Very well executed

Truly Dreadful Film

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

. . . but that's nothing compared to the bathos that ensues when swallows sweat. The fat cat in Warner Bros. animated short SWALLOW THE LEADER has no sense of Situational Awareness, not unlike the avian-coiffed Fat Cat writing his Inaugural Address in New York City this very minute. But the Cartoonish feckless feline takes little note as his targeted swallow begins sweating up a storm, just as the Trumpster is unlikely to notice his U.S. Secret Service detail retreating to a safe perimeter distance some day soon. Warner's Pampered Puss is assaulted by a Jack-in-the-Box, magnet, bell, pile-driver, see-saw, dive bombers, tacks, light bulbs, and alcohol. Trump's First Lady of the Month Club is bound to put a centerfold picture into the Congressional Quarterly for the first time ever as soon as impeachment hearings commence. Hopefully, one of the Temps replacing Michelle Obama will be able to carry a tune, such as "Don't Cry For Me, I'm Just Between A--." Or, as Looney Tunes teach us, when the Fat Cat jet-sets away, we people poor as church mice must pay.

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.

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.

Do the swallows still come back to the mission at San Juan Capistrano? I would presume. Anyway, that's the setup for this cartoon in which an unnamed cat awaits these birds' arrival on March 19th of each year.He has "no vacancy: and similar signs at every nest in sight with a trap set up in one available nest. Like Wile E. Coyote, however, you just know this cat is not going to eat that first of the beautiful birds and you know he is going to take some beatings attempting to do so. Man, does he ever take beatings, especially when it looks like the cat finally prevailed and the rest of the flock - thousands of them - gang up and dive-bomb this feline. It's pretty brutal stuff in some scenes, like the punishment poor Tom got in the Tom and Jerry cartoons, but it's entertaining.The cat looks a lot like Sylvester but slightly different, almost a Dr. Suess "cat in the hat" look to him.