Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Scaredy Cat" is a Warner Bros short film from over 65 years ago that combines once again the talents of Chuck Jones, Michael Maltese and Mel Blanc. Porky enters a haunted house, but initially, the only one who sees all the spooky things is his cat Sylvester and he is scared as hell. Porky thinks Sylvester is a coward until he gets caught by the mice himself in what is possibly the funniest moment of the film. Finally, it is Sylvester's turn to save his master and show he is truly courageous. What we see then is basically almost an example of how Sylvester has some kind of super power. Too bad we don't see the details. And after he manages to chase away all these mice, he is back to his normal incompetent self when he gets knocked out by just one of them. All in all, a solid short film, but nowhere near Warner Bros's best. Still, if you like old cartoons, this one is checking out for the horror aspects I guess. Thumbs up.
TheLittleSongbird
While not the best of the Looney Tunes canon, it is still enjoyable with a lot to recommend it. The villainous mice could have been developed more, but other than that I had little problem with Scaredy Cat. Porky and Sylvester are both great, especially Sylvester who gets the worst of the scares, particularly the infamous sequence down in the basement, that and the scene after did scare me as a kid. As well as being freaky, there are some funny moments too, slapsticky yes but they were well timed and funny. The animation is excellent, Sylvester is somewhat different-looking, but Porky is drawn very well and the backgrounds and colouring are audacious. The music is both rousing and atmospheric, the dialogue is great, the gags are fine, the story is well-constructed and quite original and Mel Blanc is once again brilliant as both Sylvester and Porky. Overall, not the best but very well done. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Michael_Elliott
Scaredy Cat (1948) *** (out of 4) Fun Merrie Melodies short has Porky Pig buying a new house but his cat Sylvester is the only one that can see the strange things going on in it. This leads to some misunderstanding as Porky doesn't realize the danger inside the house and Sylvester will have to build up the courage to fight it. This is a pretty good entry in the series as both Porky and Sylvester are at the top of their game. The biggest weakness is that the mice really aren't developed too well so they're only middle ground villains. The best sequence in the movie is when the mice push the bed out the window and Sylvester gets blamed for what follows even though he's just trying to save Porky.
Stephen Holloway
While the only downside in this cartoon is that Sylvester didn't speak, this is still an classic by the late Chuck Jones. Porky and Sylvester arrive an an run down house (the last that the real estate agent had,) right away the cat gets scared by an bat. Porky loves the house and decides to turn in while Sylvester sleeps in the kitchen. That's where the fun really starts. He gets scared by every little thing and runs to Porky who is trying to sleep. In one scene they're outside and Porky asked Sylvester to closed the window which launches the bed back to the house which was an good gag. Eventually, Porky is fed up with Sylvester and checks it out for himself. The pig gets tied up and gagged and Sylvester runs away. Then his angel arrived and convinces him to remove the mice. Which he did expect 1 who drops an bowling ball on Sylvester's head. Like I said, the downside is that Sylvester is silent but it's still an classic by Chuck Jones. I highly recommend it and its squeal Claws for Alarm. Final Score: an 9 out of 10.
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