Lovesusti
The Worst Film Ever
ThedevilChoose
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Abbigail Bush
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
phantom_tollbooth
Friz Freleng's 'Back Alley Oproar' is a fine cartoon with a few flaws. A musical short in which Sylvester keeps Elmer Fudd awake with his singing, 'Back Alley Oproar' features an energetic performance from Mel Blanc as Sylvester, running through a barrage of different songs. For a while it's funny but the cartoon seems to outstay its welcome by a couple of minutes. The song and dance routines begin to grate towards the end. There are also a couple of pacing problems with gags that go on longer than they should, such as the falsetto cat and the final 9 lives revelation. All in all, 'Back Alley Oproar' is a fun but only partially successful cartoon which wobbles along the line between amusing and annoying.
ccthemovieman-1
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.
J. Spurlin
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. 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?
Pumpkin-22
Classic pairing of Elmer Fudd and Sylvester makes me wonder why they didn't team up more. Sylvester's singing repertoire is particularly entertaining.
