'Stone Age Stunts' leaves something to be desired

Stone Age Stunts (1930)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors (but this is basically a silent movie)
Director: John Foster and Mannie Davis
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

Pre-historic mice (who are basically Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse clones) go dancing at a club, get into a fight with a bully, and end up literally bringing the house down.

An entry in the long-running Aesop's Fables anthology series, "Stone Age Stunts" is seven minutes of crudely animated nonsense. Along the way, there are some scenes that will make you squirm if you have any sensitivity to the issues surrounding domestic violence. (There are riffs on the old cartoon caveman hitting his mate over the head with his club and dragging her off, but they are taken to uncomfortable extremes here.)

The saving grace (and only thing that makes watching this worthwhile) is the music. The animation and the music go perfectly together, and the only humorous that aren't uncomfortable to watch, grotesque, or inexplicably weird (or some combination of all three) are those involving music. The cavemouse suddenly being able to use his club as a flute is amusing, and the sequence that starts at roughly the halfway mark with a band of cartoon animals using other cartoon animals as instruments and a hilarious nightclub act make sitting through the more unpleasant bits worthwhile.

As I always try to do with the Van Beuren productions I review, you can watch it for yourself, right here in this post, and see if you think I'm right or wrong in my estimation of this one. Just click on the video below.

(Trivia: Although the amorous mice who are the stars of "Stone Age Stunts" had been appearing in Aesop's Fables episodes since the early 1920s, their appearances changed to be similar to that of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse once those characters became hits for Disney. Eventually, the Walt Disney Company filed suit against the Van Beuren Corporation. Disney didn't see damages--they just wanted Van Beuren to stop putting Mickey and Minnie look-alikes in crude situations in crudely animated cartoons.)

This Swiss Trick is no Swiss Miss

A Swiss Trick (1931)

Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors

Directors: John Foster and George Stallings

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

World-travelers Tom and Jerry are stranded in Switzerland, where learn about the strange local culture and discover the side effects of eating too much Swiss cheese.

"A Swiss Trick" is one of handful of entries in the "Tom and Jerry" series that see our heroes traveling to faraway lands and meeting the people and creatures that dwell there. This one starts a bit weak--with an extended Alps-related train gag that is more repetitive than amusing--but gets funnier and more surreal as it goes. By the time we get to the end, with our heroes having angered the Swiss villagers and having learned an unpleasant secret about their much-celebrated cheese, this emerges as one of the best entries in the series. The catchy music throughout and the nutty musical routines add greatly to the entertainment value.

This is another of those Tom and Jerry cartoons that needs to be experienced, and the longer I go on the greater the chance of me spoiling something. So... why don't you grab a soda, click on the embedded video below, and lean back for seven minutes of Swiss-inspired weirdness? 

Trivia: On the day this review was originally posted--December 19, 2020--it was exactly 89 years since "A Swiss Trick" originally appeared in theatres.

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! 

It's 'A Close Call' with a parade of knock-offs

A Close Call (1929)

Starring: Unknown Voice Actors (but there's only one spoken line)

Directors: John Foster and Harry Bailey

Rating: Five of Ten Stars

A pair of mice in love are set upon by a cat who has his own romantic designs on the girl.

By the end of 1929, Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse had exploded in popularity across the United States and around the world, due to the exceptional way Disney fully integrated the new technology of sound into his animated films, as well as the superior story-telling and animation presented. It should surprise no one that other production companies wanted to get caught in that wave of success and come up with their own Mickey Mouse knock-offs.

Cue the Van Beuren Corporation's team of animators. They redesigned a pair of characters--Milton Mouse and Rita Mouse--that had been popping up every now and then since the early 1920s in their animated anthology series "Aesop's Fables" in a way that left no doubt as to where Van Beuren's creative staff got their "inspiration". 

The redesigned Milton and Rita first appeared in "A Close Call" and their looks evolved over four episodes of "Aesop's Fables" until they so resembled Mickey and Minnie that audience confusion was almost assured. (It's not as bad in "A Close Call", but as you can see EXACTLY what the Van Beuren crew was shooting for if you check out "The Office Boy" (1930) by clicking here.)

