I'm Just Wild About Jerry (1965)

 

I'm Just Wild About Jerry is another spot gag cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. 

The storyline once again simply involves Tom chasing Jerry, this time in a department store. 

This film has its charms. A department store is a great setting for a Tom and Jerry cartoon. It allows for some great and very creative artwork. There are also some very charming moments such as the toy car having a face and walking slowly towards Jerry. However, despite this none of the gags hit as well here as they do in other Chuck Jones spot gag cartoons. I really didn't laugh once in this short and many of the gags seem to feel too long and drawn out to have any real punch. I also felt the last gag was too surreal and didn't really fit the characters of Tom and Jerry. 

The credited animators on this film are Dick Thompson, Ben Washam, Ken Harris and Don Towsley. Eugene Poddany gets a music credit. Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese share a writing credit. Maurice Noble is the co-director, and Philip DeGuard is the credited background artist. This is 139th Tom and Jerry cartoon overall. It is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Paws for a Holiday (also on VHS), Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6 and Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection as well as the VHS sets Tom and Jerry: Tom and Chérie and Tom and Jerry: Part Time Pals and the LaserDisc set, The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons. 

-Michael J. Ruhland 

Haunted Mouse (1965)

 

After Jim Pabian took directing duties for The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off (1965), Chuck Jones returns to the director's chair for Haunted Mouse. 

In this short film, Jerry is visited by his relative or friend (the film doesn't specify his relationship with Jerry), a mouse magician who looks just like Jerry. When Tom mistakes this magical powered mouse for Jerry, he finds himself in much more trouble than he bargained for. 

This is another short of this era that is more charming than funny. The magician mouse is a fun character and some of the tricks he plays on Tom are quite amusing. The storyline may be familiar, but it is charming. The background art and character animation are both excellent. I also really love the musical score, especially the jazzy little theme at the start. 

What hurts this film is the mixture of a slower pace with the typical short runtime. Because of this combination not much actually happens in this cartoon. There is a real lack of gags here and there is too much space between the gags that are here. The gags that are here are fun but there are too few of them for a Tom and Jerry cartoon.   

The Tom and Jerry Wiki refers to the magician mouse as Jerry's cousin Merlin Mouse. Neither this name nor him being Jerry's cousin are ever referred to in the cartoon, making me wonder where this so-called information comes from. This magician mouse would not appear in another Tom and Jerry cartoon, but he would appear in the Chinese mobile game, Tom and Jerry Chase.  

There would later be an episode of TV's The Tom and Jerry Show also titled Haunted Mouse (2014). In that episode (directed by Darrell Van Critters and written by Robert Zappia), Tom and Jerry are Sam Spade-esque private detectives, who are hired by Nibbles (or Tuffy if you prefer) to rid his house of a ghost. It turns out the ghost is just a rat named Melfred, who planned to scare Nibbles out of the house, so he and his family could move in. However, it turns out that Tuffy is a real ghost. 

There is also a Looney Tunes cartoon titled The Haunted Mouse (1941). In that short film (directed by Tex Avery), a ghost mouse torments a cat that finds himself in a ghost town. The Haunted Mouse marked the first time Michael Maltese would receive a writing credit on a Warner Brothers cartoon. Michael Maltese would of course go on to write for many of the Tom and Jerry shorts of the Chuck Jones era. That short film also marked the first Looney Tunes cartoon to star one-shot characters. Before that the Looney Tunes would always star a reoccurring character (first Bosko, then Buddy, then Porky Pig), while its sister series Merrie Melodies would feature quite a few one-off short. 

The credited animators for this Tom and Jerry cartoon are Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Don Towsley, Tom Ray and Dick Thompson. Chuck Jones and Jim Pabian share a story credit. Eugene Poddany has a music credit. Maurice Noble is credited as a co-director. The credited background artist is Philip DeGuard. Mel Blanc is credited for the vocal effects (there is no spoken dialogue in this film). This film is available on the DVD sets Tom and Jerry: Hijinks and Shrieks (also on VHS), Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6, Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection, Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures - Volume 2, Tom and Jerry: Tricks & Treats and Tom and Jerry's Magical Misadventures. It is also a bonus feature on the DVD for the direct to video movie, Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring (2001). The film is also available on the VHS set Tom & Jerry Volume 6 Much Ado About Mousing and the LaserDisc set The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons. 

