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/
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