Milton and Rita were far cruder (both character-wise and animation-wise) than what Disney animators were doing with their mice was doing with--as well as more sexually charged and more physically and emotionally abusive toward each other. This didn't change once they were dressed up as Mickey and Minnie, and it perhaps even got worse; at the very least, each of the four films I've seen them in were successively more chaotic and fever-dreamish than the one before. Eventually, Roy Disney initiated a lawsuit over trademark and copyright infringement against the Van Beuren Company; Disney wasn't seeking any money--they just wanted to stop these uncouth clones from damaging the public perception of their characters.

But I keep digressing away from "A Close Call", which is a fairly amusing, if poorly structured, cartoon. There's a tone shift at about 2/3rds of the way through where it feels like it should end but it keeps going.

After opening with a bit of musical fluff and an uninspired dance number performed by Milton and Rita--which is, literally, spiced up with a gag involving Milton causing Rita's skirt to fall off--it shifts into a spoof of silent movie melodramas. This part features some of the film's best moments, with the villainous cat abducting Rita, having his romantic overtures toward her rebuffed, and subsequently treating viewers to a series of melodrama villain tropes. Meanwhile, Milton Mouse starts out filling the role of the standard melodrama tough-guy romantic hero--until the stereotypical tropes get hilariously distorted and ultimately reversed. The final disposition of our villainous cat (who himself appears like a knock-off of Felix the Cat--and who is probably more accurately viewed as a Krazy Kat copy since he's courting a mouse) is also somewhat shocking for a cartoon.

The second part of "A Close Call" features the wedding of the mouse couple, and it feels as if we're now watching a different cartoon featuring the same characters. It's equal parts strange and amusing, with the marriage ceremony culimating in a literal knot-tying... and "In the Army Now" is performed by the choir. It's all very amusing, but not very well connected to the first part, unless one imagines that Milton and Rita decided to get married because of the close call they experienced.

If you have a few minutes, check out "A Close Call" right here in this post.

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For a detailed history of the Van Beuren Company and more background on the development of Milton discussed above, you should get a copy of Hal Erickson's very detailed, yet entertaining, book "A Van Beuren Production".

'The Office Boy' doesn't work

The Office Boy (1930)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors
Directors: Harry Bailey and John Foster
Rating: Three of Ten Stars

An office romance between an office boy and a secretary is threatened by their lecherous boss.

"The Office Boy" is a terrible cartoon. Everything about it is amateurish--from the animation through the sound design and the musical soundtrack and featured song--and indifferently produced, with the least amount of effort going into all aspects of creation.

I suspect some of you, after reading the above paragraph, are wondering how anything Walt Disney did with Mickey Mouse could ever be described as "amateurish" and "indifferently produced"? Well, that's because, despite what it might appear from the still above, "Office Boy" is NOT a Disney cartoon. Instead, it's one of a handful of knock-offs cranked out by the Van Beuren Corporation to capitalize on the popularity of Mickey Mouse and his female friend Minnie Mouse. They were so bad that Roy Disney reportedly filed suit against Van Beuren. According to Hal Erickson, who literally wrote the book on the Van Beuren Company, Disney wasn't seeking any monetary compensation for the obvious infringement--he just wanted then to stop making crappy cartoons featuring knock-offs of their popular characters.

"The Office Boy" is more terrible than even the worse "Tom & Jerry" installment, as, no matter how awful some of them are, there's always a certain atmosphere of childish glee, along with a generous helping of surreal absurdities. We have almost none of either here, except for the cute out-of-nowhere finale... which is tainted by what I assume is the first run of a nightmarish "gag" where two characters merge into one in a terrifying manner. (It reappears a couple years later in "Rocketeers", which was also co-directed by John Foster.)

As is my habit, when it comes to the short films I review, I encourage you to check out the subject instead of just taking my word for its quality. If nothing else, you will find yourself marveling at just how shameless the Van Beuren folks were in their rip-off of Mickey Mouse in "The Office Boy". (And if you find yourself disagreeing with my take, let everyone know your views in the comments section, or over on my Facebook page.)

'Tom & Jerry' get off to a great start

Wot a Night (1931)

Starring: Uncredited Voice Actors and Singers

Director: John Foster and George Stallings

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

After their weird fares skip out without paying for the ride, cabbies Tom & Jerry chase them into a creepy castle with even creepier inhabitants.

