The Cats Bah
The Cats Bah
| 20 March 1954 (USA)
The Cats Bah Trailers

Penelope, an American tourist cat who's gotten a white stripe of paint down her back, is pursued through the Casbah by the amorous skunk Pepe Le Pew, who woos her with his rendition of "As Time Goes By".

Reviews
GamerTab That was an excellent one.
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
Edgar Allan Pooh " . . . and make love right away," misogynistic skunk Henry-the-serial-rapist (a.k.a., "Pepe Le Pew") remarks to the kitty Penelope, his latest inter-species molestation victim, in his hyper-sexualized Looney Tunes outing (which at least could have served as a wrong-headed PSA if it had thrown in some product placement for a KY lubricant to off-set Pepe's having dispensed with foreplay). Many people thought that they'd seen everything possible along these lines after Marlon Brando commanded the wayward bride to clip her fingernail during LAST TANGO IN PAR!S. Obviously, these folks had missed THE CAT'S BAH. The anti-woman debauchery of Brando's live-action feature film (not even targeted at very young kids) pales in comparison to the living hell Henry imposes upon victim after victim in his masochistic cartoon series. Take the final scene of THE CAT'S BAH, for instance. Surely it inspired the writers of the initial SAW film (a movie definitely NOT intended for the Looney Tunes crowd). The arrogant Henry has been chain-smoking throughout THE CAT'S BAH (as he continually talks to the camera). For his grand finale, in a touch reminiscent of Hitchcock, the camera pulls back from the Bloviating skunk to reveal that he's used ankle shackles to affix Penelope to himself as a semi-permanent Sex Slave. This abused Kitty grabs a saw, and is about to sacrifice a foot in her desperation to flee Henry's second-hand smoke (if an STD doesn't kill her, cancer surely will!). Mercifully, Warner flings up an "That's all, folks" on the screen as this juncture.
TheLittleSongbird I do like Pepe LePew, though I do think he is the sort of character that you appreciate more as an adult. The Cats Bah is one of his best, I'd say second only to For Scent-imental Reasons(my personal favourite). Pepe is just wonderful here, I love how out there and self-ironic he is and if you do as well you'll be more than satisfied. If you are familiar with Pepe's cartoons, you know where it is going to go from the start most of the time but they are always entertaining. When it comes to the animation, it is one of Pepe's most stylish and charmingly elegant and the colours are beautiful. The music also works perfectly, there's the unmistakable Looney Tunes musical wit but also a French amorous flavour which sets the tone beautifully. This is true for most Pepe cartoons actually. The Cat's Bah relies more on verbal humour than gags, though the gags especially the ending are imaginative. But the dialogue is deliciously witty and really fabulously written, you're also left impressed at how risqué it sounds sometimes as well. All in all, very, very good and one of Pepe's best. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Robert Reynolds This one, like all the best Pepe Le Pew cartoons, depends principally on verbal humor rather than sight gags for most of the laughs (though the last gag is a sight gag that ends this one perfectly) and some of the jokes are obvious, while a few are subtle word play, such as the "ze bonds of slavery" line, when Pepe "frees" Penelope, to her horror. Pepe, like a great many folks throughout time, deludes himself. His delusion, charmingly enough, is that he is "ze great lover". That he continues his efforts in spite of his massive lack of success is either a tribute to perseverance or an indication of greater psychological trauma and detachment. I prefer the former theory. After all, to paraphrase Freud, "Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon." Good to excellent jokes make this a must see. Recommended.
Angel-Marie To skunkfanatic, I can easily say, truer words were never spoken. I was/am a closet Pepe Le Pew fan ever since I was 14 and I sometimes question why I like the character, and you (basically) answered my question. This is one of my favorite PLP (Pepe Le Pew) cartoons and most likely, the most (and only) stylish one ever done.BTW: It may be uncomforting to know that when this cartoon was on ABC as part of the "Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show" (which is now cancelled), the entire beginning, where Pepe greets the viewer with a cigarette and champagne was cut out because of its references to alcohol and tobacco. Another cut was on Nickelodeon a couple of years ago (this is the spoiler I mentioned above), in the end scene where Pepe explains that Penelope was shy and the camera shows them shackled together and Penelope tries to escape with a hacksaw (or was it a nail file?). Anyway Nick's edit to it was because the censors saw it as sexually perverted (who wouldn't?) because of the bondage. Thank God Cartoon Network airs this uncut.