Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Back Alley Oproar" is an American cartoon from 1948 and it was produced by Warner Bros. The days of World War II had been over at this point, so it's an unpolitical work again. It runs for approximately seven minutes just like the others. The director is Friz Freleng, writers are Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce and these three worked on so many classic Warner Bros. cartoons. Same can be said about some of the voice actors, especially Mel Blanc of course. The story here is nothing really new. It's the usual one we have seen many times, in which one character wants to sleep while the other makes noises. And the former is Elmer Fudd in here (in Bugs' absence), while Sylvester wants to sing opera in the backyard and the result is the massive "oproar" mentioned in the title. I thought this was an okay watch. Some lengths were in here, but also 2 or 3 funny moments like the pretty hilarious nine lives reference at the very end. Poor Elmer. But not poor audience. I recommend the watch.
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.
Popeye-8
This is a prime example of a cartoon that is superior to its original inspiration. This is a remake of Friz Freling's "Notes To You" (with Porky Pig in Elmer's spot). Warners spent a good amount of their releases in the 1940's updating and colorizing old B & W classics in their catalog. Also, they often re-used old gags from other releases, of which this possesses several 'redone' bits.However, what raises this cartoon to the level of classic is the inspiration that surrounds the reused material. Virtually all sung dialog drives the action as Sylvester leads a backyard cat concert for the suffering Elmer. The ultimate push for genius status goes to the sequence where Sylvester--fleeing Elmer--hands off his songbook to a strange tabby, who appears for all intents to be a chubby male. His transformation into an operatic soprano (just by flipping the songbook over!)is as inspired as any classic moment in the Warner canon.The tragedy is that this cartoon missed out on TV immortality by just a few months. The TV deal that Warners struck made for all their cartoons produced before June 1948 to be sold into syndication ("Oproar" came out in March), and reserved the rest for what would become that Saturday morning staple, "The Bugs Bunny Show". Still, it has become a constant presence on the BOOMERANG network, so we should be grateful.
srw6666
It's a classic, but is actually a remake of an earlier (pre-War) cartoon with Porky Pig in Elmer Fudd's role, and an anonymous cat. I wish I could recall the name of the original, but it is seen far less than this remake. Michael Maltese also wrote the original. The book gag is in the original, only Porky throws "The Falcon" and gets clobbered with "The Falcon Returns." I believe (not 100% certain), that Sylvester's 9 lives singing the "Sextet from Lucia" at the end of "Back Alley Op-roar" is a straight dub from the original's closing gag.There are some great gags here, and tho' maybe overused, I've always enjoyed where a singer takes in a little alum, tries to sing, and then we watch his head shrink to the size of a pin while his key goes up several octaves!
AD
