Sorry Safari (1962)

 

Sorry Safari marked the 11th out of 13 Tom and Jerry films directed by Gene Deitch and the 125th Tom and Jerry short overall. 

In this short film, Tom's owner (who is not Clint Clobber) takes Tom along with him on a hunting trip in Nairobi. However, Jerry sneaks along in the luggage and causes lots of trouble that Tom is blamed for. When a loin and an elephant get involved, our friends find themselves in quite a bit of danger. 

This is a very weak short. It starts with a decent little gag, admittedly one that is more charming than funny, with a regular lion roaring in the jungle rather than Leo the MGM lion. However, after this the rest of the cartoon is very lackluster. Despite taking Tom and Jerry into a new environment, this cartoon does nothing special with this new setting. The gags are all very typical chase cartoon gags and not especially funny ones at that. What hurts these gags the most though is that they come off as meanspirited thanks to Tom's owner. Why this guy owns a cat is beyond me as he seems to hate Tom with a passion. While we are always supposed to feel a certain sympathy towards Tom, we are never supposed to feel this uncomfortable when he is the brunt of slapstick gags. However, with how overly cruel and violent his own owner is with him the slapstick gags come off as simply unpleasant to watch. This cartoon is also hurt by the same flaws that are found in all these Gene Deitch Tom and Jerry shorts. The sound effects are rather annoying and often distract from the gags instead of adding to them. There are some rather poor drawings of Tom and Jerry (but especially Tom). The designs of various jungle animals would feel at home in a European art film but feel at odds in a short of all American slapstick. 

Credit where credit is due, the background art is quite pleasing, and the musical score is better than in other Tom and Jerry shorts of this era. 

The credited writer on this film is Larz Bourne. Štěpán Koníczek receives a music credit. Wáclaw Bedřicz is credited as animation director. Luckily this marked the last appearance of Tom's constantly angry owner who only appeared in these Gene Deitch cartoons. This film is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 5 and Tom and Jerry: The Gene Deitch Collection. 

Box Office, 1962

-Michael J. Ruhland