Blue Cat Blues

Not your everyday Tom and Jerry short for many reasons. One, there's a voiceover narration by Jerry, which is odd, because Tom and Jerry rarely speak. Two, the two are friends, which was also rare and seldom works as well as the more adversarial shorts do. Third, and most importantly, the cartoon is rarely humorous (by design) and the jokes here are dry chuckles with a little cough and a bubble of blood at the end. Think a Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by Tim Burton. Not wholly successful, but it largely does work. The creepiest ending for an MGM short that I can recall. Not for everyone and proof that these shorts were never intended solely with children as the target audience. Well worth watching. Recommended with the caveats above.

This is very different from the normal Tom and Jerry cartoon and, for most people, a flop. I see that's the consensus here, and I understand it. This effort at humor just didn't cut it for most people including me BUT it got better and better as it went on and I'm not so sure it was a failure in what it tried to say. Where it failed was the fact that the public didn't like it. Not being liked by the audience is the worst sin possible in the entertainment business.

Early on, there were a few gags that made me laugh, such as Tom (literally) "flipping his lid" and the excesses his rival, "Mr. Butch" went to, to impress the hot feline both he and Tom were after.

The narration tells us the sad tale of how Tom ruined himself over this woman. It's told through Jerry's voice which sounds more like a soft Keifer Sutherland than some little mouse that we'd expect. At first, it was annoying but then I got used to it, and almost laughed at the obvious attempt of the writers to make this overly melodramatic with lines like, "He willingly sold himself into slavery....for love." If you know a lot of 1950s movies, this sort of soapy story fits fit in. In fact, the more I watched this, the better it got as I laughed over this soap opera parody.

A VERY un-Tom and Jerry short. Jerry narrates this tale that revolves around Tom the cat falling in love and losing her to his rival, Butch. Tom is best friends with Jerry here which irked me a bit. The cartoon is also presented in Cinemascope. Overall I found this Tom and Jerry cartoon sad and depressing. The should have just put "Puss gets the boot" on the DVD instead and I would've been happy. This experimental animated short can be found on disc 2 of Warner Brother's 2-DVD Spotlight Collection set. It's the last one on the set and I'm hoping that Warner Brothers chooses to release a second Volume soon.

My Grade: C-

'Blue Cat Blues (1956)' is a bit of an odd one. Its premise is so oddly, off-puttingly dark yet its execution is as charming as ever. It tells the tale of Tom's spiral into suicidal depression in a deceptively upbeat, generally jovial way. It's a bizarre choice, to say the least. Its overall effect is a strangely unsettling one. The actual short isn't entirely unpleasant, even providing a couple of laughs, but it culminates in a really dark overall experience. It's difficult to know how to feel about it, really. It's not bad but it's not great. 6/10

Tom, who has fallen hopelessly in love with a lovely white female cat, seems to have the life of Riley until Butch, the black cat, sees her and wants to win her away from Tom. It all becomes a battle of what gifts the two male cats can give to her. Trouble is, Butch has more money to burn...

This has a very surprising and dark tone for a series that has been driven by humour (not that it has none), and so may not be a favourite for many fans. I have to admit it is not one of my favourites...