The cartoon ends with the magician mouse making words come out of his hat. The words keep magically changing and spell out "The End" in various different languages. 

-Michael J. Ruhland

The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off (1965)

 

The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off marks the first Tom and Jerry cartoon to be produced by Chuck Jones but not directed by him. In Leonard Maltin's landmark book, Of Mice and Magic: A History of the American Animated Cartoon, Maltin states, "Jones' agreement with the studio brass enabled him to launch other projects for theaters and television. He handed directing assignments on Tom and Jerry to Abe Levitow, Ben Washam, Jim Paiban, and Tom Ray, freeing himself to work on two unusual shorts - The Dot and the Line and The Bear That Wasn't." I am glad he did as I love The Dot and the Line (1965). Easily Jones' most popular and endearing non-Tom and Jerry project for MGM was the TV special, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). For many, including myself, it doesn't feel like Christmas without watching that TV special.

  The director would on this short film would be Jim Pabian. Jim Pabian is a name that is less known than other Tom and Jerry directors. This is for an understandable reason as much of his work on classic cartoons was uncredited. A rare on-screen credit for him was on the feature length movie, Snoopy Come Home (1972). Though The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off was his first time directing a cartoon for MGM, he had previously worked at the studio as an animator on many of the cartoons of Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. He had previously worked with Harman and Ising on their Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for Warner Brothers, and he would even work on the one Silly Symphonies cartoon Harman and Ising made for Disney, Merbabies (1938). Jim Pabian was not the only Pabian working for Harman and Ising as his brother Ton Pabian also worked for them. Animation historian Devon Baxter noted, "One perplexing footnote in the annals of animation history concerns the Pabian brothers. Both James Anthony Pabian (born April 14, 1909) and Anthony Albert Pabian (born March 3, 1914) referred to themselves as 'Tony,' though James often adopted the name 'Jim.' According to Rudy Ising, the two brothers often traded their namesake on a regular basis at Harman-Ising." Because of this sometimes one brother would be credited on studio documentation where another brother actually animated. The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off marked Jim Pabian's only time directing a Tom and Jerry cartoon, though he would receive a story credit on the Chuck Jones directed Haunted Mouse (1965).    

Despite Chuck not directing this film, it still has a Coyote and Roadrunner feel to it. There is no real story here outside of Tom chasing Jerry. Rather the film is made up of various spot gags. The final gag involves Tom dressing up as a girl mouse to attract Jerry but instead he attracts a whole plethora of mice that won't leave him alone. This gag is very much borrowed from the ending of Chuck's Roadrunner cartoon, Ready.. Set.. Zoom! (1955). 

This is a fun but flawed little cartoon. Once again, the gags are charming rather than funny. Despite this some of them are very clever. I always loved the gags with Tom laying food in front of Jerry's mouse hole. Though borrowed from another cartoon, the ending gag is a very strong one. For the most part the animation is quite good here and the characters are their usual fun selves. 

However, there are three moments that fall flat, that have always kept me from enjoying this cartoon as much as I should. One is a gag involving a door that doesn't even make sense by cartoon standards. Another is that often Tom accidently gets a fish in his mouth, he immediately removes it. Tom has shown in previous cartoons that he likes to eat fish, so why would he do this, when his goal is to eat Jerry. The last is the most glaring visual error in the history of Tom and Jerry. Jerry's disguise in one scene very obviously disappears for a few frames. It is rare to find such an obvious error in a Tom and Jerry film and this makes it stand out all the more.  


The credited animators on this film are Tom Ray, Dick Thompson, Ben Washam, Ken Harris and Don Towsley. The credited background artist is Robert Gribbroek and the credited layout artist is Maurice Noble (who also receives a co-director credit). Chuck Jones and Jim Pabian both receive a story credit. Eugene Poddany has a music credit. The title of this film is a reference to Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov, which received a movie adaption in 1958. 

