Dog Trouble (1942)

Dog Trouble marked the first cartoon where Tom and Jerry had to team up to fight a greater evil. This evil was Spike the bulldog in his film debut.  Spike here is quite different from the Spike who would come later. For one thing here he hates Jerry as much as he does Tom. Also he does not speak yet. Of course many of us cartoon lovers associate him with the Jimmy Durante-esque voice he was later given (often provided by Daws Butler, who had a future with Bill and Joe voicing many of their TV characters).

The film begins with Tom chases Jerry and the usual slapstick ensuing. However when they run across Spike, he decides to make both their lives miserable. Tom and Jerry call a brief truce and put their minds together to help get rid of this dog.

The animators on this film were George Gordon, Bill Littlejohn, Irven Spence, Cecil Surry and Jack Zander. All of them had worked on previous Tom and Jerry cartoons. Sadly again only directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and producer Fred Quimby receive screen credit.

This cartoon show the pace picking up. This contains some of the fastest action to appear in one of these films at this time. Also it shows some of the best facial expressions of Tom and Jerry at this time. These facial expressions and reactions are often the funniest part of this cartoon and quite a few future ones. Though I do not know for sure who animated these scenes, my guess would be Irven Spence, who was a master at comic reactions. However sadly this cartoon seems to have less gags than a normal Tom and Jerry cartoon for some reason, because of this it does not rank as one of the duo's funniest outings. However this cartoon still manages to be a good one due to great animation, characters and energy.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources UsedTom and Jerry: The Definitive Guide to Their Animated Adventures by Patrick Brion
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034657/?ref_=nm_flmg_anm_183