Tom treibt Gespensterkunde

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, the Tom & Jerry episodes I specifically talk about in this review aren't listed under one single title here, so the best I can do is just leave it under one of my favorite episodes of the era I had in mind typing out this rambling.

I will always have a soft spot for the Tom & Jerry circa 1967. I know that technically it includes three different eras: 1) The Classic MGM Theatrical Era (also known as The Golden Era) (1940-1958) created by the legendary William Hanna & Joseph Barbera. These two names will forever be imprinted in my brain. If I could, I would personally thank them for enriching my childhood with the most genuine laugh I've ever had. Every time I saw their names in the opening titles I knew the next 10 minutes will be GOLDEN.

2) The experimental period of the Gene Deitch Era (1961-1962). Thankfully, it only lasted for 13 episodes, but it wasn't as bad as some might percieve it to be. That being said, even as a kid I could see that something was off about these episodes and I wasn't a big fan of them - the animation was too jarring and dark for my taste, but I never skipped them on my bootleg DVD either - I was patiently watching them in eager anticipation of what I knew was coming next on this Tom & Jerry anthology disc of mine. No hard feelings towards Gene Deitch, though. This man had to produce all these episodes on his own from his little studio in Czechoslovakia.

3) And what was coming next was the Chuck Jones "Bronze" Era. It was almost as good as the episodes produced by William Hanna & Joseph Barbera.

Only when I revisited some of the episodes in my adulthood I realized what made Tom & Jerry so captivating - the music and sound effects. I can't think of any other piece of visual media that so heavily relied on the auditory aspect in its creation process - every frame is accompanied by the perfect selection of notes and sounds. I could argue that Tom & Jerry is actually more about what you hear than what you see, which is a crazy thing to say about a cartoon with barely any lines in it.

P. S. The reason I picked this episode is because out of over one hundred episodes of Tom & Jerry I've seen, this one stuck in my memory the most, especially the gag where a vacuum cleaner sucks all nine lives in the form of souls out of Tom. For some reason, this moment engraved in my memory like no other in the franchise - probably it's just that it perfectly encapsulates the very essence and absurdity of Tom & Jerry's humor.

P. P. S. Of course it's a shame what the franchise has turned into over the years, but that's beyond the scope of this little review and isn't reflected in the rating.

Tom is listening to a spook story on the radio (a form of entertainment I wish was still around) and is so wound up by the possibility of ghosts, that he jumps in fright at every sound. Taking advantage of this for his own personal fun, Jerry tries to freak Tom out by playing pranks on him, the main one being sticking a white sheet on a vacuum cleaner and pretending it's a ghosts. Obviously Tom becomes aware of Jerry's cruel tricks in the end.

It's very mildly funny though nothing really spectacular happens. I can really only recommend this to very young children as there is no real intelligence or wit to entertain an adult. Tom still looks a little rough, as he did in the early stages of his characters animation. Mammy-two-shoes shows up, but on the version I saw she was dubbed to make her sound more PC, as was common with Tom and Jerry cartoon manipulation in the early 90s.

Fraidy Cat (1942)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Highly entertaining short has Tom listening to a scary radio program so Jerry decides to have some fun with this by making it appear that the house is haunted. This is the fourth film in the series and certainly the best up to this point as there are a great number of laughs to be had. The highlight is certainly the look on Tom's face when he believes he's seeing a ghost for the first time. Another great moment happens when Tom's "nine lives" are scared out of him. This was a very creative sequence and one with plenty of great laughs. The animation was also extremely good throughout and there's never a down moment as the action and laughs keep coming one after another.

''Fraidy Cat'' is a Tom and Jerry short, I think it's very slow and a good cartoon for Halloween, Tom is listening to the radio, it's a horror story, Tom started look terrified, I guess Tom is very afraid and coward, I guess.

Jerry, of course, start to frightening him, That's much more funny, I guess, but Jerry is ended up scared by himself at the end. I wonder why.

Sure, this short has its moments and the animation is OK. The score is also fine with music arranged on what happens on the screen. It's not the worst Tom and Jerry cartoon.

Because Tom and Jerry don't speak these cartoons have to rely on visual gags and there's the problem with this cartoon - the writing. The gags are mostly not very funny and they're stretched too long. For example the first two minutes are spent showing Tom listening to a ghost story and being spooked by it - sounds boring and that's what it is.

About the previous reviewers... What were they on - and where can I get it? The plot outline in the main page is correct. There's a short gag about Tom's nine lives being 'sucked out' of him; there's also a short chase after Tom has figured out that Jerry is just trying to scare him. The only thing I agree with them is that the cartoon is "good and fun for the kids"! :)