Chuck Jones's 'Odor-able Kitty' is the cartoon that introduced Pepe Le Pew to the world… sort of. There are a few key differences between the Pepe we know and love (or hate, in the case of some people) and the character in this cartoon. For one, the disguised cat who Pepe amorously pursues in 'Odor-able Kitty' is distinctly male. Also, Pepe is exposed as a fraud whose real name is Henry at the cartoon's climax, his French accent dropping away when his wife and family turn up. Pepe is not even the lead character here, the focus favouring the put-upon cat who disguises himself as a skunk to scare off his enemies. For the most part, the storyline largely follows the usual format of a Pepe Le Pew cartoon but Pepe's aggressive courtship is lacking the usual wisecracks and straight to camera addresses that make him such a great character. He is also not nearly as handsome as he would become and rather awkwardly animated. In fact, 'Odor-able Kitty' is a fairly ugly and clumsy looking cartoon all round. Its main source of appeal comes from its concept which was original at this stage before it became the template for every Pepe Le Pew cartoon that followed. This subsequent development has robbed 'Odor-able Kitty' of any impact whatsoever and to modern viewers it just looks like a rather dull Pepe Le Pew short with a weird surprise ending. As a child, I hated Pepe Le Pew. As an adult, able to appreciate his more sophisticated, verbal and risqué humour, I love the character and most of his cartoons. 'Odor-able Kitty' makes me feel like a child again!

Written by Tedd Pierce and directed by Chuck Jones, "Odor-able Kitty" is the first Warner Bros. cartoon to feature a famous French skunk who is an irrepressible "ladies' man": Pepe Le Pew. But what an unusual Pepe Le Pew cartoon! (If you haven't yet seen this film, DON'T read any further.) In "Odor-able Kitty," Pepe chases after a MALE cat! No, Pepe is not a homosexual; he simply believes the male cat to be a female skunk. And then, at the end of this cartoon, it turns out that Pepe is not really Pepe at all! He is Henry, a Brooklyn skunk with a wife and two kids. Thankfully, in most of the later Pepe Le Pew cartoons, these little flaws are rectified as Pepe becomes a more fully developed character.Here are my favorite scenes from "Odor-able Kitty." When the male cat first disguises himself as a skunk (so that he would be left alone), he dares an old lady to swat him on the rear with a broom, but before she does, he has a smug expression on his face as his tail points toward his Limburger odor! Shortly afterward he walks into a meat shop, and after a brief pause, everyone screams and rushes out! Thanks to the brilliance of composer/orchestrator Carl Stalling, we hear a familiar sprightly violin theme as Pepe/Henry pounces after the cat; contrast that with some sluggish saxophones to indicate the cat's gradual slowing down in escaping from the amorous skunk. AND, in another moment of quirkiness, we see BUGS BUNNY (actually the cat in disguise) saying his "Eh, what's up, Doc?" catchphrase while we hear the Warner Bros. cartoon theme "Merrily We Roll Along." In addition to "Merrily We Roll Along," there are three other songs in "Odor-able Kitty" that I recognize, again attesting the brilliance of Carl Stalling. These three songs are "You're Just an Angel in Disguise" (a snippet of which is sung by the cat when he first disguises himself as a skunk), "Trade Winds" (heard while the cat rests contentedly, his belly full of delicious meat), and "It Had to Be You" (heard several times throughout this short, particularly during Pepe's/Henry's first appearance).

Fed up with being kicked from one house to another, and being bullied by dogs and shopkeepers, a cat decides the only way to get rid of others is to pretend to be a skunk. However when she does, she suddenly gets a great deal of unwanted attention from a certain amorous skunk.Although this film is not that original in terms of the main character, I still enjoyed it a great deal. The film looks like it will be about the cat but, when the cat says `I will paint myself like a skunk' you immediately know where this is going. From that point on it goes the usual way but still manages to be funny and a little bit fresher than it often can be. Jokes involving Bugs Bunny and the `real' Pepe are both a little different and funny enough to lift the usual chase material.Pepe is good despite him just doing his usual one trick routine. The cat is a better character than the usual cat that Pepe chases - this one has a bit of character and some good lines and actions.Overall, this film will annoy those who simply don't like Pepe but it is different enough to surprise those people who, like me, just find it hard to get past the fact that he usually only has one joke in him. This is not perfect but it is fresher and funnier than many of Pepe's films.

I've questioned the extent of the late, great, Mel Blanc's crazy character voices, and surely, this...well, I can't describe it--it's too incredible. Mel's voice for Pepe is reminiscent of Maurice Chevalier, for its boyish charm, or, to a lesser extent, Charles Boyer (though it SHOULD be noted that Pepe is only compared to Boyer because of personality, the unctuousness tone of voice, the heavily-lidded eyes, and the character name, Pepe Le Moko, from "Algiers"), which I think is a (if nothing else) perfect imitation.God, I have too much free time. I'm gonna stop now, since I have nothing to comment on this cartoon--**SPOILER**--except my favorite part was the ending where Pepe is actually a skunk named Henry with a horrible mid-Western(?) accent, a p***ed-off wife, and two smiling kids looking on as their soon-to-be bachelor father gets beaten by his wife with an umbrella.