Shutter Bugged Cat marks the last and least of the theatrical Tom and Jerry cheater cartoons. As a refresher this means a cartoon that uses clips from previous films in it. The previous clips here come from the shorts Part Time Pal (1947), The Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943), Nit-Witty Kitty (1951), Johann Mouse (1953), Heavenly Puss (1949) and Designs on Jerry (1955).
In this short film, Tom rewatches filmed footage of his previous attempts to catch Jerry in hopes that he can learn from his mistakes.
This is one of the all-time worst Tom and Jerry cartoons. One of the major problems with this film is simply how the clips from the previous Tom and Jerry shorts are presented. The format features Tom rewinding and fast-forwarding the footage he is watching. This completely ruins the pacing and the effect of these clips. Seeing Tom play back these clips simply take its audience out of the film. It doesn't help that the clips themselves are hardly the highlights from the older cartoons. This film also suffers from one of the main flaws of Matinee Mouse (1966). That is that Tom and Jerry's designs around this era are quite different from how they looked in the 1940's and 50's. Because of this the transitions between the new footage and the old footage are quite jarring. Worse yet the wrap around story borrows heavily from the much better Designs on Jerry. This is one of the lowest points of the cat and mouse duo's filmography.
Due to the amount of footage used from the Hanna and Barbera directed Tom and Jerry films, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera receive directors' credits. Tom Ray also receives credit for directing the new scenes. Bob Ogle receives a story credit. The credited animators are Irven Spence, George Gordon, Ed Barge, Pete Burness, Kenneth Muse, Lewis Marshall and Ray Patterson. These are all animators who worked on the Hanna and Barbera era of Tom and Jerry. It is worth noting though that Lewis Marshall did not work on any of the cartoons from which were used in the clips. This marked the 159th Tom and Jerry cartoon.
This film appears on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6, Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection and Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures - Volume 3 as well as the Laserdisc set, The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons.
This cartoon is featured in the Toon in With Me episodes, Fan-Tastic Friday #2 (2021), Toony Thinks This Is a Rerun (2022) and Picture Day (2023).
-Michael J. Ruhland
