Mouse Trouble has one of the most simple and straightforward storylines for a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Often times the story for these cartoons would involve either Jerry or Tom befriending someone and getting help from that friend. Other times the story would involve Tom trying to do a simple task and Jerry sabotaging it. Still other times it would involve Tom and Jerry having to team up against a greater evil. None of this is seen here. The cartoon is plain and simple Tom trying to catch Jerry. In this cartoon Tom gets a new book entitled How to Catch a Mouse and tries to do just that with the books help leading to many great spot gag jokes.
Unlike a Disney cartoon where the animators would often times be assigned different characters to work with, in this film (and many other Tom and Jerry cartoons) the animators would be assigned lengthy segments (for a 7 minute cartoon that is) of the picture to handle themselves. Pete Burness animated the begging of the cartoon with Tom receiving the book in the mail and animates until Jerry runs in the hole and Tom turns to his book for advice. Ray Patterson animates Tom's failed attempts at using a mouse trap and a snare trap. Kenneth Muse animates Tom trying to use Jerry's sense of generosity against the mouse only to have Jerry end up tricking tom by engaging Tom's curiosity. Pete Burness animates Tom finding out a cornered mouse does sometimes fight back. Kenneth Muse animates Tom using a stethoscope to find Jerry. Irven Spence animates Tom's use of a gun, a tiger trap and a mallet to catch Jerry as well as him disguising himself a surprise package. Tom's use of a wind up toy girl mouse to catch Jerry is animated by Kenneth Muse. Tom tearing up the book is animated by Pete Burness. Tom using explosives by Kenneth Muse. The end of the film with Tom ascending to heaven was animated by Pete Burness.
This is one of my all time favorite Tom and Jerry cartoons. The jokes are extremely funny and perfectly timed. They are also pretty darn clever. I especially like the end gag with the wind up mouse toy that repeats Mae West's catchphrase "Come up and see me sometime" over and over (I don't know who does this voice if any of you do I would be glad to hear). The animation is great as well. Scott Bradley's musical score is one of his best. It is very jazzy and filled with great energy. More than this though it compliments the cartoon perfectly as this is one of the fastest paced Tom and Jerry films. Especially of note in this cartoon is Scott Bradley's excellent jazz filled rendition of the classic spiritual song All God's Children Got Rhythm. Bradley said he especially liked doing music for the Tom and Jerry cartoons, because with the lack of dialogue, his music could really shine and boy does it here. Most of all though I love that this cartoon strips Tom and Jerry down to the very basics of the idea and successeds fantastically at being an extremely fun cartoon.
Resources Used Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
The Cartoon Music Book edited by Daniel Goldmark and Yuval Taylor
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037090/?ref_=ttsnd_snd_tt
- Michael J. Ruhland
