The Year of the Mouse (1965)

 

Note: This review contains spoilers. 

The Year of the Mouse was a remake of a short film that Chuck Jones had made for Warner Brothers, Mouse Wreckers (1949). In that cartoon mice Hubie and Bertie find a nice house to live in but unfortunately for them a cat, Claude Cat to be exact, is already living there. They decide to make Claude feel like he is losing his mind to get the house to themselves. 

In The Year of the Mouse, Jerry and another mouse, decide (for no other reason than that they find it funny) to make Tom think he is going insane through a series of rather gruesome practical jokes. 

The main difference between this film and Mouse Wreckers is the ending. In Mouse Wreckers, Hubie and Bertie drive Claude to a mental breakdown and have the house to themselves. In Year of the Mouse Tom catches Jerry and his friend and put the two mice in trap. The mice are trapped in a bottle and can't pull the cork out of the bottle or the gun will go off. As this is one of those shorts (like The Two Mouseketeers (1952)) where Jerry is the clear antagonist. This makes Tom's victory over Jerry very satisfying.

 

This is a very well-made film. The character animation is excellent, especially in Tom's reactions to Jerry's practical jokes. Tom has really felt more relatable and sympathetic than he does here and how real the animation and expressions make him feel plays a major role in this. The humor is quite dark and violent but so over the top that it comes off as quite funny (even if we feel very sorry for Tom). The main reason this cartoon works so well is that the ending is so incredibly satisfying.  

This marks the 141st Tom and Jerry cartoon. The 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 sets, Tom and Jerry: Puss 'n' Toots and Tom and Jerry: Part Time Pals and the LaserDisc set, The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons. 

THe credited animators on this film are Dick Thompson, Ben Washam, Ken Harris and Don Towsley. Michael Maltese and Chuck Jones share a writing credit. The credited background artist is Philip DeGuard. Eugene Poddany gets a music credit. Mel Blanc and June Foray are credit for the voices in this cartoon (though there are no actual spoken words; the characters make vocal sounds). 


The Tom and Jerry Wiki gives the name of Jerry's friend as Nipper. The character only appeared in this one cartoon and is not named in it. The name "Nipper" however seems to have come from the mobile game, Tom and Jerry Chase. 

There would later be an episode of the streaming series Tom and Jerry in New York entitled Year of the Mouse (2021). That episode (directed by Darrell Van Citters and written by Robert F. Hughes) Tom chases Jerry through Chinatown during the Lunar New Year. Meanwhile Jerry falls for a beautiful female mouse. 

-Michael J. Ruhland



 

Of Feline Bondage (1965)

 

After the last few Tom and Jerry shorts were simply spot gag cartoons with little story, this film gives the cat and mouse more of a story than just a cat chasing a mouse. 

As this short film starts, Tom is getting the better of Jerry for once. However, seeing Jerry's plight, his fairy godmother appears and gives him a potion to turn invisible. Jerry uses this to get revenge on Tom. 

This is a decent cartoon. Like many of the Chuck Jones directed Tom and Jerry shorts, the highlight is the character animation. The best scene is easily Jerry interacting with the fairy godmother. Jerry's pantomime of his encounter with Tom is delightful and the evil smile (which resembles that of the Grinch in Chuck Jones' 1966 TV special) on both characters is the only really funny moment in the film. Unfortunately, as great as this scene works, the rest of the cartoon has a been there done that quality to it. Jerry has turned invisible before in The Invisible Mouse (1947) and The Vanishing Duck (1958). Unfortunately, both those films simply have better gags that are more creative, clever and funny than what we have here. Also, despite being the same length of most Tom and Jerry cartoons, this film feels too short and not enough actually happens. When the ending comes there is a feeling of "shouldn't there be more?" 

The credited animators on this film are Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Don Towsley, Tom Ray and Dick Thompson. The story is credited to Chuck Jones and Don Towsley. This is the only story credit for Don Towsley that I am aware of. Towsley was a former Disney animator having worked on many classic cartoon shorts as well as feature films like Pinocchio (1940) and Fantasia (1940). He would animate on many of the Chuck Jones Tom and Jerry shorts as well as How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). Towsley's television work included being on a director on such animated shows as Fraidy Cat, Wacky and Packy, The New Adventures of Gilligan, The New Adventures of Batman and The New Archie/Sabrina Hour. Eugene Poddany receives a music credit. Maurice Noble gets a co-director credit. The credited background artist is Robert Gribbroek. The credited voice artists are Mel Blanc and June Foray. This is the 140th Tom and Jerry theatrical short. 

The title of this cartoon is a reference to the 1915 novel Of Human Bondage, which had by this time already had three Hollywood feature film adaptions, one in 1934, one in 1946 and one in 1964. 

This film is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6, Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection, Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures - Volume 2 and Tom and Jerry's Magical Misadventures. It can also be seen on the LaserDisc set, The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons and the VHS set Tom and Jerry: Cat and Dupli-cat. The film is included as a bonus feature on the Blu-ray for the Elvis Presley movie, Harum Scarum (1965). 


-Michael J. Ruhland

I'm Just Wild About Jerry (1965)

 

I'm Just Wild About Jerry is another spot gag cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. 

The storyline once again simply involves Tom chasing Jerry, this time in a department store. 

This film has its charms. A department store is a great setting for a Tom and Jerry cartoon. It allows for some great and very creative artwork. There are also some very charming moments such as the toy car having a face and walking slowly towards Jerry. However, despite this none of the gags hit as well here as they do in other Chuck Jones spot gag cartoons. I really didn't laugh once in this short and many of the gags seem to feel too long and drawn out to have any real punch. I also felt the last gag was too surreal and didn't really fit the characters of Tom and Jerry. 

The credited animators on this film are Dick Thompson, Ben Washam, Ken Harris and Don Towsley. Eugene Poddany gets a music credit. Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese share a writing credit. Maurice Noble is the co-director, and Philip DeGuard is the credited background artist. This is 139th Tom and Jerry cartoon overall. It is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Paws for a Holiday (also on VHS), Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6 and Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection as well as the VHS sets Tom and Jerry: Tom and Chérie and Tom and Jerry: Part Time Pals and the LaserDisc set, The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons. 

-Michael J. Ruhland