"Wot a Night" was the first of what would become a series of 26 cartoons of wildly varying quality, with this one being among the top four or five of them all. It's crammed full of random weirdness, surreal humor, transformations of characters, and inanimate objects coming to life, as well as featuring some catchy music. It's not the mini-musical that some of the installments that follow will be, but it's close.

Like so many of these short cartoons from the 1930s, I feel like too much talking about the content on my part will spoil your experience in watching it; "Wot a Night" is best experienced with as little foreknowledge of what's coming as possible. 

I will say that my favorite elements of the inaugural Tom & Jerry adventure is the way is plays with gothic horror tropes, from the dark and stormy night to the creepy castle, and all the way through to the scientists conducting experiments that go against the laws of men, nature, and gods. That last bit gives rise to what is something else I love about this cartoon, even if it's a aspect that springs entirely from my own imagination: It provides an explanation for where all those singing and dancing skeletons in early Disney cartoons (like "Skeleton Dance") or early Fleischer Betty Boop (like "Minnie the Moocher") come from. Also, the only real complaint I can mount is the sound effects and the voice acting. It all feels overwrought and more jarring than anything else. I can't say for sure if I would have felt the same way if this had been the first "Tom & Jerry" cartoon I'd seen, or if I'm reacting to the fact that several of my favorites in the series are, aside from musical interludes and songs, virtual silent movies. 

Regardless of my feeling of the sound design, this is a fun cartoon that will keep you entertained for its eight-minute running time. It's particularly great viewing if you're looking for a little something to jump-start your Halloween Spirit! You can even watch it right now, from the very post, by clicking below! (And if you feel inclined, you can leave a comment telling us about YOUR favorite part of "Wot a Night" and if you agree or disagree with this review.) 

Halloween Warm-up: Magic Mummy

Magic Mummy (1933)
Starring: Margie Hines (as the voice of the Mummy)
Directors: John Foster and George Stallings
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Tom and Jerry are police officers working the graveyard shift when they get a call about a stolen mummy. While working the case, they find their way to an underground theatre where a lich puts on performances for the undead.

"The Magic Mummy" is one of those 1930s animated romps that's a wild mix of visual puns, crazy humor, and horror that add up to a dreamlike, borderline nightmarish flight of fancy. From a playful opening scene with the heroes of our story patrolling the city streets in a literal radio car; to the portrayal of the jazziest, most laid-back jail in all of cartoon land; through the heroes invading the villains lair and discovering his plans for the mummy and ultimately disrupting them, this is a bit of animation that needs to be seen to be experienced. Any details I could describe here will ruin the surprising visuals and quirky little twists that will unfold before your eyes as you watch. I feel the ending could have been stronger, but getting to it was such a trip that I am mostly able to forgive the stumble at the finish.

I encourage you to take a few minutes and watch this great little cartoon right now. It's a perfect warm-up for Halloween, and it may also be the most fun you'll have today!

Trivia: Margie Hines also did the voices of Betty Boop and Olive Oyle during the late 1930s and early 1940s in some 50 cartoons.. She was, in fact, also the very first voice of Betty Boop in 1930, but was replaced for a number of years by Mae Questel.

'Happy Hoboes' will bring you joy

Happy Hoboes (1933)

Starring: Unknown Voice Actor (delivering a single spoken line)

Directors: George Stallings and George Rufle

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

They've tried their hands at plumbing and instrument repair, and they've even been partners in their own law firm. They've owned and operated a bakery and a diner. They've even been test pilots. But now Tom & Jerry have fallen on hard times, and are living in homeless camps and riding the rails when the locals chase them out. Despite it all, they are as full of mischief and music as ever....

"Happy Hoboes" has a bit more plot than most Tom & Jerry, but ultimately it also counts among the most nonsensical and surreal ones with visual gags coming at the viewer non-stop and many impossible and weird. My favorites include the explanation of what causes snowstorms, Tom & Jerry's luxurious lifestyle while they ride the rails, and the lumberjack who is so strong that he wanders through the forest chopping down trees with a single swing of s scythe. (I also appreciated a cooking gag that did not go where I was expecting it to; it's always nice to be surprised!)

