Load of rubbish!!

Disappointment for a huge fan!

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

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.

"Chow Hound" is a 7-minute cartoon from 1951, so this one had its 55th anniversary last year and as a Warner Bros work, it once again unites some of the best in the business back then like Jones, Maltese, Benederet and Blanc of course. In this little movie we may not have any of the company's biggest cartoon stars, but a dog, a cat and a mouse fill in nicely. Cats usually don't have it easy in these old cartoons (just look at Tom and Sylvester) and this one is no better for the feline protagonist. A hunky dog pushes him around collecting food and when the people say the cat is missing, then the dog acts like a savior and collects even more food while still finding a way to take the kitty with him again. But eventually and not unsurprisingly, the cat and mouse have the last laugh as the dog's greed eventually destroys him. It was a good and entertaining seven minutes here. Definitely worth seeing if you like old cartoons. It may not have had any really great moments, but I enjoyed it enough for a thumbs-up. Go check it out.

. . . emanates from America's top whistle-blowing outfit of All-Time, Warner Bros.' Animated Shorts Division of the mid-1900s. Warner's Watchdogs focus on a gluttonous bulldog who's a Total Trumpster in CHOW HOUND. This voracious gangster forces a red cat to work at least four jobs for little or no pay (putting at least three felines out of work). It's small wonder that consumers of this behind-the-scene manipulator's offerings are deprived of more than 75% of the services for which they've contracted. (In the case of the Municipal Zoo, the bulldog is defrauding it entirely with his knock-off goods.) This Fat Cat Bulldog also enslaves and demeans a small rodent in his rapacious plot to gorge himself with enough food to maintain the population of a fully-stocked kennel. Taking a Prophetic Page from Trumpenstein's Playbook, the insatiable bulldog begins bouncing out bogus contracts in quadruplicate, accumulating enough ill-gotten Moolah to buy his Own Private Butcher Shop. After biting off more than he can chew, the Trumpish Bulldog's Gravy Train finally derails, indicating that there's hope for America yet, if we all hang together like CHOW HOUND's red cat and abused mouse.

Chuck Jones's 'Chow Hound' is a legendary cult classic, renowned for its extremely dark plot (from a beautiful script by Michael Maltese). It would make a great double bill with Jones's equally dark 'Fresh Airedale' since both cartoons feature villainous dogs mercilessly exploiting innocent cats. The main difference is that in 'Chow Hound' the villain actually gets his comeuppance in a gruesomely unforgettable final twist. To say too much more about 'Chow Hound's' plot would be to spoil it but special mention must go to the exceptional characterisation that Jones teases out of even the most minor of players. All three of the cat's unwitting shared owners are brilliantly rendered without the audience ever seeing their faces, a little mouse steals every scene he appears in and the villainous dog is a truly despicable and genuinely threatening presence. 'Chow Hound' is thoroughly deserving of its cult status and will remain in any viewers mind long after the chilling iris out.

As a boy, every kid in the neighborhood was repeating the "No Gravy?" line. This Chuck Jones at his edgiest. The ending is truly (and deservedly) sadistic. Amazing, that this cartoon couldn't be made today. Now lets hope Warner Bros. releases it on DVD. This is one of those one-off gems that don't make there own collection. To a child, the dog represented everyone who tells you what to do, orders you about, and generally makes life hell. Interesting that the dog, cat, and mouse, behave much like an abusive Father, repressed Mother, and abused child, but that's probably reading too much into it. When the dog receives his gravy, which he has "hounded" the cat & mouse about for the entire cartoon, it is divine justice in the 1951 sense.