Saying that Mouse and Garden is one of the better 60s Looney Tunes cartoons is saying a fair bit actually. Some cartoons like this were good though not up the standards of the Looney Tunes cartoons of the 40-50s, some like the middling Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote efforts ranged from mediocre to relatively decent and it also saw some dreck like Pre-Hysterical Hare, Devil's Feud Cake and the worst of the Daffy-Speedy cartoons. The cartoon at times is a little rushed and some of the detail and character designs in the animation can lack finesse. The colours are nice to look at and the main setting is effective. The music is composed with beautiful orchestration and energetic character, Carl Stalling is a superior composer but Milt Franklin stands very well on his own indeed. The writing has freshness and wit, and the visual gags are well timed and never less than amusing. Sylvester is still his usual funny and charismatic self, but fellow cat Sam steals the show this time round, a hilarious character that makes you ask the question why you don't see him more. Mel Blanc and Daws Butler give superb vocal characterisations, no surprise as they are two of the greatest ever voice actors who added so much to everything they did. Overall, fun stuff indeed. 8/10 Bethany Cox
9 Reviews
I liked it but I didn't think it was that great
utgard1426 September 2015
Yeah, the Looney Tunes shorts from the '60s were a mixed bag that and finding one that is truly great is not easy to do. But this Oscar-nominated Sylvester short really wasn't that special, in my opinion. I do like it but it wouldn't make my top ten Sylvester shorts and might not even make my top ten Looney Tunes from the '60s. The premise is that Sylvester and his friend Sam both try to keep a mouse they find to themselves and not share it. There are some amusing gags and lines here. The Sam character is the best thing about it. Daws Butler provided the voice and he's just a hoot to listen to. Mel Blanc is great as Sylvester, as always. The animation is scratchy but colorful. I'm not sure why this was nominated for an Oscar but looking at the list of nominees that year, it appears there wasn't a particularly strong selection all around.
Stands out from much of Warner Bros. 1960s output
phantom_tollbooth19 February 2009
Friz Freleng's Oscar-nominated 'Mouse and Garden' is a nicely orchestrated piece of toing-and-froing which is constantly entertaining. While the Oscar-nomination may have been a bit of an overreaction, Freleng still shows himself to be an old master at timing gags. Sylvester and his supposed pal Sam (voiced by the legendary Daws Butler, doing an impersonation of Stan Freberg's Pete Puma voice) scavenge for food together while constantly attempting to screw the other out of whatever they find. When Sylvester finds a live mouse, the battle is upped to the next level. 'Mouse and Garden' is ultimately a film about friendship and deceit and the detrimental result when the two meet. After suffering the indignity of being paired with intolerable characters like Tweety and Speedy Gonzales for years, it's always good to see Sylvester in a cartoon without either of these twin drag factors. Here, the mouse is more a prop than a character, looking on in mute bewilderment as the two cats cheat themselves out of a meal. The limited animation is effective in evoking the atmosphere of a pier at night and, while Sam is hardly a memorable adversary, the whole cartoon is carried by the false niceties and growing paranoia that eventually defeats the two characters. It might not quite be a classic but 'Mouse and Garden' is a solid, always enjoyable cartoon that stands out from much of the 1960s Warner Bros. output.
A slobbering cat vs. a dopey cat
slymusic12 January 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Directed by Friz Freleng, "Mouse and Garden" is a very good Warner Bros. cartoon featuring two cats: the familiar ugly, slobbering Sylvester (wonderfully voiced by Mel Blanc) and a dopey orange cat named Sam (hilariously voiced by Daws Butler). Sylvester and Sam both desire a mouse for dinner, and when they spot one, they make it clear that they have no desire for sharing! The beauty of it all is that throughout this cartoon, which takes place at a quiet shipyard dock at night, Sylvester and Sam constantly hoodwink each other for the mouse, and they are both intelligent enough to KNOW that they are being deceived, but they nonchalantly act as though nothing is betraying their trust for one another.
