Much Ado About Mousing (1964)

 

This short film marks the fourth Tom and Jerry cartoon to be directed and produced by Chuck Jones and the 131st Tom and Jerry cartoon overall. 

In this short film, Tom is going fishing. However, he is not fishing for fish but for mice. He baits his hook with cheese and sets it in front of Jerry's mouse hole. Jerry figures out that Tom means to eat him and finds refuge with a big sleeping dog. He keeps tricking Tom into accidently waking up the dog leading to the dog pummeling Tom. 

Like most of these Chuck Jones directed Tom and Jerry shorts, this cartoon is charming but not exactly funny. The look of this film is very handsome with some lovely backgrounds and character animation. The setting is not a usual one for our favorite cat and mouse duo. While the seaside pier setting had been used in a few previous cartoons and would be used in a few more afterwards, it is still one that was not used that often. It gives this short a nice, relaxed feel to the cartoon that is instantly charming. While reminiscent of Spike from the earlier Tom and Jerry shorts, the dog is a fun supporting character. He has a great design (though he looks more like a Looney Tunes character (his look seems inspired by the Looney Tunes characters Marc Anothny (whose films were directed by Chuck Jones) and Hector) than a Tom and Jerry character). The storyline may be familiar, but it is a fun one that moves at a fast pace. The character animation is as excellent as we have come to expect from Chuck Jones. There are many of the subtle facial expressions that are a trademark of Chuck Jones. These facial expressions are delightful and really bring the characters to life. The only real problem with this cartoon is that the gags aren't exactly funny. These is nothing bad about these gags, but they just don't elicit any actual laughter. 

The credited animators on this film are Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Don Towsley, Tom Ray and Dick Thompson. Michael Maltese is the credited writer. Maurice Noble gets a co-director credit. The backgrounds are credited to Philip DeGuard. Mel Blanc gets a credit for the voices though the characters don't speak any actual dialogue (they did make noises though). Eugene Poddany composed the music. 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 & Jerry Volume 6 Much Ado About Mousing. 

The Tom and Jerry Wiki states "This cartoon marks the first appearance of Tiny Bulldog, albeit in size similar to Spike Bulldog instead of miniature mouse-size." A dog with the same design expect much smaller in size would appear in The Cat's Me-Ouch (1965) and Purr-Chance To Dream (1967). I am guessing this name comes from his size in those shorts, though he did not receive a name in any of his cartoon appearances. The dog would also appear as a full size dog in Tom-ic Energy (1965). 

-Michael J. Ruhland