Jump to content

A Mouse in the House

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 2600:1010:b010:f91b:282c:bfde:7525:1404 (talk) at 16:06, 31 August 2016. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

A Mouse in the House
File:AMouseInTheHouse.JPG
A Mouse in the House title card
Directed byWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Animation byKenneth Muse>
Ed Barge
Richard Bickenbach
Don Patterson
Color processTechnicolor
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn Mayer
Running time
8:00

A Mouse in the House is a 1947 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 32nd Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. It was animated by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Don Patterson and Richard Bickenbach, with additional animation by Michael Lah (uncredited), and was released to theatres on August 30, 1947. The title of this cartoon is an appropriate play on "a guest in the house."

Plot

Mammy Two Shoes stumbles upon entering the kitchen, which has been ransacked by Jerry, and berates the residents of the house, Tom and Butch. She warns them that the one who catches Jerry can stay, but the other will be kicked out (" yelling Cause I ain't There's a mouse in the house and there's two cats. But there's only gonna be one cat in this house in the morning -- and that's the cat that catches the mouse. Now get going!") The two cats frantically search for Jerry, eventually realizing they were both unsuspectingly aided by him. They scramble to catch the mouse, but become tangled. They tiptoe across the floor until Jerry hits one of their feet (Butch) with a log.

Tom and Butch then grab Jerry together and decide to have a gun duel. Tom turns around early and shoots Butch, but finds out he has a novelty gun, allowing Butch to chase Tom into the wall. Tom sees the same brand name on it and assumes it is another novelty gun, but Butch shoots, with Tom barely dodging the bullet. Jerry then enters an oven. Tom and Butch slam the door and turn on the gas, but Jerry sneaks out, lights a match and drops it in the oven, which explodes when Tom and Butch open it.

Jerry is then caught by both cats simultaneously. Jerry squeezes out, but is grabbed by Butch. Tom grabs his tail as he flees and after Tom bops Butch on the head, Butch slips the mouse into a box before continuing the fight. Jerry escapes and rings a gong, ending the fight momentarily, and coaches Tom and Butch to hit each other. After Jerry rings the gong, both cats realise they have been tricked and glance towards Jerry. Realising he is trapped, the mouse chooses Butch via Eeny Meeny Mine Mo and sits down in his hand.

Tom slumps down and walks away, but hides behind a curtain, grabbing Jerry out of Butch's hand. Butch turns the corner to find only Tom, who is sitting on Jerry, but Jerry gives him away by lifting the cat up. Butch dumps Tom into a trash can and chases Jerry, but Tom runs into the kitchen and dresses himself up as Mammy to trick Butch. Butch offers Jerry to Tom, thinking he is Mammy, but Tom wallops Butch over the head with a frying pan. Butch then does the same thing in the living room, Tom falls for the same trick, getting walloped over the head with a coal shovel. Butch runs off with Jerry, but gets clotheslined by an ironing board and knocks himself out, allowing Jerry to escape. Both cats pick up the weapons they were knocked out by and chase after the mouse. Mammy then decides to check on the cats progress.

Eventually, we see Tom, seeing Mammy coming down the stairs, believes it to be a trap again and hides behind the stairs, saying "I think I'd better go peek in on them two cats." with Butch doing the same on the other side. As Mammy peeks through, the two cats hit her repeatedly on the posterior, thinking that she is the other cat in disguise. Naturally, Mammy screams blue murder in agony. Tom and Butch, confused, look at each other and under her dress. Realising they are toast, they then attempt to flee, but Mammy angrily grabs their tails and noisily throws them out of the house (saying "Hold on there, you crazy cats!") when Jerry had opened the door. The mouse then marches back joyfully, but Mammy is tapping her foot impatiently, effectively giving him the boot as well. Resigned, he starts to leave, walking back to the door as the cartoon irises out. The iris out stops on Jerry's sight, and then Jerry waves at Mammy, and shuts the door as he dashes out of the house.

Trivia

  • This is one of the only three cartoons where Butch is shown as a house cat. The others are "Blue Cat Blues and "Scat Cats".
  • Final Tom and Jerry cartoon with animaton by Michael Lah.
  • In the Region 2 DVD boxset, this episode is one of the few that keeps the original Lillian Randolph voice for Mammy Two Shoes.
  • This is the only cartoon when Mammy Two Shoes isn't scared of Jerry,
  • Final Tom and Jerry cartoon with animatons by Don Patterson and Richard Bickenbach.
  • In two scenes, Tom's eyes are white instead of the the usual yellow.


Censorship

. After Jerry drops the match in the oven, both Tom and Butch are shown in blackface from the resulting explosion. This scene has been cut on some versions of the cartoon. On cut version, it cuts straight to when Jerry runs from the kitchen.

Voice cast

Availability

DVD

References

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=A_Mouse_in_the_House&oldid=737073470"