The Duck Doctor (1952)

 

This short film is a rarity in Tom and Jerry's filmography. That is because Tom and Jerry don't actually interact with each other in this film. This would only happen in one other cartoon, Tom and Chérie (1955). In The Duck Doctor, instead of interacting with each other they interact with Quacker the duck. There has been debate about whether this is Quacker or not because he is colored differently than he is in all his other appearances. However, since he has the same voice (provided by Red Coffey) and personality, I consider him the same character. His design here though is close to the duck from the Tex Avery MGM cartoon, Lucky Ducky (1948). 

In this short film, Tom decides to go duck hunting. Tom ends up shooting one of Quacker's wings. However the duck gets away from Tom and finds Jerry. Jerry helps patch up the duck's wing and tries to help protect him from Tom as he tries to join up with his family. 

This may not be one of my favorite Tom and Jerry cartoons. However, that is more a matter of preference than a comment on the quality of this cartoon. I personally prefer to watch Tom and Jerry fight each other rather than turning the focus over to the supporting characters. 

Still, I must admit that this is an excellent cartoon and probably the second-best cartoon with Quacker the duck (That's My Mommy (1955) is the best). Much of the reason for this is simply that the gags are often very funny. This is especially true of the gags involving the anvil. Anvils are pretty much a cartoon cliché by this point with how many gags involving them have been done over the years. However, the anvil gags here are so good that they still manage to stand out. The character animation of Tom towards the second anvil gag is simply wonderful making a simple joke truly fantastic. I also really enjoy the outdoor farm setting for much of this film. It allowed for some great background art and helped the short stand out. The moments between Jerry and Quacker are quite effective in their cuteness. The ending moment of this film is not really funny, but it is simply adorable. 

The credited animators on this film were Irven Spence, Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse and Ray Patterson. This was the 64th Tom and Jerry short. 

Below is the movie poster for this film, which admittedly looks better than most of the Tom and Jerry posters. Although the coloring of Quacker is all wrong.