The Cat That Hated People

Cartoon feature director Tex Avery exalted in a violently slapstick style which still resonates with viewers today. Anvils are often falling from the sky, with animals getting the brunt of his mayhem, and this cult quickie from 1948 is no exception. A put-upon black-and-white cat (looking like a wrung-out version of Sylvester and talking like a grumpy Jimmy Durante) hopes to find solace from people after hijacking a rocket ship and landing on the moon, but finds the inhabitants there even worse. This may be one of Avery's most famous animated shorts, as it takes an old-fashioned visual style and couples it with surreal nonsense (like a runaway pair of lips being chased by a lipstick!). Extremely brief, like most of Avery's output for M-G-M, but very memorable.