Highlights from "Mouse and Garden" include the following. Sylvester places his foot on the mouse's tail, hoping Sam won't notice; Sam meanwhile applies a hammer to Sylvester's foot and replaces the mouse with a lit stick of dynamite, which Sylvester then absentmindedly hides in his mouth (the resultant explosion creates a hilarious split-second puffy face for Sylvester). Sylvester is funny when he shouts at Sam after the latter fibs that the mouse tried to escape from the jug in which the two felines placed him; Sam is also funny in the way he refers to Sylvester's "suspiciousus nature." And for the finale, Sylvester intends to get rid of Sam once and for all by tying a rope from a speeding motorboat to Sam's toe, but Sam turns the tables on Sylvester, or so he thinks.
In closing, here are a couple of musical segments that I recognize in "Mouse and Garden," thanks to composer/orchestrator Milt Franklyn. "I Cover the Waterfront" can be heard at the very outset of this film to establish the shipyard setting, and the mouse sings "Moonlight Bay" at the very end when he sails peacefully away from his two assailants.
Highlights from "Mouse and Garden" include the following. Sylvester places his foot on the mouse's tail, hoping Sam won't notice; Sam meanwhile applies a hammer to Sylvester's foot and replaces the mouse with a lit stick of dynamite, which Sylvester then absentmindedly hides in his mouth (the resultant explosion creates a hilarious split-second puffy face for Sylvester). Sylvester is funny when he shouts at Sam after the latter fibs that the mouse tried to escape from the jug in which the two felines placed him; Sam is also funny in the way he refers to Sylvester's "suspiciousus nature." And for the finale, Sylvester intends to get rid of Sam once and for all by tying a rope from a speeding motorboat to Sam's toe, but Sam turns the tables on Sylvester, or so he thinks.
In closing, here are a couple of musical segments that I recognize in "Mouse and Garden," thanks to composer/orchestrator Milt Franklyn. "I Cover the Waterfront" can be heard at the very outset of this film to establish the shipyard setting, and the mouse sings "Moonlight Bay" at the very end when he sails peacefully away from his two assailants.
so it's "Moonlight Bay"
lee_eisenberg9 January 2008
Jeez, no matter how you look at it, Sylvester probably has THE worst luck of all the Looney Tunes. In some cartoons it plays out more than in others, but Friz Freleng's "Mouse and Garden" is an example.
One night, Sylvester and his friend Sam (an orange tabby who talks as though he suffers from either Downs syndrome or cerebral palsy) are rummaging through garbage cans looking for food - not to mention stealing each other's morsels - when they catch a mouse. But each cat still wants the mouse for himself, and so they spend the rest of the night trying to eat the little guy, all the while suspecting the other one of trying to do just that and trying to stop the other one from doing it! Needless to say, there's some dynamite involved.
While Milt Franklyn's music didn't quite equal Carl Stalling's, it still provides a neat setting for the wacky action here. And Daws Butler was clearly pretty adept at doing voices (he voices Sam, accompanying Mel Blanc as Sylvester). In any case, this is one of the nearly 1,000 classic cartoons released through Warner Bros. That'll never be all, folks.
And I now see that the song is called "Moonlight Bay". I'd heard the song before in "Porky's Duck Hunt" (Daffy Duck's debut), but couldn't understand the whole thing. Now I finally know.
One night, Sylvester and his friend Sam (an orange tabby who talks as though he suffers from either Downs syndrome or cerebral palsy) are rummaging through garbage cans looking for food - not to mention stealing each other's morsels - when they catch a mouse. But each cat still wants the mouse for himself, and so they spend the rest of the night trying to eat the little guy, all the while suspecting the other one of trying to do just that and trying to stop the other one from doing it! Needless to say, there's some dynamite involved.
While Milt Franklyn's music didn't quite equal Carl Stalling's, it still provides a neat setting for the wacky action here. And Daws Butler was clearly pretty adept at doing voices (he voices Sam, accompanying Mel Blanc as Sylvester). In any case, this is one of the nearly 1,000 classic cartoons released through Warner Bros. That'll never be all, folks.
