Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.
'Claws in the Lease', as was said with 'Fish and Slips' from the previous year, is not one of Robert McKimson's best overall and there are better Sylvester and Junior cartoons. To me though, it is somewhere in the top middle of his later efforts. His late period saw some pretty weak cartoons (though nowhere near as bad-faring as the worst of Alex Lovy and Rudy Larriva), in what was in all fairness a patchy decade, particularly the latter part, generally for Looney Tunes. So seeing a cartoon that was pretty decent for that decade was pleasing.
Again, like 'Fish and Slips', which has the same strengths and faults on the whole, 'Claws in the League' is imperfect. The story is pretty simplistic and predictable and budget limitations and time constraints is sometimes evident in some roughness here and there in the animation. The second has a little more momentum and funnier material than the first half, due to the main plot properly kicking in.
There is a lot to enjoy though. The plot is fairly standard but has tremendous energy and enough freshness and amusement to keep one interested.
Gags are never less than amusing and lots of fun, the chemistry between Sylvester and the Hillbilly woman actually seeing some hilarious moments even, while the dialogue has a good amount of sharpness and wit. Have always liked Sylvester and Junior together, they are a funny pair and there is also heart to their relationship. That can be seen in 'Claws in the Lease' even if it has been stronger in their earlier cartoons.
Junior is amusing and avoids being too cutesy. The more interesting and funnier character is Sylvester, he takes the laughs to very funny effect and is suitably cunning but one roots for him too. The hillbilly woman steals the show though, her interaction with Sylvester is so much fun to watch and Nancy Wible seems to be having a ball voicing her.
While not perfect, the animation could have been so much worse considering the period. It is very colourful and there is fluidity and detail here, though there clearly wasn't the budget or time to be more imaginative or elaborate.
Bill Lava was no Milt Franklyn or especially Carl Stalling, but this is actually a pretty lively and appealing music score for him that doesn't sound cheap or discordant. He did far worse in the cartoons from 1965 onwards, especially for the Daffy and Speedy series and that for Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote.
Mel Blanc very rarely put a foot wrong, he was an unequalled master at giving individuality to more than one (often multiple) character, always sounded like he was having fun and never phoned it in when his material was weak. As ever he is outstanding and clearly was enjoying himself a lot, helped by that his dialogue allowed him to do so. Wible though is even better as said already.
In summary, pretty good. 7/10 Bethany Cox