Out of all the Tom & Jerry cartoons I've watched so far, this might also be the one that will feel most relevant to modern viewers, so long as those above the age of 7 can look past some of the more juvenile gags. That said, some modern viewers might also feel put out by the appearance of the Chinese cook at a lumber camp in the second half of the film, but it makes sense within a pop cultural context of the 1930s and the basic genre being spoofed here... and I suppose it wouldn't be a Tom & Jerry cartoon without some sort of racial stereotype to pull modern-day triggers.

As always with these posts, I invite you to take a few minutes and check out "Happy Hoboes" for yourself. It's embedded below, via YouTube. I think you'll have fun.

Tom & Jerry battle the Baby from Hell

Puzzled Pals (1933)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors

Directors: Frank Sherman and George Stallings

Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Tom and Jerry become the instant fathers when the stork leaves a baby on their doorstep. 

"Puzzled Pals" is a mildly amusing entry in the "Tom and Jerry" series. It has a lot of potential, but that ends up being mostly unrealized, as the middle section is dragged down by repetitive gags.

The focal point of this installment is the baby that gets dropped off with these two confirmed bachelor roommates by a stork who grew frustrated at being unable to find a more suitable place for it--because not only does there appear to be a pandemic going on in Tom & Jerry's world (just like today), but households already jam-packed with children fight the stork off with literal gunfire. The stork eventually recognizes the error of its ways, but not before our two heroes show themselves to be so inept at taking care of a baby that if the stork hadn't returned, social workers would have taken the child away and Tom & Jerry would undoubtedly be looking at jail-time for child neglect or abuse.

Still, their inability to control and care for their unexpected "bundle of joy" isn't entirely their fault, as this baby is a demon-child on the magnitude of something out of an "Evil Dead" movie or television episode. This "baby" is so clever and so destructive that it must have been spawned in Hell and the very act of bringing it to the earthly plane was some sort of cosmic paperwork mix-up. Basically, once thie hell-child gets his hands on the industrial strength vacuum cleaner that Tom and Jerry keep in their house, they are fighting for their lives.

The combination of the vacuum cleaner and the hell-baby is why I'm rating "Puzzled Pas" at the low end of average. The gags with the vacuum cleaner are repetitive, go on and on, and get boring after awhile. Perhaps, because vacuum cleaners were just becoming common household items in 1933, the audience back then would have been more entertained by the humor involving one, but it began to think that it sucked when it kept going. And the baby... oh, that baby. Obnoxious children doing obnoxious and downright deadly stuff is a mainstay in cartoons from the this period, but they usually have an innocent quality about them that gives them a degree of cuteness that makes their antics palatable. The baby that gets dropped on Tom and Jerry has nothing innocent about it; it seems motivated by malice from the moment it enters the home. Perhaps some viewers will find this funny, but I found it more disturbing than anything else.

Although I dislike of the central action of "Puzzled Pals", I adored the stork character whose baby-delivering activities bookend this episode. He may actually be the most appealing character in all the Tom & Jerry cartoons!

But why don't you take a few minutes and check out the film for yourself? It's embedded below. Just click and sit back and watch. (And if you feel inclined, leave a comment and let me and everyone else know what you liked or disliked about the film.)

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. 

It's the final bow for Tom and Jerry

The Phantom Rocket (1933)

Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors and Singers

Directors: Frank Sherman and George Rufle

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

An escaped convict hijacks Tom and Jerry's experimental space ship and turns their maiden voyage into his getaway... with disastrous results.

"The Phantom Rocket" is a kinda-sorta sequel to "Rocketeers" where Tom and Jerry are also heroic test pilots about to travel into space on a rocket ship. While this one covers some of the same ground as its predecessor--a space rocket that misfires and ends up in the ocean, for example--it's a much more capably executed space launch, as if the cartoon characters learned lessons from their previous attempt at space exploration. The production team at Van Beuren in the Real World also learned lessons from the previous adventure it is more focused in its story and humor, and the pacing is fit for a cartoon about a rocket with the action and gags coming at the viewer non-stop from beginning to end. Unlike entirely too many of the installments in this series, the jokes don't get repetitive and there is very little in the way of looped animation.  

