I Only Have Eyes for You (1937) User Reviews

Mel Blanc was just around the corner

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 10 July 2007]

"I Only Have Eyes for You" in one sense seems like a relic of the days when the Warner Bros. cartoons were just breaking out of the Disney mold but hadn't yet gotten all the way. It portrays an iceman having the hots for a woman who only likes crooners, so he hires a professional imitator to sing like them while the iceman can pretend to sing. Sure enough, the whole plan eventually blows up in their faces. If anything, the iceman was asking for it, given that he was using the imitator as a mere means (that is, using someone so as only to benefit oneself).

I notice that one of the voice artists is Joe Dougherty, who provided Porky Pig's voice before Mel Blanc (and one can hear a Porky-style stutter in the iceman's voice). Mel of course joined the animation studio not long after this, and I would say that his arrival cemented their break away from the Disney mold.

Worth seeing, if only once.

Canary crooners

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 17 May 2018]

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.

Tex Avery was one of the greatest and most influential animation directors there ever was, with a unique visual and humour style and his best work saw some ahead of its time content. 'I Only Have Eyes for You' is not one of his best efforts, it's worth watching, it's well made and it's far from bad, but it is not demonstrative of what made him so great and influential. His work here is competent but it is pretty tame by Avery standards.

'I Only Have Eyes for You's' story is nothing special and pretty flimsy, basically it's a caricature crooner cartoon with birds. The cartoon is amusing enough, but there is little hilarious or imaginative.

However, the animation ranges from good to excellent. It's fluid in movement, vibrant in colour and very meticulous in detail. Most of the pace is lively and the content is charming, amusing and well-timed if with not quite enough to go the extra mile.

Carl Stalling's music is typically superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it. The pre-existing music is catchy and put to inspired use. The characters are likeable and their personalities work well individually and together. The voice acting is solid.

Summing up, well worth watching if not a masterpiece. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Would LOVE to have DVD IF Available!

[petersgrgm · 10/10 · 6 April 2006]

Yes, I do enjoy I Only Have Eyes for You. In 1937, with more homes coming within reach of electricity, icemen were on their way out. The spinster bird whom he visited offered goodies but he declined, so he proceeded to the home of Katie Canary, whom he adored. She loved only radio crooners like Bing Crosby, and had the radio on, listening to him sing, "Let It Be Me". So, the iceman came upon Professor Mockingbird, professional imitator. He did several imitations, including the one that I most fondly remember, pretending to play "Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet" on calliope. Then he began to croon "I Only Have Eyes For You", and rode in back of ice truck, to fool Katie Canary, but caught cold so it all backfired. The radio was removed, and an electric refrigerator put in its place, so the iceman would not come to THAT house any more, and his girlfriend got this counterfeit crooner! He wound up marrying the unattractive spinster, enjoying her wonderful cooking.

One Crooner Toon with an all bird cast.

[stephen0684 · 8/10 · 17 October 2005]

In this film, the lead male bird is an iceman and first stop is at an female bird's home. While she isn't good looking, she still wants him as an husband. Anyway, after an brief chase, he stops at his girlfriend's home and sees her next to the radio listening to Bing Crosby. Katie tells him that she only has eyes for an radio crooner. Felling hurt, he sees the answer to his problem: Professor Mockingbird an imitator. After the professor present his act, the "hero" hires him to sing for Katie. Although she only sees him, we know that it was just Professor Mockingbird in the back of the truck singing. At first it went well, till the professor caught an cold and it all backfire. Later, Katie trades the radio for the professor and an refrigerator. As for the hero, he ends up back to the other bird who asked for ice in the first place. Believe it or not, they got married or at least, we assume they did. Anyway, it wasn't bad but Tex Avery did better later on still though I recommend it for the crooner toon fans but overall, it was good.

Final score: an 8 out of 10.

"Cake, pie, a cup of coffee and a Donut . . . "

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 22 December 2016]

" . . . ham and eggs, hot cakes, an ice cream soda, watermelon, hot biscuits, cornbread, sweet favors, and a roast turkey" are the necessary enticements for Widow Yoo Hoo to Make the Iceman Cometh into her Murphy Bed during this 1930s Warner Bros.' animated short, I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU. While Ms. Yoo Hoo is a bit long in the tooth, her stuttering iceman with a prominent over-bite is no Spring Chicken himself. Though the iceman has a crush on an attractive Airhead blonde along his delivery route, the latter chick has set her cap for someone who can warble like a radio crooner, and eventually Professor Mockingbird fills her bill. Though most of Warner's shorts warn 21st Century America about its upcoming Calamities, Catastrophes, Cataclysms, and Apocalypti, I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU is one of the few delivering the sort of personal message one might find in their horoscope. EYES is a Private Message to the "Yankee Clipper," Joe Dimaggio, to beware of that wife-stealing egghead playwright Arthur Miller. Unfortunately, "Say it ain't so, Joe" was a deaf to Warner's Cassandra-like caution regarding his spouse, actress Marilyn Monroe (who dumped Joe for Art), as were we Future People of the 21st Century to Warner's hundreds of warnings against White House Resident-Elect Rump.

Nice songs and weird ending

[cartoonnewsCP · 9/10 · 22 June 2016]

Well another one bites the dust.

I Only Have Eyes for you is a 1937 Merrie Melodies directed by Tex Avery. It is about a iceman bird who is in love with another bird named Katie. The male iceman though has someone who adores him but he does not adore her back. The cartoon was reissued on 3/22/45 with a big WB shield, one in 3 to credit A WARNER BROS. CARTOON and one of the first to have that credit. As such the original closing was scrapped out but the original ending cue retains.

The iceman decides to hire professor mockingbird to impersonate the crooner for Katie. Katie loves his voice but little did she know it was the professor until the professor froze inside the truck. she married the professor but the iceman went back to the lady who wanted him saying he likes her cooking at least.

9/10 a classic