Ventriloquist Cat (1950)

Ventriloquist Cat poster

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Starring:
 Red Coffey, Bill Thompson
Directed by: Tex Avery

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

Synopsis: A cat (voiced by Red Coffey) finds a gadget which allows him to throw his voice and he uses it to pulls pranks on a bulldog (voiced by Bill Thompson).

Cartoon Cat: The cartoon begins by showing the black and white cat who is writing “I hate dogs” all over a fence.

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat writing I Hate Dogs on fence

He accidentally writes “dogs” across the belly of a bulldog, causing the dog to chase him.

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat accidentally writes on bulldog

The cat turns a corner then holds out some fruit for the dog to run into.

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat holds up fruit for bulldog to run into

Hiding inside a crate the cat finds a little machine which claims to allow the user to throw their voice.

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat finds voice throwing gadget

The cat tries it on a garbage can and it works perfectly.

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat tries voice throwing gadget on garbage can

The cat then continually throws his voice, making “Meow! Meow!” come from various objects, like a bell. Once the dog investigates the place where the voice came from, the cat pulls a trick, like banging on the bell.

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat hits bulldog in bell

Dynamite is involved in several of these pranks.

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat lighting dynamite under pan

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat sending box up on balloon

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat sending lit dynamite up string

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat showing backside of bulldog blown away

The cat doesn’t even have to throw his voice, once just resorting to dropping a toaster on the dog’s head.

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat dropping toaster

Hoping to fool the cat, the bulldog rents a female cat costume and lures the cat out of hiding.

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat sees female cat and goes crazy animated gif

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat wooing bulldog disguised as female cat

The cat is understandably shocked to see it is not a femme fatale but the bulldog.

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat shocked to see bulldog

The cat tricks a pack of dogs into thinking the female cat is real and the bulldog takes shelter on top of a telephone pole. But the dogs hear the cat laughing and meowing and confront him.

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat with mean dogs looking down

The cat scrambles up the telephone pole and taunts the dogs below.

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat taunting dogs from telephone pole animated gif

But the joke is on the cat, who finds himself trapped between the one dog above and the pack of dogs below.

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat sees bulldog on top of telephone pole

Ventriloquist Cat - black and white cat caught between dogs on telephone pole

Final Mewsings: Who is selling all this dynamite to cats?


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