Tom's Photo Finish

Wow, in this late-entry Tom and Jerry CinemaScope cartoon I "discovered" three things early on that I hadn't seen in past episodes: 1 - Jerry has his own dark room in his little mouse-hole. I thought he only had one room, but apparently has a complete apartment!; 2 - Tom is very clever, not so stupid as he usually is pictured as he comes up with a clever idea to frame Spike the bulldog; 3 - Tom's head comes off when he's surprised.

The bulk of the story occurs after Jerry has made about 50 copies of Tom framing the dog and puts them all over the house. Tom is desperate to get rid of all of them before one of his owners sees one. He goes to all lengths, and some of the gags are good and all of them are original. Part of the reason is that this isn't the normal "Tom and Jerry chase cartoon."

It's a very entertaining Tom and Jerry cartoon, as most of them are.

Tom and Jerry has, still is and always will be one of my favourites. Tom's Photo Finish is not them at their absolute finest, but it is definitely one of their better cartoons made after Fred Quimby being in charge. The animation is sadly not particularly great, by all means it is much better than what was to come later on but it does feel rushed and flatly coloured in comparison to what was seen before. However, the music is lively and lushly orchestrated, always enhancing the action. Tom's Photo Finish is one of the most original cartoons of theirs in a way too, Tom is much cleverer than usual and it was interesting to see Jerry's home being more than one room. The gags are very funny and don't suffer from the predictability factor. The story is simple but very energetically paced while both characters are very likable and play off each other excellently.

All in all, there has been better animation quality in other Tom and Jerry cartoons but the energy and the originality of the ideas and gags more than makes up for things. 8/10 Bethany Cox

"TOM THE NEIGHBOR'S WILL THINK YOU'RE CRAZY!"

HILARIOUS!

This is one of the last Tom and Jerry cartoons and by this time Hanna-Barbera have more power because they're producing as well. Anyway, even if this is one of the final shorts Hanna-Barbera keep it as fresh and clever as any of the earlier shorts!

4(****)out of 4(****)stars

Tom raids the fridge while his owners are relaxing in the living room, but frames bulldog Spike unaware that Jerry is capturing the act with his camera. After Spike is thrown outside, Jerry runs off a few dozen copies of his photo (in his handy mouse-sized darkroom) and proceeds to scatter the prints around the house, causing Tom a lot of bother.

A slight improvement over the previous few Hanna-Barbera T&J cartoons, Tom's Photo Finish is an amusing one-note effort, but is still a long way from the classics of the Fred Quimby era. What really bothers me the most are the unappealing '50s human characters, George and Joan, and the crudely rendered backgrounds.

5.5/10, generously rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Tom eats a piece of the chicken in the refrigerator, but when George and Joan, his owners, suspect that it was either him or Spike that did it, Tom successfully frames Spike by making it look like he had done it, and Spike is subsequently thrown out of the house.

Unfortunately, Jerry took a picture that reveals the truth behind the framing, and Tom must try and stop George and Joan from seeing any of the pictures...

There are some good gags, but the colours and (especially) the backgrounds are a bit of an eyesore, even for its period in time.

Shame, really, but the cartoon is still enjoyable despite this.