This film is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6 and Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection as well as the VHS set, Tom and Jerry: Blue Cat Blues and the LaserDisc set, The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons. This marks the 137th Tom and Jerry cartoon. 

Resources Used

Of Mice and Magic: A History of the American Animated Cartoon by Leonard Maltin

Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series by Russell Merrit and J.B. Kaufman. 

The Animated Movie Guide Edited by Jerry Beck.

https://tomandjerry.fandom.com/wiki/The_Brothers_Carry-Mouse-Off 

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/mgms-alias-st-nick-1935/

Bad Day at Cat Rock (1965)

 

Bad Day at Cat Rock marked the 136th Tom and Jerry cartoon overall and the 9th directed and produced by Chuck Jones. 

Like the previous couple of Tom and Jerry shorts, this film adheres to spot gag format similar to that of Chuck Jones' coyote and roadrunner cartoons. This time Tom is chasing Jerry on a construction site. The climax of this film features Tom using a beam on top of a rock as a see saw, planning to throw and a rock on the other end to get tossed into the air to catch Jerry, who is up high. He tries this multiple times each with varying (though equally unsuccessful) results. This climax has a similarity to how the coyote would attempt various times to use a catapult to capture the roadrunner in To Beep or Not to Beep (1963). 

This is one of Jones' best Tom and Jerry cartoons. The surreal opening gag is a bit of a misfire. That type of surreal gag may have worked in one of Chuck's one-shot cartoons for Warners but feels out of place in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Luckily everything after this works wonderfully. Even the opening credit scene is quite creative with Tom having fallen down the sewer and using a match to find his way back up. This opening credits scene has a great sense of atmosphere as well as some great background art. Once we get back to the construction site most of the gags work quite well. Though not all of them made me audibly laugh, I thought they were all clever and fun. A construction site is a great setting for a chase cartoon, and this film takes full advantage of that. The film also saves the best for last with a series of similar gags that all made me laugh. This cartoon also features one of Eugene Podday's best and memorable Tom and Jarry scores.   


The credited animators on this film are Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Don Towsley and Dick Thompson. Eugene Poddany receives a music credit. Phil DeGuard is the credited background artist. Mel Blanc receives credit for vocal effects (there is no spoken dialogue). The title of the cartoon is a reference to the movie, Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) starring Spencer Tracy and directed by John Sturges. The film is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6, Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection, Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures - Volume 3 and Tom and Jerry: Mouse Trouble as well as the Laserdisc set The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons and the VHS set, Tom and Jerry: Bad Day at Cat Rock. 

-Michael J. Ruhland

Tom-ic Energy (1965)

 

Like Ah, Sweet Mouse-Story of Life (1965), this Chuck Jones directed short film once again has a similar feel to Jones' earlier coyote and roadrunner cartoons. This is heavily due to most of the film featuring our two main characters running at great speed (employing character animation very similar to that of the aforementioned characters) and the film's spot gag structure. The main differences though are that the film takes place in an urban environment, Jerry actively fights back against Tom and other characters briefly become involved. 

Again, there is no real storyline here. The film is rather a collection of very spot gags that revolve around Tom chasing Jerry. We begin with the chase underway, and the chase is still underway when the film ends. 

This is a fun little cartoon. It may have never made me laugh out loud, but it did keep me entertained from start to finish. The cartoon moves at a very fast pace and keeps a fun momentum going throughout. Though the gags may not be hilarious, they do fall flat either. Instead, they are simply more charming than actually funny. But there is no problem with cartoons sometimes making you smile rather than laugh. In true Chuck Jones fashion, it is the facial expressions and character animation that are this film's greatest asset. Though again, these expressions and character animation may resemble the coyote and roadrunner, they are quite effective and endear these characters to us. The facial expressions also make even the most basic cartoon gags kind of work. 

One gag here recalls another series of cartoons that Chuck Jones directed. Tom finds himself mixed up in women's clothes and a male cat quickly becomes infatuated with him. The male cat has a French accent and speaks much like Pepe Le Pew (enhanced by both characters being voiced by Mel Blanc). 

