by Linda Kay

Directed by: Chuck Jones

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

Synopsis: Sniffles the mouse participates in a scavenger hunt, the last item of which he must bring back to win is an owl’s egg.

Cartoon Cat: The penultimate object Sniffles has to find is a cat’s whisker, so the short opens on the shot of a sleeping black and white cat.

Sniffles sneaks up and pulls a whisker from the poor cat’s face. The cat chases Sniffles back to his mousehole but he gets away.

When Sniffles learns he is only one object away from winning the hunt, he sets off for the owl’s egg. Meanwhile, the cat has wandered onto the front step of the house, rubbing his still sore face.

The cat spots Sniffles walking toward a barn and leaps at the mouse but again misses. So the cat settles down next to the hole to wait.

Sniffles gets hold of the owl’s egg but the papa owl is not happy about this at all and makes him put it back into the nest. After some harsh words (in Mel Blanc’s fabulous screaming voice) the owl throws Sniffles out of the hayloft. Sniffles ends up landing right on top of the waiting cat!

The cat reacts angrily, looking up at Sniffles who is hanging onto a perch outside the loft.

Once again Sniffles steals the egg but a little owl pops out. He continues to try to steal the egg with the owl inside, but once down on the ground level again the cat starts to stalk them. Sniffles knows enough to run but the little owlet is clueless, so Sniffles must hurry back and rescue the nestling.

Papa Owl becomes aware of the cat chasing Sniffles and his baby, so he swoops down and nabs the cat by the scruff, carrying him up to the chimney of the house and dropping him inside.

Final Mewsings: The cat is lucky the owl wasn’t hungry!

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