Another strength of "The Phantom Rocket" is the music, which more often than not is the case with the installments in this series. Here, the action opens with a cute and catchy song performed by all the engineers and scientists and mechanics and technicians who made the space flight possible, as well as the press covering it... and, of course, the "two chumps" who will be undertaking the dangerous flight--Tom and Jerry. The music continues to be top-notch throughout this piece--both underscoring and helping to drive the action, as Tom and Jerry and the thug who has taken them hostage careen about in the out-of-control rocket ship, leaving all manner to surreal chaos in their wake. Eventually, they come crashing back to earth, with get a closing song that declares "Hurray for Tom and Jerry", and the film closes on a joyous high note.

In the Real World, however, Van Beuren was not cheering and celebrating the duo. As July 1933 came to an end, so did the adventures of Tom and Jerry. After 26 episodes released over a two year span (from August 1931 through July 1933), Van Beuren closed the book on them. Whether it was the inconsistent quality and tone of the series, the, quite frankly, better cartoons being produced by Walt Disney and the Fleischer Brothers, or factors that are not obvious to surface-skimmers like yours truly, Tom and Jerry never gained any market traction nor popularity. At least they went out on a high note.

As usual, you can check out the subject of this review, right here by clicking on the embedded video below. (And while this was the last cartoon to be produced, I still have 12 more "Tom and Jerry" installments to review. Watch this space for more!

The Return of the Tuba Tooter

The Tuba Tooter (1932)
Starring: Uncredited Voice Actors and Singers
Directors: John Foster and George Stallings
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

The whole city celebrates, with Tom and Jerry leading the festivities, when famous tuba player Schultz returns to his hometown in Germany.

"The Tuba Tooter" is one of the best "Tom and Jerry" cartoons. It's got the catchy music that most of them have (I find myself humming the main song, "Schultz is Back Again", as I type these words), it's got some cute bits... but, more importantly than almost anything, the animators seem to have actually put in the time and effort to move this from merely good to excellent. All the characters in any given scene are moving, very few are in obvious loops, and the backgrounds are detailed and also animated in some cases. If this much care had gone into all the installments in this series, maybe it wouldn't be a mostly forgotten relic and commercial failure.

(The rest of my review swerves into "spoiler territory" as I comment on the ending. As is my habit with these "Tom and Jerry" posts, I invite you to watch the subject I am commenting on. In case you want to enjoy the wacky cuteness without me ruining the fun by overthinking it, I am embedding the cartoon right here. My comments continue afterwards.)



As good a job as the Van Beuren crew did on this outing, it wouldn't be "Tom and Jerry" if they didn't drop the ball in some kind of major way. In this case, following five minutes viewers watching cheerful and/or surreal scenes of an community setting aside differences and coming together in celebration of music and the musician who creates it, the police show up, break up the celebration, and arrest Schultz. There's no logical reason for this that I can see--even if authorities were upset with the noise, I would think they'd appreciate that everyone in the city--including those who should be fighting or preying upon each other like dogs and cats and mice--are united in harmony and love of Schultz's music. Perhaps I'm naïve, or perhaps I don't understand the totalitarian mindset that is probably being mocked with this film's ending, but I just can't wrap my mind around how it fits in with what has gone before. The police officers even appear to be sad that they are arresting Schultz, based on the look on their faces as they drive away with him. (And yet, Tom and Jerry are as cheerful with Schultz being hauled off as they were with him coming back...).

Perhaps I'm just looking for meaning where there is not--this IS a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon after all. Maybe I would have been better off just enjoying the spectacle of a singing dog and his tuba-tooting owner who can bring everyone together in harmony. (Well, until a bunch of sad-faced cops break it all up...)

'Polar Pals' may leave you a bit cold

Polar Pals (1931)
Starring: Anonymous singers and voice actors
Directors: John Foster and George Rufle
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Tom and Jerry are shipwrecked and wash up on the frozen shores of a land inhabited by music-loving animals, such as walruses, penguins, and bears

"Polar Pals" is at the middle-to-low end of the quality scale of the episodes in the Tom & Jerry series. There is no plot to speak of, the gags are simple (simplistic even), and nothing makes any sense, even within a world where animals are fully sentient and they just happen to have pianos around for if humans get shipwrecked who are able to play them. And then there's the way the film deals with the environment: Characters are swimming in the frigid polar waters, but don't get cold until they notice they are in a polar environment. It makes no sense.

