Swallow the Leader (1949)

Wonderful Movie

Such a frustrating disappointment

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Robert McKimson's 'Swallow the Leader' is a wonderful cartoon which achieves most of its appeal through some gorgeous brightly coloured layouts and a fresh setup. A hungry cat eagerly awaits the arrival of a flock of migrating swallows. What follows is essentially a spot-gag cartoon in the Road Runner tradition but it is so gorgeous to look at that even the most predictable of jokes is glorious to take in. The whole thing builds up to a fantastic finale in which the birds attack the cat en masse, which showcases McKimson at his best. From its clever double-pun title to its uplifting brightness, 'Swallow the Leader' is a joy to behold and while I am sure there are many who consider it a run-of-the-mill spot-gag cartoon, I have a special place in my heart for this lovely visual feast.

"Swallow the Leader" is a fairly unique Warner Bros. cartoon directed by Bob McKimson. The popular song "When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano" can be heard throughout this short, and the screenwriter - Warren Foster - decided to make a joke out of it. It so happens that every year the beautiful blue swallows fly back to California, taking up residence at the Mission of San Juan Capistrano, where a hungry bow-tied cat awaits them. As cute as these swallows are, they are way too clever to get themselves devoured by the cunning feline.Highlights: The cat mistakenly eats a magnetic bird, after which a horseshoe magnet gets the better of him as he travels - rear end first - up some stairs, through a birdbath, up a ladder, across a rooftop with Spanish tiles, and, eventually, onto a seesaw, where a swallow drops some heavy boulders, causing the cat to repeatedly soar in the air and whack a bell with his head. After the cat finally traps a swallow onto some flypaper, he suddenly gets attacked by hordes and hordes of other swallows acting as fighter jets, complete with an arsenal of tacks and light bulbs.The plot of "Swallow the Leader" might be somewhat off-kilter, but it is still a fun cartoon to watch. Although he is not exactly the more famous slobbering cat Sylvester, the cat in this particular cartoon might just as well be, not only because he physically resembles Sylvester but also because he's a hapless fall guy, failing in every attempt to capture even one juicy little swallow.

In basically any cartoon where a cat attempts to eat birds, it's pretty much a guarantee that the birds will give the cat hell. And Robert McKimson's "Swallow the Leader" gives the feline star (he looks like a slightly fatter version of Sylvester) some real hell! Awaiting the return of swallows to San Juan Capistrano, the head swallow makes mincemeat of him...so guess what the whole gang does! What I think would have been neat would have been if they'd set this cartoon in San Juan Bautista. You may recognize the latter as the place in Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo". I try to imagine the cat doing what Kim Novak's character does (though for the record, there isn't actually a bell tower in San Juan Bautista).But that's beside the point. Contrary to McKimson's detractors, he had some good ideas for cartoons. Like Friz Freleng, he just used material that he considered funny (Chuck Jones went for the intellectual stuff). Worth seeing.

This short is reasonably entertaining and the cat in this one (if I'm not mistaken) is the same one featured in Early To Bet. He needs a good medical plan or he needs to retire, because he's singularly unlucky. Because I want to discuss some of the details, this is a spoiler warning: You have a situation which you think would be ideal for a cat-the swallows are returning to San Juan Capistrano-Meals on Wings, as it were. But even with the assistance of radar, this cat hasn't got a prayer-one bird beats him at almost every turn. Instead of dining on a swallow, this poor soul gets a jack-in-the-box and a painted metal figurine, with disastrous and painful consequences (for the cat-for the bird and the audience, it's hysterical).Even when he finally manages to trap the swallow on a piece of flypaper, he still can't catch a break, because then all the other swallows show up to save the first one and bomb the cat with light bulbs and tacks before they pick him up and carry him up to drop him from on high. So he turns to drinking instead.This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and is well worth watching. It and the Collection are recommended.