Rebel Without Claws

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Rebel Without Claws
series = Looney Tunes
director = Friz Freleng
Hawley Pratt | animator = Gerry Chiniquy
Virgil Ross
Arthur Davis
| voice_actor = Mel Blanc
| musician = Milt Franklyn
producer = David H. DePatie
distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
release_date = December 2, 1961
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7 mins
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0055360

Rebel Without Claws is a "Looney Tunes" cartoon animated short starring Tweety and Sylvester. Released July 15, 1961, the cartoon is directed by Friz Freleng. The voices were performed by Mel Blanc.

The cartoon, one of a number of Warner Bros. cartoons set during the Civil War, is a play on the movie title "Rebel Without a Cause".

tory

Unlike several Warner Bros. cartoons set during the Civil War, "Rebel Without Claws" portrayed the Confederate States Army in a sympathetic light while casting a negative focus on the Union and its Army.

Here, the Confederates want to get an "important message" to General Robert E. Lee, but all the carrier pigeons have been shot down. The soldiers realize that Tweety is their last hope and turn to him for their mission. The Union soldiers learn of the Confederates' attempt and counter with their "Messenger Destroyer," who turns out to be none other than Sylvester. "I tawt I taw a damn Yankee tat," says Tweety just before the chase begins (see "Censorship").

The bulk of the cartoon uses battle gags, such as Sylvester gettting blown out of a cannon; Tweety momentarily tricking Sylvester into thinking Union soldiers are marching to battle (Sylvester tries to confront the canary but is blown away by Confederate soldiers); and Tweety hiding behind cannons on a fighter ship (Sylvester takes the brunt of more explosions).

Eventually, Sylvester disguises himself as General Lee and grabs Tweety. The bird is taken to the firing line for execution, but the commander and his soldiers prove incompetent — they shoot Sylvester instead! "It's a good thing pussy cats' got nine lives. With this kind of an army, I'll need them!"

Censorship

*The version of this cartoon that aired on the former WB! channel cuts out the "Damn" in the Confederate officer's line, "Damn Yankees!" and deletes Tweety's line, "I tawt I taw a damn Yankee tat!" when Sylvester (the "Messenger Destroyer") first appears.
*The version of this cartoon that aired on Cartoon Network, much like the WB version, also edits out the two uses of the word "damn". Unlike WB's version, Cartoon Network used a fake blackout after the Confederate officer gives his assistant the order to give the message to Robert E. Lee to the last remaining carrier bird to remove the officer's "Damn Yankees" line. Tweety's line, "I tawt I taw a damn Yankee tat" was changed to "I tawt I taw a Yankee tat" by way of an obvious cut in audio.
*The "Merrie Melodies Show" version of this cartoon left in both instances of the word "damn", but the scenes on the ship where Sylvester repeatedly gets blasted in the face by cannons were cut (these edited scenes, however, were shown in another episode of "The Merrie Melodies Show" as part of a segment called "Hip Clips," where a clip of a Warner Brothers cartoon is shown as filler between the second and the last cartoon of the episode).

uccession

References

* Friedwald, Will and Jerry Beck. "The Warner Brothers Cartoons." Scarecrow Press Inc., Metuchen, N.J., 1981. ISBN 0-8108-1396-3.

External links

*imdb title|0055360
* [http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/articles/tasarticle2.html Nuance and Suggestion in the Tweety and Sylvester Series] - Written by Kevin McCorry