Studio: Leon Schlesinger Productions
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Produced by: Leon Schlesinger
Short Synopsis
A very sleepy Porky Pig has just gone to bed when an alley cat climbs onto the fence outside his window and launches into "Largo al factotum" from The Barber of Seville. Porky shouts and throws things, finally knocking the cat off the fence with a book. He goes back to bed; the cat throws the book back and carries on singing. Porky slams the window, and his telephone rings: it is the cat, finishing the aria down the line. Furious, Porky loads his shotgun and sets out a saucer of milk as bait, then falls asleep waiting. The cat drinks the milk, leaves a note for the milkman and bangs the saucer to wake him. Porky corners him, and the cat sings "Rock-a-Bye Baby" until Porky falls asleep, then tucks him into bed and kisses him goodnight, before conducting a deafening march on the radio. The serenades continue, "Jeepers Creepers", a guitar love song, while Porky collects two black eyes. Finally Porky shoots the cat, who gasps out a chorus of "Aloha 'Oe" and dies. Porky is overcome with remorse, until the cat's nine ghosts appear on the fence and begin to sing in chorus.
Why It Matters
- The ending is a perfect Freleng punchline: Porky's guilt lasts just long enough for the cat's nine lives to show up as a ghostly choir. The film is built on precise musical timing, each new song a fresh provocation, and the cat's cheerful persistence is the engine of the comedy.
- It is a template Freleng returned to. In 1948 he remade it almost shot for shot as Back Alley Oproar, with Elmer Fudd as the sleeper and Sylvester as the singing cat, one of the clearest examples of a Warner director refining his own earlier gag structure.
Notes and Trivia
- The original black-and-white film is in the public domain and is often seen in a 1968 colourised version.
- See also: I Haven't Got a Hat (1935), Porky's Midnight Matinee (1941).