Be Very Quiet--Tom & Jerry are 'Rabid Hunters'

Rabid Hunters (1932)

Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors

Directors: John Foster and George Stallings

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Tom and Jerry (together with their faithful hound and horse) go hunting.

"Rabid Hunters" is an slightly-above-average entry in the Tom and Jerry series. It starts a bit slow, the music is generally unremarkable (except for the variations on the predictable use of "A-Hunting We Will Go"), and a few of the gag sequences go on for too long, but at about the halfway mark, all weakness is left behind and the cartoon careens with ever-increasing zaniness toward its conclusion and a nonsensical but very funny plot-twist.

In what could be a drawback or a plus, depending on your tastes, "Rabid Hunters" is one of the episodes in this series that feels like it was squarely directed at kids. The gags, while amusing for the most part, are accurately described as juvenile with no double meanings or commentary beyond what is right there on the screen  It's another example of the inconsistent tone of the series, with some episodes being directed squarely at kids and others at a more adult audience. The straight-forwardness of the jokes here doesn't hurt anything, but they are a sign of the overall lack of thought given to who the Tom & Jerry cartoons were made for.

One interesting detail in "Rabid Hunters" is the rabbit who turns the tables on Tom & Jerry in the second half of the film. He may seem familiar to those who have seen early Bugs Bunny cartoons--or even later ones. An assumption might be made that the Van Beuren Team was "borrowing" from others yet again (as they did when Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Felix the Cat clones appeared in some of their efforts), but this may be an instance where they were borrowed from, since "Rabid Hunters" predates the first appearance of Bugs Bunny by roughly seven years.

Take a few minutes to check out Tom & Jerry on the prowl, right here from this very post!