Working my way through the highest ranked 40s shorts brought me to this little gem from Freleng. His work never seems to get the acclaim of Chuck Jones, I think he is (very slightly) less inspired on the animation front, although it is still a work of beauty, his work comes across as a little less ambitious.

But god the gag rate, and gag quality, and commitment to the gag over character so that stock Bugs stuff doesn't dominate and the gags can come from every source.

so very good.

There are horror films that make me feel really bad for bypassing the genre for most of my film watching life and there are horror films that reconfirm why I have done so. This was kind of both, but more the second one. Just that bit too much for me.

I will watch these 100 films in 2018 #39/100
letterboxd.com/owene73/list/i-will-watch-these-100-films-in-2018/

I guess I'm just going to watch this every few years for the rest of my life and keep finding different things to enjoy in it. This time it was finding Leiutenant Doyle more hilarious than usual and admiring everything Kelly brought to it.

Oh and the construction, the way the events in the other apartments are used to divert Stewart (and of course us) at key moments or to have him on the phone about lonelyhearts so he can talk straight to the police, a perfectly plotted movie.

But everything else was great too, is there a film Thelma Ritter doesn't elevate?