Even more damning is the indifferent quality of the animation. Simple or non-existent backgrounds are common in "Tom & Jerry" cartoons, but the character animation here is as sloppy as anything I've seen in any entries in this series. It's so bad that a walrus's tusks disappear, reappear, and disappear again, because they reuse cells where the animators couldn't be bothered to draw the tusks and no one would be bothered to fix the error. (I thought initially that perhaps I was missing a joke, but I watched that bit three times, and I am convinced it was just a sloppy error that no cared to spend the time or money to fix.)

I think the nature of this, the second "Tom & Jerry" cartoon, is also the first sign that the Van Beuren team didn't have a clear idea of who the target audience was for this series. The level of humor and story-telling in this cartoon seems squarely aimed at young children, while the opening installment felt more like something for older kids or young teenagers. Other entries in the series feel like they are for older teens, or, perhaps still for a young audience with some multi-layered jokes thrown in to keep adults entertained as well, like "Doughnuts". Finally, a few, such as "Spanish Twist" and "Piano Tooners" feel like they were going for the same adult audience that the Fleischer Studio was trying to appeal to with the "Betty Boop" cartoons. 

Ultimately, the highlight of "Polar Pals" is the musical number that forms its climax. The animation is nothing to cheer about, but the music is upbeat and the animal dance party it brings about it cute. As with many of the "Tom and Jerry" episodes, the music is the primary reason for watching. No matter how weak everything else may be, generally the songs are enough of a reward for the time spent watching the screen. Also, for all my complaining above about the mostly non-existent and completely nonsensical plot, I did appreciate the fact that this film actually gives a solid ending. (It's even sort of amusing.)

But why don't you check out "Polar Pals" for yourself and see if you agree with my take on it. It's only seven minutes long, and who knows? My estimation may be completely offbase, and you may find this to be the greatest cartoon you've ever seen. If that's the case, be sure to tell me below, or on my Facebook page.

You don't have to be baked to enjoy 'Doughnuts'

Doughnuts (1933)
Starring: Unknown Singers
Directors: George Rufle and Frank Sherman
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Tom & Jerry are doughnut-makers attending a bakers' convention along side a host of oddball competitors. They hope to impress attendees and the snooty judges who may award them a prize.

"Doughnuts" is another bit of fast-moving, nonsensical fun that's basically a seven-minute cartoon operetta. The animation is crisp and fluid, and there's not a static moment as the gags, visual puns, and health code violations flow across the screen. Highlights include a drunken sailor that looks like a cross between Popeye and Bluto; the revelation of the real reason people attend fairs; and Tom & Jerry's innovative method of making donuts. The non-stop, snappy, hilarious music also makes this one worth checking out.

One thing about this cartoon--the second-to-last entry in Van Beuren's "Tom & Jerry" series--which may offend particularly sensitive viewers out there since it seems like the writers and animators were trying to cram more ethnic stereotypes and gay jokes into seven minutes than had ever been done before. The material here is more playful than the straight-up racist stuff in "Plane Dumb" (the second "Tom & Jerry" adventure I watched, and one that I am still trying to figure out how to write a review that properly describes how it is both horribly backwards and incredibly innovative for its time), and the mockery is spread around to a broad range of people, I think the sheer volume of it may even raise an eyebrow or two among even the least uncaring and unWoke among us. See if YOU can find all the ethnic and gay jokes that are included! Watch "Doughnuts" below, then tell us how many you spotted!

Tom and Jerry are cookin' with 'Pots and Pans'

Pots and Pans (1932)
Starring: Unknown Singers
Directors: John Foster and George Rufle
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Another day dawns at Tom and Jerry's Diner. Hash is slung and songs are sung.

"Pots and Pans" debuted in movie theaters on May 15, 1932, and it was the tenth installment in the "Tom and Jerry" series. Our heroes are engaged in yet another business venture in this one--they operate a diner inside a converted railroad car. Subsequently, all the gags and zany action revolve around short-order cooking and the odd characters who are demanding to be fed.

