Go Fly a Kit (1957)

Nov 9, 2020

Directed by: Chuck Jones

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: In this Looney Tunes short, a flying kitten is raised by an eagle then falls in love with the female kitten he saves from a bulldog.

Cartoon Cats: The short begins in an airport with a man asking why there is a little orange and cream cat on a nearby wall. The worker explains how she is waiting for her boyfriend to fly back to her, which starts the story.

Go Fly a Kit - orange and cream girl cat on fence at airport

A little black and white kitten is said to have been orphaned and adopted by a mother eagle. We see the kitten being fed a bottle of milk by the eagle birdy style (well, as close to birdy style as you can get in a cartoon).

Go Fly a Kit - black and white kitten in eagle nest being fed milk from bottle
Go Fly a Kit - black and white kitten in eagle nest being fed milk from bottle animated gif

The eagle then tries to teach the little cat to fly, but he just plummets.

Go Fly a Kit - mother eagle urging black and white kitten to fly
Go Fly a Kit - black and white kitten trying to fly
Go Fly a Kit - mother eagle urging black and white kitten to fly only to have him plummet animated gif

Miraculously the kitten realizes he can twirl his tail instead of flapping his arms and fly that way!

Go Fly a Kit - black and white kitten flying and hugging eagle mother
Go Fly a Kit - black and white kitten flying and mother eagle applauds animated gif

Eventually the kitten leaves the nest and flies out into the world. He first stops on a telephone line with some blackbirds who are very confused.

Go Fly a Kit - black and white cat startles blackbirds on telephone wire animated gif

The kitten then sees the orange and cream kitten running away from an attacking bulldog in the park. The flying kitten jumps into action, unsheathing his claws and raking the bulldog’s back.

Go Fly a Kit - little orange and cream cat being chased in park
Go Fly a Kit - flying black and white cat raking bulldog's back
Go Fly a Kit - flying black and white cat raking bulldog's back animated gif

The flying kitten saves the damsel in distress and lifts her up to a tree where it is love at first sight.

Go Fly a Kit - black and white flying cat saving orange and cream cat
Go Fly a Kit - flying black and white cat and orange and cream cat falling in love in tree
Go Fly a Kit - flying black and white cat saves orange and cream cat and they fall in love in tree animated gif

At this point the flying kitten starts to show off, flying down to give the bulldog a hard time. He starts by giving the bulldog a threatening hiss and arch.

Go Fly a Kit - black and white cat hissing at bulldog
Go Fly a Kit - black and white cat hissing at bulldog animated gif

The flying kitten manages to avoid the bulldog at every charge, clawing the dog each time he gets a chance.

Go Fly a Kit - flying black and white cat scratching bulldog's back

A few times the female kitten worries that her new boyfriend is getting too careless and about to get caught, meowing to warn him, but the flying kitten has a handle on the situation.

Go Fly a Kit - orange and cream cat trying to warn boyfriend
Go Fly a Kit - black and white cat sitting on bulldog's head
Go Fly a Kit - flying black and white cat gets out of way as bulldog hits himself on the head
Go Fly a Kit - flying black and white cat scaring bulldog with a yowl
Go Fly a Kit - flying black and white cat scaring bulldog with a yowl animated gif

Eventually the bulldog traps the kitten beneath a garbage can but the kitten just flies up, taking the bulldog and can high into the air with him. He leaves the bulldog teetering on top of an aerial on a high building.

Go Fly a Kit - flying black and white cat leaving bulldog on garbage can on aerial at top of building

The flying kitten and girl are fast in love.

Go Fly a Kit - flying black and white cat and orange and cream cat falling in love

The short ends with the flying cat returning from flying south to meet his girlfriend on the wall. Their children, all four flying cats, hover above them.

Go Fly a Kit - flying black and white cat and orange and cream cat in love with family
Go Fly a Kit - flying black and white cat and orange and cream cat in love with family animated gif

The black kitten is often identified as Pussyfoot because of similar design, but this short differs in that the cat here is clearly a male and the bulldog is the antagonist, not a friend or rescuer. Pussyfoot also has distinctive blue eyes whereas this cat’s eyes are black. We’d like to think of this as being a completely seperate character from Pussyfoot.

Go Fly a Kit - black and white cat sitting on telephone wires

Final Mewsings: If cats could fly, there’d be no stopping them!

Relevant Links:

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