Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"The Missing Mouse" is a cartoon from 1953, so this one has its 65th anniversary next year. The title makes obvious that this is either a Disney Mickey cartoon or an MGM Tom and Jerry cartoon and with the collaboration of Hanna, Barbera and Quimby, it is of course the latter. This is not one of the earliest works still, but one of the more (maybe most) famous cartoons starring the world's famous cat and mouse duo from the 1950s. It is also shorter than the early ones who made it to 8 minutes occasionally. This one here runs for 6 minutes roughly. It starts with the usual chase sequences, but then we find out that a white mouse is on the run from a laboratory and it is on the danger of exploding. Jerry soaked in powder or milk or anything hears it too and starts pulling pranks on Tom for the rest of the film. Until he ends up in the water and the color vanishes. But this is when the real white mouse shows up and Tom thinks it's Jerry again. These moments of Tom realizing it is the real white mouse and then hearing it is not a danger anymore were maybe the funniest from this short film. It was also interesting to see Jerry in a different color I think. The comedy was okay, not too good, not too bad. The story was a bit absurd. And how did Nelly Furtado say already, there is a lot of sh*t on the radio. All in all, not one of the best or worst Tom and Jerry cartoons. Worth checking out overall.
JAPfeif
In reply to the quote "I don't know whether Hanna/Barbera acknowledged this problem in this kids' film, but this is pretty shocking to me. Nobody really don't die in these films unless were talking about Itchy and Scratchy, and even if they do, we're shown how their souls leave their body and ascend/descend to heaven/hell in some amusing way, but at least they're back in the next film." Well, not exactly. In "The Two Mouseketeers", Tom actually gets BEHEADED in the finale! There was one other one that no one actually died but had some rather sinister implications. I can't recall the episode title but it was on the beach I think, and it was one with Jerry & (I think) that little yellow duck. At the end, Tom has them cornered under a beach umbrella & the final shot shows Tom covering Jerry & the "camera" (and hence, the audience's view) with the umbrella with some appropriately ominous-sounding music playing. It is left to our imagination as to what happens to Jerry & the duck by Tom.
ccthemovieman-1
Jerry is raiding the refrigerator. Tom spots him and gives him a bashing, big-time. Jerry runs for his hole but smashes into the wall knocking himself out cold. Tom goes into the other room to relax on an easy chair and read his girlie-magazine called "Wow!"A can of white paint falls on Jerry and wakes him up. He's all white now. Tom is listening to the radio when the program is interrupted with a bulletin, "A white mouse has escaped from the experimental laboratory and has consumed enough of a new secret explosive to blow up an entire city! If you see this white mouse, telephone officials and remember, the slightest jar will explode the white mouse and destroy the entire city. Be careful...please...be very careful!"Jerry overhears this excited announcement, looks at himself, and has devilish plans to tease and torment Tom. This is VERY funny material. However, things backfire later and Jerry accidentally falls in some water in the kitchen sink, turns back to brown and doesn't know it until after Tom gets a little revenge and then Jerry sees himself in a mirror.Tom literally boots Jerry out of the house, but the real white mouse appears, of course, and sneaks inside and - yes - Tom thinks it's Jerry....until......This was an outstanding episode full of good laughs.
ville-5
Tom mistakes Jerry for an escaped lab mouse which will produce an a-bomb proportioned explosion even with the slightest hit. Violently funny situations occur as the white bleached Jerry torments Tom by threatening to fall down or hit himself with a claw hammer, and of course he loses the bleach without realizing it, quite predictably I might add.I'm unsure whether I've seen Jerry get this much hammering (literally) in any of these cartoons. Usually it's Tom who suffers but this time he only gets the token iron on his face and some of that hammering as well. What really struck me was that the real lab mouse - a cute and benevolent little rodent without the violent streak Jerry has - in the explodes in Tom's face and while Tom survives the blast that wrecks at least the house (or even the city?), the lab mouse apparently goes to meet its creator.I don't know whether Hanna/Barbera acknowledged this problem in this kids' film, but this is pretty shocking to me. Nobody really don't die in these films unless were talking about Itchy and Scratchy, and even if they do, we're shown how their souls leave their body and ascend/descend to heaven/hell in some amusing way, but at least they're back in the next film.The lab mouse never resurrected.
AD