Like most "Tom and Jerry" cartoons, this is essentially an animated music video, with the songs being the main attraction. There is almost no spoken dialogue in the film, and there is one scene where it's disposed of with silent movie-style pantomime. Further, this installment is almost entirely plot-free, with the music and the diner setting serving to string together a series of more-or-less self-contained gags. It's a mostly swift-moving film, and if you have enjoyed other "Tom and Jerry" adventures, you'll enjoy this one as well. The animation is a bit more simplistic than the norm, and the pace falters a bit as the climax is building, but overall it's a solid bit of fun.

But don't just take my word for it... I've embedded "Pots and Pans for your viewing pleasure below!

Tom & Jerry are here for what's 'In the Bag'

In the Bag (1932)
Directors: John Foster and George Rufle
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Tom and Jerry crash their plane in the cartoon wild, wild west. Surreal hi-jinx involving robbery and a vicious outlaw ensue.

"In the Bag" isn't exactly bad... but it isn't exactly good either. It's an unfocused scatter-shot collection of ideas and situations, some of which are related to the western setting, but most of which are generic gags that could work in any picture. Unfortunately, those generic gags are also nonsensical and unfunny; I expect non-sensical in a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon, but I also expect there to be more chuckles than this one delivered. The film also suffers from a sense of being padded, with several, otherwise amusing bits being dragged out to the point of almost outstaying their welcome while the animation loops two or three times with no variation.

The funniest sequences and bits of "In the Bag" come at the very beginning of the film--in the form of the disaster that causes our heroes to crash their plane in the wild west; at roughly the musical number at roughly halfway point involving some very unusual can-can dancers and scat-singing cowboys; and Jerry's heroic chase and capture of film's villain. The film's final series of jokes--in which Jerry designs to double-cross Tom and abscond with a bag full of cash--begin promising but they ultimately fall victim to the same lack of focus that crippled the picture overall and we're left in a closing bit that fizzles instead of sizzles. It's cute, but it doesn't provide a good close to the film, and it's the weakest ending to any of the "Tom and Jerry" cartoons I've watched so far.

"In the Bag" is neither among the best nor the worst entries in this series. I see glimmers of greatness here, but I think it was slapped together either in too big a hurry or with too little care for that greatness to be fully manifested. This causes me to give it the lowest possible rating of Five (on my usual 0-10 scale) that I can award it. It also causes me to observe that this is an all-too-common problem with "Tom and Jerry" and one of the reasons why they are not well-remembered today.

But how about you take a look at "In the Bag" and share what you think of it? You can watch it below, and leave a comment to this post, or pop on over to my Facebook page and speak up there!

Tom & Jerry destroy the fourth wall

Pencil Mania (1932)

Starring: Margie Hines (various voices)

Directors: John Foster and Geo. Stallings

Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

To Tom's amazement (and annoyance), Jerry uses a pencil to alter the reality of their cartoon universe in extreme ways.

"Pencil Mania" starts with Tom painting a portrait of a dancing cow, which is really not that strange an activity for a character who's flirted with mermaids at the bottom of the ocean. It's when Jerry pulls out a pencil and starts creating animations within the animated world, dispelling the 3D illusion of the animated world and revealing it's just flat lines moving at 32 frames a second.

This is one of those films that really needs to be experienced cold, and I can only spoil it by saying too much. In fact, the moment I chose to illustrate this post is a bit of a spoiler in itself--but it's milder than some of the things that precede it.

While an animated character breaking the fourth wall by taking advantage of the fact he exists in a two dimensional world where lines are put down to create an illusion of depth--Felix the Cat did it on a regular basis during the second half of the 1920s-- the extremes to which this idea is taken in "Pencil Mania" keep compounding until the film's finale where the fourth wall isn't just broken, it's completely demolished and the fragments are ground to dust and scattered on the four winds.

"Pencil Mania" is a wild and unpredictable ride from beginning to end. If you enjoy cartoons from the early sound era, surreal humor, or are just in the mood for something a strange and funny, you won't regret watching it from this very post, right here and now.

