Tweekums
As this short begins Spike the bulldog lies down to have a sleep; he can't though because of Tom and Jerry's fighting... he is surprisingly tolerant as Tom accidentally hits him with a frying pan, fires a shotgun over his head and even hits him with an axe! He finally reaches breaking point and tells Tom that he'll skin him alive if he hears another sound... Jerry of course sees this as an invitation to make a racket. He does everything he can to make a noise as Tom valiantly strives to silence his attempts. Tom eventually comes up with a plan... he pours a bottle of 'knock out drops' into Spikes mouth; after that nothing Jerry can do will wake him... well; almost nothing!I was surprised at just how amusing I found this short as Spike isn't my favourite Tom and Jerry character; here he was funny because he was surprisingly reasonable; one might have expected him to get violent the first time he was hit by a frying pan! The way Jerry tries to make a noise seemed far more malicious than usual with some of the things seeming violent even by the standards of Tom and Jerry... this of course added to the amusement! Not all the laughs came from the violence though; Tom's lullaby to Spike was pretty funny.
ccthemovieman-1
"If I hear one more sound, I'm going to skin you alive!"That's all Jerry needs to hear after eavesdropping on Butch's threat to Tom. Poor Butch had been trying to take a nap and been constantly interrupted by Tom making a racket chasing Jerry around the house.The lengths Tom goes to keep things quiet, and the things Jerry does to produce noise so that the big bulldog will wake up and beat the tar out of the cat are all very funny. There are some excellent sight gags connected with the above, many defying the law of physics!This cartoon also featured the first time I've ever heard Tom sing a lullaby to Spike, and that was funny, too. "Go to sleep, go to sleep, close your big, bloodshot eyes," is just one of the verses he sings. "You're a dope, you're a lug, and I hope you don't wake up."My favorite "bit" was Tom's drum solo on the out-cold dog. This cartoon, by the way, won an Oscar. I have no arguments with that.
MartinHafer
This Tom and Jerry cartoon features Spike the dog trying to keep everything quiet so his little boy can nap. But, as usual, Tom and Jerry make a huge racket trying to kill each other. So, Spike threatens to beat Tom up if the noise continues (how Jerry didn't get the blame, too, is beyond me). Despite this imminent threat of severe bodily harm, Tom wakes the pup again and again and even goes so far as tossing the puppy about and getting him covered in mud. Tom seems to definitely have a death wish. Plus, Jerry takes full advantage of this and again and again does what he can to wake the pup--knowing Tom will get the blame.This cartoon gets high marks for being a lot of fun. Also, like all Tom and Jerry cartoons of he 40s, it has absolutely top-notch animation. While this cartoon isn't quite as original as some Warner Brothers cartoons, the animation is clearly superior. A wonderful toon.
movieman_kev
Spike the dog is attempting to sleep and if there's any commotion that wakes him up he will beat Tom the cat to a pulp. Out of this simple plot, comes one of the best Tom and Jerry shorts, as Jerry does pretty much everything in his power to get Spike to wake up so Tom can get a vicious beating. Simply great, genius in it's simplicity and utterly hilarious. And goes to show what a great addition Spike truly was to the comedic duo of Tom and Jerry. Kudos all around. This award winning cartoon can be found on disc one of the Spotlight collection DVD of "Tom & Jerry" My Grade: A
AD
