The Paramount cartoon 'Top Cat' (a one-off) is not related to Hanna-Barbera's animated series 'Top Cat' ... which, by the way, was shown here in Britain as 'Boss Cat', because Top Cat is the name of a UK brand of cat food. 'Top Cat' (this one) is an above-average offering from Paramount's animation studio Famous, better known for such dire offerings as Casper the Friendly Ghost and the post-Fleischer Popeyes.
The cartoon begins at the premiere of a big Hollywood movie, produced by big-shot producer J.B. Blockbuster of Blockbuster Pictures. (Didn't he go into video?) Blockbuster is about to announce the exciting new star of his new picture, but first he wants to tell us how he discovered this star. From this point the cartoon goes into flashback. We see some unfunny spot gags, in which Blockbuster attempts to 'discover' various nobodies, mostly attractive women who assume that Blockbuster is a masher and who repeatedly get him arrested. 'I was identified and released,' Blockbuster explains in his flashback's narration. He sends a team of talent scouts to Las Vegas to find a new star talent. The talent scouts come back with their clothes gone, wearing barrels.
Eventually, Blockbuster's hat gets blown off. When he runs to retrieve it, the hat is given back to him by a smooth-talking debonair cat, who assumed that Blockbuster is a pickle salesman ... because the style of his hat befits that trade.
SPOILERS COMING. So far, this has been a fairly routine cartoon, only vaguely funny and featuring sub-UPA animation. But now the cat launches into an elaborate song-and-dance routine: 'When you're wearing the right kind of hat, no one cares if you're skinny or fat. Let me tell you this, you can never miss...' and so forth. The cat sings in various accents ... and does imitations of famous hat-wearers, with an appropriate chapeau for each (including Winston Churchill in a bowler). This sequence is extremely entertaining: the music and lyric are excellent.
As soon as the cat finishes his song, Blockbuster picks him up and runs all the way back to Blockbuster Pictures, where he summons a think-tank called 'Names Unlimited'. These people peer at the cat from every angle, and then devise an appropriate name for him: Top Cat.
End of flashback. Now the movie is about to begin - it's called 'Top Cat', starring guess who - and Blockbuster assures us that it's sure to be a hit. There's a closing gag that isn't very funny, but the cartoon ends with Top Cat reprising that catchy song about hats.
This is an enjoyable toon, more enjoyable for coming from a studio that usually had such a low standard. 'Top Cat' looks more like the product of the UPA studio than Paramount's Famous, and I suspect that someone at Famous was striving for greater things. They almost made it with this one. I'll rate 'Top Cat' seven out of 10.
The cartoon begins at the premiere of a big Hollywood movie, produced by big-shot producer J.B. Blockbuster of Blockbuster Pictures. (Didn't he go into video?) Blockbuster is about to announce the exciting new star of his new picture, but first he wants to tell us how he discovered this star. From this point the cartoon goes into flashback. We see some unfunny spot gags, in which Blockbuster attempts to 'discover' various nobodies, mostly attractive women who assume that Blockbuster is a masher and who repeatedly get him arrested. 'I was identified and released,' Blockbuster explains in his flashback's narration. He sends a team of talent scouts to Las Vegas to find a new star talent. The talent scouts come back with their clothes gone, wearing barrels.
Eventually, Blockbuster's hat gets blown off. When he runs to retrieve it, the hat is given back to him by a smooth-talking debonair cat, who assumed that Blockbuster is a pickle salesman ... because the style of his hat befits that trade.
SPOILERS COMING. So far, this has been a fairly routine cartoon, only vaguely funny and featuring sub-UPA animation. But now the cat launches into an elaborate song-and-dance routine: 'When you're wearing the right kind of hat, no one cares if you're skinny or fat. Let me tell you this, you can never miss...' and so forth. The cat sings in various accents ... and does imitations of famous hat-wearers, with an appropriate chapeau for each (including Winston Churchill in a bowler). This sequence is extremely entertaining: the music and lyric are excellent.
As soon as the cat finishes his song, Blockbuster picks him up and runs all the way back to Blockbuster Pictures, where he summons a think-tank called 'Names Unlimited'. These people peer at the cat from every angle, and then devise an appropriate name for him: Top Cat.
End of flashback. Now the movie is about to begin - it's called 'Top Cat', starring guess who - and Blockbuster assures us that it's sure to be a hit. There's a closing gag that isn't very funny, but the cartoon ends with Top Cat reprising that catchy song about hats.
This is an enjoyable toon, more enjoyable for coming from a studio that usually had such a low standard. 'Top Cat' looks more like the product of the UPA studio than Paramount's Famous, and I suspect that someone at Famous was striving for greater things. They almost made it with this one. I'll rate 'Top Cat' seven out of 10.
