Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Tom and Jerry:1956


Probably the most depressing tone in a Tom and Jerry cartoon can be found in "Blue Cat Blues". The film opens with Tom sitting upon train tracks attempting to commit suicide. Jerry watches from above and, through a voice-over track, tells us what brought Tom to this low end.


Tom and Jerry are apparently friends this time, that is until a female cat saunters by. Tom is smitten and becomes the brunt of several visual gags. He is magnetically drawn to her and he is literally putty in her hands, as she sculpts his face into a donkey's.


Of course, in every romance there is a rival and in this case, the rival is Butch, who continuously upstages Tom for the female cat's affections.


Exhausting all of his money to impress the girl, Tom is left broke, beaten and defeated as he realizes that the female cat has married Butch. Jerry concludes the tale of heartbreak, glad that his girlfriend is true to him...or is she? Nope, she too has eloped with another mouse.


Tom makes room for the despondent mouse next to him on the train tracks. As the two await the end of thier lives, a train whistle can be heard approaching just before the iris out.

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