The Missing Mouse
 |
| The Missing Mouse | |
|---|---|
| File:The Missing Mouse Title.JPG Title card | |
| Directed by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby |
| Animation by | Ray Patterson Ed Barge Kenneth Muse Irven Spence |
| Backgrounds by | Robert Gentle |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Running time | 6:33 |
The Missing Mouse is the 73rd one reel American animated Tom and Jerry short, created in 1951, directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. It was the first and only cartoon in the Hanna-Barbera era (1940-1958) that the music was not composed by Scott Bradley. Instead, Edward Plumb scored the music for this cartoon. It was animated by Ray Patterson, Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse and Irven Spence, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle. It was released on January 10, 1953 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Plot
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (February 2010) |
Jerry tries to steal food from the refrigerator while he is unknowingly being watched by Tom. Jerry is then attacked (having an orange squirt in his face, and swatted by pies). While Jerry watches Tom for any further shenanigans, he fails to see the wall in front of him and runs into it.
The cat laughs and sits down, and Jerry breaks out of the wall and onto the floor. The impact force tips a bottle of white shoe polish from the shelf above to fall out and colour Jerry white. Tom, rid of Jerry for the moment, reads a magazine and listens to the radio until a breaking news story is announced, that an escaped laboratory white mouse, that has consumed explosives that can blow up an entire city is on the loose. The slightest jar would cause the mouse to explode.
While listening to this, Jerry knows that Tom will mistake him for the white mouse. Indeed, the cat is scared: he slams the open window shut and relaxes himself by eating some nuts. As he breaks open the nuts with a hammer, Jerry uses this opportunity and stands on the table. Tom grabs the mouse, thinking he is a nut, but stops the hammer when he feels Jerry, and looks to see the "white" mouse.
Tom jumps away and dashes to the phone to call the police. Jerry whistles at him and tries to fall off the table, and Tom immediately sets a pillow for Jerry to fall on. Tom tries make a call again, but Jerry draws attention to himself trying to drop the lid of the piano onto himself, and Tom has to substitute his head. Tom sneaks away and tries to make a call a third time, but sees Jerry jumping off a butter knife. Tom blows Jerry to safety. Jerry drops an iron towards the cat. He blows his lungs out before getting it in his face.
Tom begins a chase, which ends quickly when Jerry threatens to hit himself with a hammer. The cat begs the "white mouse" not to do it, and Jerry takes this chance to whack his enemy on the head. Tom stopped by the mouse renewing his "suicidal" threat allows Jerry to hit him on the head several times. Satisfied, the rodent filches a few cookies, which gives the cat the chance to swipe the hammer.
In response, Jerry bounces himself on the counter making the cat to flinch. The mouse continues bouncing across the counter, but does not see the sink full of water and loses his disguise. Tom sees this and allows Jerry to bounce and hits himself with the hammer. Not knowing he's been exposed, Jerry hits himself even harder and ends up bruising himself. Tom then takes the hammer and pounds Jerry into the counter like a nail. To complete his enemy's torment, Tom grabs Jerry by the tail and takes him to the mirror to show him that the disguise did not work. Jerry sheepishly smiles, and is thrown out of the house.
Meanwhile, the true white mouse appears through the mail slot and as Tom kicks Jerry out, he runs into the house. Tom goes back to reading his magazine and he hears the white mouse eating some nuts. Thinking that Jerry is trying to fool him again, Tom tries to attack him with his hammer and catches him, then tries to wash the "polish" off in the fishbowl. When this still leaves the mouse white, he tries using a washboard, and before Tom sets the mouse off, Jerry reveals himself on the windowsill. Tom notices that he is carrying the real white mouse and gets the fright of his life. Trembling, he fumbles over the phone to call the police, but before he can dial the number, the radio announcer comes back on the air with news that the mouse isn't liable to explode.
Tom cheers up instantly and takes the white mouse to be kicked out of the window and Jerry jumps off the window and is not seen in the cartoon again. The moment his foot makes contact, a massive explosion reduces the entire town to a giant crater. All that is left of the neighborhood is rubble and the speaker of the radio which states: "We repeat, the white mouse will not explode". An injured Tom emerges from a pile of rubble and drones, "Don't you believe it!"
Voice cast
- Paul Frees as the News Announcer
- William Hanna as Tom
