Tom and Jerry meet 'Jolly Fish'

Jolly Fish (1932)

Starring: No one... this is almost a silent movie

Director: John Foster and George Stallings

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

While relaxing on the lake, Tom and Jerry observe the strange life of the creatures who dwell in the water... before they decide to do a little fishing.

"Jolly Fish" is five-and-half minutes of nonsense and non-stop gags. There is no plot to get in the way of the action, as we move rapidly through a series of loosely connected events and situations that could only occur in a bizarre cartoon world. 

I rank this among the best Tom & Jerry cartoons, because it, for the most part, is just pure, goofy fun. Although it's not the sort of mini-musical that some of my other favorites are, it's got a musical theme that carries through the whole cartoon and which you will probably find yourself humming afterwards. Also, the simple, mostly background-free animation works in this film's favor, because the curious setting for most of the action--under water--and because the characters are constantly moving and doing wacky things so our attention is always focus on them.

As for the details of those "wacky things", this is one those films where too much talk on my part will ruin the fun. I will mention, thought, that there's one rather disturbing bit where underwater parents are trying to teach their baby fish how to swim, and the worm on Jerry's fishing hook tries to lure it away with candy. It's a bit that feels out of place with the rest of the film--but I suppose it wouldn't be a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon if there wasn't some sort of screw-up or misstep somewhere in it.

"Jolly Fish" debuted in theaters on August 19, 1932, the 14th in the Tom & Jerry series. As this post goes live, it's exactly 88 years since movie-goers were first entertained by it. I think it's help up nicely, and I recommend you take a few minutes to check it out, right now, by clicking below.