The Fifth-Column Mouse

"The Fifth-Column Mouse" is a bad cartoon from Looney Tunes...something you'd just never expect. In fact, I had to check twice to see that it WAS from Looney Tunes, as qualitatively it's well below the quality of their other early 1940s output. The cartoon is not funny and it features a lot of singing...and it's incredibly dated. No wonder I found this on a Roku channel...as apparently Warner Brothers (who owned Looney Tunes) hasn't bothered keeping the rights to it!

The cartoon is a very obvious parable about appeasement...the type that Neville Chamberlain and his likes did with Germany before WWII began. A mouse is caught and instead of the cat eating him, he hires the mouse to be his spokesman and convince the other mice that the cat likes them! This lasts for about 30 seconds and then the cat is out to eat the mice. The mice respond by mobilizing for war...along with a lot of annoying singing.

Overall, a bit of a chore to watch this propaganda cartoon and it just isn't funny.

The Fifth Column Mouse (1943)

*** (out of 4)

Creative and fun short has a group of mice having fun inside a house when to their horror a cat gets in and soon a chase is on.

While this short is in no way, shape or form in the same league as Tom and Jerry, for the most part there are enough laughs and some great animation that keeps it entertaining. I was really impressed with the animation including one great shot where we see the cat's mouth and teeth with a mouse inside it. The details to the teeth and mouth were just terrific. There's plenty of fun action throughout the running time as the mice finally get enough of the cat and decide to give him a taste of his own medicine.

When a cat gets into the house, the mice who live there find their source of food diminished, not to mention their freedom. All the mice are chubby little brown guys except for one grey one. The cat captures him and then allows him to live if he will do his will. He is to give speeches to the mice and get them to serve the cat. They do this for a while until the cat reveals his wish for a nice fat mouse for supper. The cartoon is predictable and a little cliched. But it has some nice effects.

Before Orwell's Animal Farm, the Schlesinger studio produced a couple WB cartoons depicting animal versions the rise of the Axis powers. McCabe's THE DUCKTATORS (1942) and Freleng's THE FIFTH COLUMN MOUSE (1943) focus primarily on Hitler's rise to power following a revolt. These carry a morale boosting tone.

There are several parallels between the events of Hitler's rise to power in Germany such as a mouse attempting to appease the cat in order to avoid war. The mice only decide to fight back when the cat turns on them. The nazi imagery is almost nonexistent in this short aside from a couple subliminal references to Hitler and the axis (look closely at the scene of the cat peeking through the foggy window before he enters the basement). This could be why the short was able to be reissued after the war ended.

WWII had some of the most interesting propaganda films that were covered by virtually every film studio. These were very effective in keeping a positive morale on the home front, despite the severity of the situation and the uncertainty of the outcome. I like how this short encourages the audiences to "grit your teeth, show some fight, and the stuff that you're made of; Remember to never say die!" The WWII tune "We Did It Before, and We Can Do It Again" was a nice addition.

The public domain status of this short has made it widely available.

In one of the many Looney Tunes WWII-themed cartoons, a cat invades a house inhabited by mice and gets them to appease him. But when it becomes clear that he has no desire other than to eat them, they see it as their patriotic duty to defend themselves.

What I mean by associating "The Fifth-Column Mouse" with "Animal House" is that not only is the house inhabited by non-human fauna, but that dog-looking tank was sort of like the Deathmobile from which John Belushi emerged dressed as a pirate.

I'm probably the only person who would think that. Heck, I'm apparently the first person reviewing this cartoon. Do I like it? Well, I consider the cartoon worth seeing. It's an OK, not great cartoon. Featured in "Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons".