The Two Mouseketeers

I love Jerry and Nibbles together. In early cartoons, Nibbles rarely spoke, except in "Mouseketeers" and "Robin Hoodwinked," where he and Jerry tried to free Robin Hood from prison. Of course, Nibbles talked in a British Cockney accent.

This is the first of a series of Tom & Jerry cartoons, where Jerry and Nibbles are mousey musketeers and match wits with Tom the palace guard/cat. In this cartoon, the Mouseketeers are stealing food from the palace banquet hall, and Tom tries to stop them but eventually fails. It was shocking to witness the execution of a cartoon character. We didn't witness the execution on screen, but Madame Guillotine provides a detailed explanation.

As I said before, I love a fine swashbuckler, neither movie nor cartoon; take Daffy Duck's "The Scarlet Pumpernickel," for example. I appreciate Nibbles' ability to speak French in "Mouseketeers," a unique trait not commonly seen in cartoons where characters often speak in a pseudo-multilingual manner. So anyway, this cartoon has now become my favorite out of the "Mouseketeer" cartoons.

This has to be one of my favourite "Tom" and Jerry" cartoons. This time, it's "Jerry" who has his accident prone novice "Nibbles" following him around whilst "Tom" has a post working for the nasty Cardinal charged with protecting a lavish banquet. He knows he must stop the "Mouseketeers" at all costs, else it's Madame La Guillotine that awaits him. Of course, we all know there's virtually no chance of him outwitting his tiny and ingenious rodent counterpart. The settings with suits of armour, a giant hog roast and an even larger tower of cheese provide for plenty of set piece antics as poor old "Tom" comes a cropper time and time again. As usual, the jolly score adds to the mischief and with the enthusiastic young mouse proving something of a plaything too, there's plenty of swash and buckle and you should never hide behind an apple during a swordfight! End-to-end stuff that's good fun and just needs a little bit of Ronald Colman.

Usually the violence in the T & J cartoons is silly. Obviously, it is always about the mice getting the upper hand and Tom bringing much of it upon himself. Here, however, the cruelty goes way beyond. Tom guards the king and is on a short leash which eventually proves his undoing. Jerry and his little sidekick wreak havoc on the poor guy. I suppose you could say he gets battered so often that the ending should be just another silly bit, but it doesn't appear that way. The violence is creative and the animation superb, but it's a harsh cartoon.

This cartoon, winner of an Oscar, is one of several that have Tom and Jerry channeling Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone (Nibbles seems to be channelling Eugene Pallette) and its all great fun. A marvelous cartoon, not my favorite of them, but excellent nonetheless. That its not in-print (with the others is sad. Cartoon Network does run it frequently though, so watch it, by all means. Most recommended.

Tom the cat is a soldier assigned to guard the banquet table. Along come Jerry the mouse and his orphan friend Nibbles, looking for something to eat and causing Tom much grief. This short won an Oscar for best cartoon short subject in 1952 and it's easy to see why as it's clever, humorous, and just an all around joy to watch. Utterly brilliant in every way and it retains it's humor upon repeated performances despite the slightly disturbing ending. One of the many many classic Tom and jerry animated shorts. This hilarious animated short can be found on disc 2 of Warner Brother's 2-DVD Spotlight Collection set.

My Grade: A+