Feed the Kitty
Feed the Kitty
NR | 02 February 1952 (USA)
Feed the Kitty Trailers

A bulldog adopts an adorable kitten, but he can't let his owner know.

Reviews
AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks
GetPapa Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible
Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
Edgar Allan Pooh . . . somewhat problematic. I guess it may be analogous to the American Black Folks who owned slaves themselves in the 1800s (but they, at least, had to be "Free Men" BEFORE purchasing their racial equals). Blacks owning Blacks made Slavery "Fair and Balanced," according to the Southern Church Preachers back then. But Goofy owning Pluto (at least when Mickey Mouse was in jail)?! Werern't Goofy and Pluto BOTH dogs?! That one always threw me for a loop, and similar arrangements still do. The bulldog Marc Anthony adopts a kitten on the sly in FEED THE KITTY. Eventually Marc's human mistress tells her dog that he can keep this tiny cat as his pet, as long as he cleans up her litter box for the next 26 years. Unfortunately, that's about TWO CENTURIES in Dog Years! This means that Marc's newly assigned responsibilities won't work out, mathematically. Apparently, it will be up to Marc to find himself a mate, and to train their puppies to care for cats. This unrealistic expectation of multi-generational canine cat management is why it really helps if there is a Man of the House in an American Home, who can use his innate STEM skills to figure out the logistics of complicated matters, such as pets owning pets. Or to simply put his foot down, which probably would be the best option here.
talfonso-2 (spoilers ahead for the review) Most people denounce a lot of animated cartoons as emotionless - they have no real human emotions whatsoever. But one of the few exceptions is FEED THE KITTY, a Chuck Jones classic starring minor Looney Tunes characters Marc Antony and Pussyfoot.Well, it starts with the bulldog Marc trying to terrorize stray kitten Pussyfoot, but the latter is unfazed, thus snuggling up on his back. He walks home and his owner, a housemaid who expects cleanliness, also expects nothing else brought into their keep.Marc tries smuggling the forbidden item from the maid, but the horror starts to increase when he hides Pussyfoot in the flour bin when she is about to make sugar cookies. He unsuccessfully tries to save her from being entangled in cookie dough and baked. The owner ousts him as she emerges out of the batter and escapes the mixer. The horror increases as Marc sees the maid roll and stamp out the dough, knowing that his dear Pussyfoot is getting baked to death. He cries through (already bloodshot and red) eyes a pond as she bakes her sugar cookies in the oven.A short while later, the maid lets Marc back inside, his eyes raw and red from crying fervently. Seeing his puffy, ruddy eyes, she hands him a sugar cookie in the shape of a kitty. After receiving it with shaking paw, he places the confection on his back where the real kitten once laid, and bawls knowing that it's her remains.I know for sure, as a cartoon fan, that the grieving dog is not the only cartoon character to cry till his eyes are red. (A lot of others' eyes remain white when they cry a river.) Take Skippy from ANIMANIACS, for instance. His red eyes (from crying a stream when he sees a death scene in a kids' movie, a BAMBI spoof) are seen when he blows his nose in Aunt Slappy's huge tissue outside the cinema in "Bumbie's Mom." As Marc bewails his cooked kitty, the real Pussyfoot snuggles his face. He is overjoyed when he sees his kitty alive and well. But the maid notices him, and he bawls with red eyes again, this time holding the kitten indicating that he wants her in the house. She allows him to keep him under a few conditions – he has to take care of him and clean up after him (despite the fact that Pussyfoot is actually a "she"). The cartoon ends with Pussyfoot snuggling up and sleeping on his back.FEED THE KITTY stands out in emotional terms from myriad other Warner Brothers shorts made during the latter part of the Golden Age of American Animation. Yes, it has funny parts like a lot of them, but many a viewer would match Marc's red eyes as he grieves his pet and places the cookie on his back. Simply put, you'd better get a box of tissues at standby when watching this cartoon for the part when he cries a pond! Any cartoon lover should not overlook this animation short.
MartinHafer This is about the best short cartoon I have ever seen,...period. As a kid I loved it and as an adult my appreciation for it continues as strong as ever. It is both charming and funny and begs to be watched repeatedly.Mark Anthony is a mean-looking bull dog with a heart of gold. But he also has a terrible knack for bringing home junk that drives his owner (voiced by Bea Benaderet) crazy. She tells him NEVER to bring home any more stuff and threatens him if he does.A little later, Mark Anthony is walking down the street and comes upon an adorable little kitty. Being a mean-looking dog, he growls and snarls but the kitten responds by climbing on his back and falling asleep. Mark Anthony is charmed and can't resist bring home this cute cat. But, he's afraid what his owner will do, so he tries his best to hide the kitty--with little success.My absolute favorite part of the cartoon is when Mark Anthony thinks the kitten has been made into a cookie by his owner. Then, after she's done baking, she gives him a cookie resembling the cat and Mark Anthony falls to pieces! It's priceless,...especially when the real kitten shows up and he begins kissing it repeatedly. What magic! This cartoon has managed to combine humor with charm and cuteness without being cloying or over-the-top. A marvelous and magical toon.
amidalasky This cartoon marks the first appearance of a very popular Looney Toons duo: Marc Anthony, the seemingly tough bulldog, and Pussyfoot, the eternally calm kitten. It's often cited by Looney Toons fans as a favorite, and watching it, one can easily see why. Marc Anthony is like a little kid, hiding his new kitten from his owner, who has scolded him about bringing in his ratty toys and scattering them all over the house. It makes for some hilarious misbehavior, and even more hilarious facial expressions from Marc Anthony as he fakes his owner out each time she almost finds the kitten.The most memorable part is when Marc Anthony, who mistakenly believes the kitten got mixed in with the cookie batter his owner is making up (as we saw, but he didn't, the kitten jumped out of the bowl and went off to clean itself), watches at the window as the batter is rolled out, cut into cookies, and put in the oven, fainting each time. He then starts howling in grief, until his owner lets him back in. Noting his "long face," she gives him a cookie...and it's shaped like a kitten! But as if this isn't heartbreaking enough, Marc Anthony takes it with a trembling paw, then puts it on his back like he carried the kitten before he starts howling in grief again.Boy, they milk every single bit of pathos out of that scene before the kitten finally comes up and mews.