And I now see that the song is called "Moonlight Bay". I'd heard the song before in "Porky's Duck Hunt" (Daffy Duck's debut), but couldn't understand the whole thing. Now I finally know.
There's certainly a mouse here . . .
oscaralbert28 May 2016
Warning: Spoilers
. . . in Warner Bros.' animated short, MOUSE AND GARDEN, but exactly WHERE is the garden?! This entire episode takes place on a fishing pier, with not so such as a blade of grass in sight, let alone celery stalks, lettuce heads, tomatoes ripening on the vine, or parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Viewers certain that at the very least hydroponics are bound to pop up somewhere here will be sorely disappointed. Reading the title, one is likely to wonder if Warner plans on going the Risqué humor route, with off-color Double Entendres about cucumbers, carrots, and zucchini? Alternatively, the Looney Tuners could go for cheap Tuber Yuks. Mr. Potatohead jokes always are reliable chuckle Elicitors, or you can start to venture off the reservation with bits about turnips and rutabaga. Then there's all the appropriate ditties that could be worked in on this cultivation theme, such as "I'm just a little catnip in an onion patch." Instead, what we get in MOUSE AND GARDEN is a pair of felines fighting over a single mouse. If Oscar Noms were garlic, Warner would have bad breath.
Blanc & Butler Help Provide A Real Classic
ccthemovieman-111 August 2007
Mel Blanc and Daws Butler - two Hall-Of-Fame voices - combine their talents to give us this battle of the felines over possession of one mouse.
Sylvester (Blanc) and Sam (Butler) are two waterfront cats browsing through the garbage cans on the pier when they get a little mouse. The story from that point is the paranoia and mistrust these two guys have for each other. Neither is willing to share and both try every trick in the book to hide the fact they have the mouse. (It keeps changing hands, er paws.)
The huge moon and beautiful nighttime artwork in here on the water with his big house is fantastic. For the visuals alone, this is a good cartoon but listening to the accents and funny voices of these two geniuses doing these characters makes elevates this from very good to excellent.
Sylvester (Blanc) and Sam (Butler) are two waterfront cats browsing through the garbage cans on the pier when they get a little mouse. The story from that point is the paranoia and mistrust these two guys have for each other. Neither is willing to share and both try every trick in the book to hide the fact they have the mouse. (It keeps changing hands, er paws.)
The huge moon and beautiful nighttime artwork in here on the water with his big house is fantastic. For the visuals alone, this is a good cartoon but listening to the accents and funny voices of these two geniuses doing these characters makes elevates this from very good to excellent.
There should've been more films with Sam!
nnwahler30 July 2007
Warning: Spoilers
There's an infinite amount of comedy know-how and animation mastery that went into this film--much more than many viewers might think at first. But the way the situation's set up--Sylvester and Sam hogging the mouse to themselves (the mouse becoming an intangible character before long)--and the way they take turns winning or losing the battle. This is one of those Freleng classics where the director's latched onto the theory that two frustrated fall-guys are twice as much fun as one. The waterfront house is a deceptively simple set-up. Exemplary work from all three animators: Art Davis' rendering of most of the chase scenes; Virgil Ross' execution of the scene where Sam first gets caught (students of animation should stop-frame the part where Sylvester interrupts Sam's alibi with "GET IN THERE!!!!!"); and Gerry Chiniquy's flawless handling of the "legs-as-arms" scene, as well as his rendering of the escaped mouse singing "Moonlight Bay" while rowing off aboard the jug he was previously trapped in.
The best of Sylvester's appearances without Tweety
llltdesq15 August 2001
This short was nominated for an Oscar and deserved to be! There's not even a feather to be seen of a certain little yellow bird and the object of Sylvester's gastronomic desires is little more than a prop in this. The cartoon is stolen by Sam, another feline, who 1) is a "friend" of Sylvester's and 2) will not be a candidate under serious consideration for membership in MENSA in this lifetime. He's hilarious and makes the cartoon. Sylvester works best as a more or less secondary character, reacting rather than acting. This is his best outing without Tweety (although there are one or two with Porky that are close) and Cartoon Network runs this fairly frequently. Most recommended.
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