The Cat Above and the Mouse Below
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| The Cat Above and the Mouse Below | |
|---|---|
| File:TheCatAboveAndTheMouseBelowTitle.jpg The title card of The Cat Above and the Mouse Below | |
| Directed by | Chuck Jones |
| Produced by | Chuck Jones |
| Animation by | Tom Ray Dick Thompson Ben Washam Ken Harris Don Towsley |
| Color process | Metrocolor |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Running time | 6:27 |
The Cat Above and The Mouse Below is second of thirty-four Tom and Jerry shorts produced by Chuck Jones, released in 1964. This cartoon is reminiscent of the 1950 short, Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl.
Plot
In a concert entitled "Signor Thomasino Catti-Cazzaza Baritone", Tom is a famous legendary baritone singer who will perform at a concert to sing Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville. Tom arrives in a very long limousine, and emerges, tossing a rose into the crowd. He walks on stage to applause and begins to sing for the audience watching. While all this is taking place, down below the stage, Jerry is trying to sleep, but is awakened by Tom's operatic tones.
Jerry tries to gesture for Tom to stop, by banging on the stage with a toothbrush but in return Tom, while singing, stomps on the floor enough to get Jerry to shake and bounce around his "room". Annoyed, Jerry uses a hammer to pound a floorboard, shooting Tom out of his tuxedo into the air, from where he falls back into it, but upside down, and legs through sleeves. Tom tiptoes offstage to change back to normal.
Next, Tom sings again, this time, stomping the floor while performing, much harder than before, creating a huge rumble in Jerry's house, eventually causing Jerry's bed to collapse on top of him. Jerry thinks it's war and decides to get revenge. Tom continues the performance and Jerry holds up a sign through the vent onstage that has "PSST" written on it. Tom continues singing as he pokes his head in, and Jerry snaps his lips closed in a pucker with a doubled rubber band. In retaliation, Tom uses the rubber band to shoot a long staple into the vent, which shoots down, ricochets several times, and then whisks Jerry right out of his nightshirt, and pins him up on the wall by his neck. Jerry crosses his arms, one leg over the other, and then "taps" his foot midair, looks exceedingly annoyed.
As Tom sings in the middle of his performance, Jerry manages to get free from the staple and at the side of the stage licks a lemon so Tom gets sour by the thought of the scene, and sweating, his lips pucker and shrink. Frustrated, he goes to Jerry and while continuing to sing, juices the lemon on Jerry's head. Tom returns to the spotlight. Jerry then drills a hole in the floor and uses a hooked wire to pull the bottom of Tom's vest apart causing the chest portion to spring up and whap him in the face. Tom grabs the wire and yanks it up and down banging Jerry's head on the board until Jerry thinks to let it go. While Tom is singing the "Figaro!" part, Jerry aims a plunger at Tom's mouth and scores a direct hit. Jerry imitates Tom mockingly; but then Tom sticks him to the floor with the plunger. Using Jerry's bow, he shoots Jerry in the plunger onto a wall offstage.
Jerry frees himself and unintentionally drops a huge sandbag on Tom as he is reaching the climax, sending him crashing through the floor. Everything is silent until Jerry walks out in a tuxedo. Now the mouse is above, and the cat stuck below, and Jerry sings the last section of the performance himself (albeit sped up). An infuriated Tom raps on the floor with a broom and sends Jerry flying, but this just adds to Jerry's drama singing the final few notes, as he makes a graceful balletic landing. Jerry gets loud applause and the curtains close. "The End" appears on the curtains.