After the departure from the already set in place formula with the previous short, this film returns Tom and Jerry back to what they are best known for. This is of course beating each other up in violently over the top ways. This film places the action on the golf course. Tom is having a rough day of golf as he is swinging at the ball and continuously missing it and getting more and more frustrated at this (this scene was animated by Irv Spence and historian Devon Baxter has observed that perhaps this is autobiographical as Irv Spence loved golf and in his self-caricatures often depicted himself getting very frustrated when he played poorly). After many shots he finally gets the ball in the hole, only to find it being thrown out. Tom soon finds out that this happened because Jerry is living in the hole. Tom being the poor sport he is does not take kindly to this and gets his revenge by using Jerry as a golf tee. Jerry gets tired of this, and a big golf course fight occurs between the two.
This cartoon shows Tom and Jerry at their best. Every gag simply works perfectly. In fact, the film is funny before our main characters even show up. The short opens with a pan of a golf course that has been completely mangled by Tom's incompetence at the sport. As soon as we see Tom on screen, we already are laughing because we have all had days like this (even if we don't play golf). The film only gets funnier when Jerry appears. Often times in these shorts we find ourselves rooting for either Tom or Jerry, but here, we sympathize and relate to both of them. We have all had bad days like Tom and when someone makes our day even worse, we all want to react exactly like Tom does. On the other hand, we all would want to react like Jerry if someone did to us what Tom does to him. This relatability makes this film all the funnier. It doesn't hurt that not only are the gags and set up well done, but the execution is darn near perfect. William Hanna has by this time become a true master of timing and though this is a fast-moving cartoon, the timing never feels off even for one gag. The sheer energy of the timing is matched by Scott Bradley's wonderfully energetic and fun score. The animation is simply wonderful here. Every bit of animation perfectly captures what these characters are thinking at any given moment in this dialogue-less short. The animation is also completely over the top and the loudest laughs come not for the violence but from the pure cartoony-ness of their reactions to said violence.
It is no secret that by the time this film was made each of the Tom and Jerry animators have really come into their own. I have already mentioned Irv Spence's wonderful animation of the opening scene. It is simply wonderful how perfect the transition from pure anger to sheer joy when he finally hits the ball. Ken Muse accomplishes the exact reverse in the following scene when Tom has a sheer look of pride on his face as the ball is about to go into the hole. This transitions to look of shock as the ball comes out of the hole to a look of determination as he tries to get it back in there to a look for sheer anger when the ball comes out of the hole again. This is simply character animation at its finest. Ken Muse gets to continue his fine character animation as well as some good cartoon-y gags as Tom and Jerry first meet. His animation of Jerry after being hit by the ball, sells the joke perfectly. Pete Burness then takes the animation over as Tom uses Jerry as a tee and washes him in the ball cleaner. What is interesting about these scenes is that there is a bit where Tom hits the ball and it comes back at him. The parts involving Tom and Jerry are animated by Burness while the ball flying and hitting the rock is animated by Al Grandmain. The animation goes directly back to Burness when we cut back to Tom. Ray Patterson gets one of the best moments of character animation here. After animating Tom's fight with a woodpecker and him hitting the ball after it goes on Jerry's head, he animates a great little bit where Tom cheats by pushing the ball and Jerry into the hole and then writes down his score. Before Tom pushes the ball and Jerry into the hole, he takes a long look around to make sure that no one is watching him. As he pushes Jerry into the hole he has a look of nonchalant innocence of child thinking he has gotten away with something. He keeps this look on his face for a little bit after wards before it turns into a look of sheer happiness when he is about to write his score down, this soon turns into a commentative look of him taking some time to think with about what score to give himself. As soon as he decides what score to give himself a look of pride goes on his face. When Jerry shames Tom for cheating the cat has a look of a little kid who has just been caught being bad. In this short time, Ray Patterson, through his animation, perfectly captures just who Tom is and what his personality is. One of my favorite moments in this cartoon is the gag sequence involving the bees. What makes this moment so funny is not the gag itself which is regular cartoon stuff, but the final moment with the very cartoon-y and over the top reaction by Tom, animated perfectly by Ken Muse.
This film is about as good as a slapstick cartoon can get.
Resources Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/tom-jerry-in-tee-for-two-1945/
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