"Gimmee! Gimmee the can opener! Quick!"

This is it folks, the first Ken-Virgil-Art-Manny Friz picture: Canned Feud. Manuel Perez, better known as "Friz's whipping boy", was just dragged back from the McKimson unit with Warren Foster. Oh, and John Carey is here too. He was the rotating animator in 1951; in 1950 it was Emery Hawkins, in 1943 it was Phil Monroe.
While this cartoon is a sign of great things to come, but it's not too wonderful in itself. The antagonist in this cartoon, a mouse, is characterized as a cold heartless monster who torments Sylvester the cat without any real motivation. He does so by stealing his can opener. Can opener theft strikes a real nerve with me. I collect can openers as a hobby, and would be devastated if someone took any of them. Ah, but I digress. Sylvester has other reasons to be concerned: He's stranded for 2 weeks without food. It's a pretty bitter cartoon that isn't as funny as it could be, and I attribute that to Cal Howard. But all in all it's worth it, because Friz gets to move on into his age of complete perfection, with Ken-Virgil-Art-Manny cartoons written by Warren Foster. Here goes...



Animation breakdown:
0:36-1:53 Manuel Perez
1:54-2:12 Virgil Ross
2:13-2:26 John Carey
2:27-2:29 Virgil Ross
2:29-2:30 John Carey
2:31-2:57 Manny Perez
2:58-3:24 John Carey
3:25-3:34 Manny Perez
3:35-4:06 Ken Champin
4:08-4:19 John Carey
4:20-5:06 Virgil Ross
5:08-5:38 Arthur Davis
5:39-5:51 Ken Champin
5:52-6:27 Art Davis
6:28-6:57 Virgil Ross
6:58-7:13 Manny Perez

The scenes of Sylvester scrambling around and freaking out are by Manuel Perez, you can tell by the two-ply eyebrows and the dark eyes. Sometimes Manny draws characters with flat-looking faces; a good example lies at 2:47. Regardless of how much Friz chastised his work, Perez did really well as a fast action animator. He wasn't as wacky as Art Davis, but his scenes in this cartoon leave a lasting impression on the audience.
Virgil Ross makes beautiful work like he always does, but Sylvester's eyes appear to be drawn much smaller than usual in his scenes, and it isn't as appealing as his work usually is.
 Ken Champin's electricity sequence is probably the most appealing scene in the entire cartoon. When Gerry Chinniquy left, Ken Champin developed into a brilliant and versatile animator, succeeding at action and dialogue scenes. He draws Sylvester with spiky hair, and tilts his head allot. The face Sylvester makes at 5:50 is brilliant as well.
Not a whole lot I can say for Art Davis in this cartoon, other than his work is a bit off too, resembling animation from his directorship in the 40s, more so than his current standard. None the less, he convincingly depicts sheer terror when Sylvester gets sucked up the vacuum at 5:55. And the beating scene at 6:13 flows beautifully.
John Carey is a special guest on this cartoon, and he does some delightful work that is loose and expressive. Most notably the scene where Sylvester is rifling through silverware drawers, which is particularly fun to watch. The scene where he runs to get the axe features some excellent fluidity rarely seen in a Freleng cartoon.