Tom & Jerry are up to 'Tightrope Tricks'

Tight Rope Tricks (1933)
Starring: Bonnie Poe (Voice of Female Tightrope Walker)
Directors: John Foster and George Rufle
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Tom and Jerry perform musical stunts on the tightrope and cause chaos at the circus.

"Tightrope Tricks" is another of the middle-of-the-pack entries in the "Tom and Jerry" series. There's nothing about it that's particularly outstanding, nor is there anything about it that's particularly bad. It's just a breezy and fairly mindless bit of entertainment.

In fact, it's so mindless that the writers didn't even pay much attention to the details of the already thin story. The set-up seems to waver back and forth between Tom and Jerry being actual circus performers and being members of the public who are just causing trouble on the grounds. After marching in the circus' parade (as if they are members of the troupe), they mess with an elephant and torment a lion (like obnoxious members of the pubic), perform on the high-wire (as if they are part of an established act), and so on. While either mode in which the main characters function leads to some amusing gags (even if I found myself rooting for the lions rather than the "heroes" during the film's climax), it really feels like two separate films were merged into one here.

One curious detail about "Tightrope Tricks" that's worth noting is illustrated below, with images taken from the scene where Tom changes into tights:

Either Tom likes wearing women's underwear, or he's actually a she! It doesn't make a difference one way or another for most of the "Tom and Jerry" cartoons, but it's a weird detail I think. It's certainly something one would only find a Pre-Code cartoon! Or am I misinterpreting Tom's undergarments? Why don't you take a few minutes and watch the cartoon for yourself and let me know what you think.

It's Tom and Jerry... and they're in 'Trouble'!

Trouble (1931)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors and Singers
Directors: John Foster and George Stallings
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Tom and Jerry are ambulance-chasing attorneys looking for a way to drum up business for their firm.

In "Trouble", we see Tom and Jerry making a go at being lawyers, one of the many professions they will work in over the course of the series. Out of their various career choices, this may be the most ill-considered, given they live in a world inhabited by rubbery beings who can transform physically on a whim and who can fall from great heights, get blown up, sink to the bottom of the ocean, and otherwise have disasters happen to them that should be fatal but doesn't leave a scratch or a bruise. 

During the six-minute running time of this film, we get to see our heroes sing about their law practice, engage in a clever attempt at guerilla marketing, and literally chase an ambulance when they think they have a lead on a client who is about to fall from the top of the Empire State Building following a botched docking attempt by a zeppelin. The concluding (and funniest) gag is at once a masterful bit of fourth-wall humor, as well as a reinforcement of my opening thought: Accident lawyers in Tom and Jerry's world have a difficult time making a living.

As "Tom and Jerry" cartoons go, this one is pretty mild. The music is fairly unremarkable, the gags mild and, with the exception of the one at the end, predictable. Nothing here is bad... it's just average. (But you can judge for yourself; take a few minutes and watch "Trouble" right now!)





One general thought about most cartoons of this era (late 1920s through the early 1930s) that often occurs to me but I forget to mention when writing these posts, is how they are essentially silent movies. Yes, there's music and singing and sound effects, but what passes for dialogue in minimal and often nothing more than sounds that are word-like but not actual words... or just stay words mixed in with mumbles and squeaks. I wonder how aggressively the studios that produced them pursued foreign markets. While there are unique American cultural and political references in them, it still seems they would have works almost as well in European nations.)

'Joint Wipers' is fun but not great

Joint Wipers (1932)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors (but there aren't many spoken lines)
Directors: John Foster and George Stallings
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Tom and Jerry are plumbers who are better at singing and dancing than fixing leaky pipes.

"Joint Wipers" is a so-so entry in the very uneven Tom and Jerry series. The animation is fluid and inventive, the situations are fairly bizarre and amusing, but there aren't any WOW! moments like there are in some of the others, and it doesn't have outstanding music like in "Piano Tooners" and "Redskin Blues". It's fun few minutes, but it's not much more than that. Further, and this is perhaps because this entry isn't as wild as others, some of the sequences drag a bit.

But don't just take my word for whether this cartoon is funny or not. Check it out for yourself, below, and let me know whether you agree or disagree with my take on it!