoire is particularly entertaining.

---

---

Page 1 of 2:

[1] [2]

Add another comment

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Ratings	Awards
Plot keywords	Main details	Your user comments
Your vote history