Eugene Poddany's score incorporates themes from the classic piece, Paganini's Moto Perpetuo (Op. 11). 

The credited animators on this short are Ken Harris, Don Towsley, Tom Ray, Dick Thompson and Ben Washam. Philip DeGuard is the credited background artist. Maurice Noble receives a co-director credit and Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese credit for the story. This is the 135th Tom and Jerry cartoon overall and the 8th directed and produced by Chuck Jones. 

This film is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6 and Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection as well as the Laserdisc set, The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons and the VHS set, Tom and Jerry: Professor Tom.

-Michael J. Ruhland

 

Ah, Sweet Mouse-Story of Life (1965)

 

When Chuck Jones began making films with the Tom and Jerry characters, the characters often felt more like Chuck Jones characters than the characters that William Hanna and Joseph Barbera directed. This is very clear in Ah, Sweet Mouse-Story of Life. This cartoon feels more like one of Chuck's Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons than an earlier Tom and Jerry short. 

Like Chuck's Roadrunner cartoons, there is no real story here beyond just a series of spot gags involving Tom chasing Jerry.

This is one of the best Chuck Jones Tom and Jerry shorts. It moves at a very fast pace and never once loses its sense of comic momentum. There is also a surreal quality to many of the gags (one example is that Jerry gets angry and daggers appear above his head, which he throws at Tom) that is simply a lot of fun. A surprising number of these gags are legitimately funny as well. In previous Chuck Jones directed Tom and Jerry shorts, the gags were often more clever than funny. Here they manage to be both funny and clever. Once again, the star of the character is the character animation. Though the character animation often more resembles Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, it is still top notch and makes many of the pantomime gags even funnier.    


The credited animators on this film are Dick Thompson, Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Don Towsley and Tom Ray. Michael Maltese and Chuck Jones share a writing credit. Eugene Poddany receives a music credit. This is the 134th Tom and Jerry cartoon and the 7th Tom and Jerry short, produced and directed by Chuck Jones. This also marks the 1st Tom and Jerry film of 1965. It is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6,  Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection and Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures - Volume 3 as well as the Laserdisc set The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons and the VHS set Tom and Jerry: Blue Cat Blues, The cover for the VHS set is based off a scene in this cartoon. 

A clip from this cartoon was used in the feature length movie, Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) starring James Caan, Nicolas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker. The title for the cartoon was based off of a song called Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life from the 1910 operetta Naughty Marietta. That operetta is probably best known for its 1935 film adaption starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.

-Michael J. Ruhland

 

The Unshrinkable Jerry Mouse (1964)

 

The Unshrinkable Jerry Mouse marks the 6th Tom and Jerry film directed and produced by Chuck Jones and the 133rd Tom and Jerry short overall. It also marked the 5th and final Tom and Jerry film of 1964.

In his short film, Tom is living the life of Reily in his nice comfortable house and is treating Jerry as if he is a servant. However, Tom's happy life is upset when his owner adopts a new kitten. Tom decides to get rid of this new kitten. However, Jerry has befriended the new kitten and tries to stop Tom at every opportunity. 

Like previous Chuck Jones directed Tom and Jerry shorts, this film is more charming than it is funny. The storyline is quite a good one. It is a perfect fit for these characters, yet not one that has been overdone. The film moves at a fast pace and never loses your interest for a second. The kitten is a delightful supporting character as he is very cute without ever feeling cloying. Tom and Jerry are both their lovable selves here and the character animation is excellent. 

Despite this, the cartoon has the simple problem that it is not especially funny. The gags never made me even chuckle. Some of them even feel phoned in and too reminiscent of better gags from previous cartoons.  

The credited animators on this film are Don Towsley, Tom Ray. Dick Thompson, Ben Washam and Ken Harris. Maurice Noble gets a co-director's credit. The credited writers are Michael Maltese, Chuck Jones and John Dunn. Eugene Poddany gets a music credit. This film is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6, Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection and Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures - Volume 3 as well as the VHS sets, Tom and Jerry: Puss 'n' Toots and Tom and Jerry: Snowbody Loves Me as well as the Laserdisc set, The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons. 

-Michael J. Ruhland