The Bowling Alley-Cat (1942)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Directors:

Joseph Barbera
William Hanna

Release Date:

18 July 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Animation | Short | Comedy

Plot:

As the title implies, Tom and Jerry are in a bowling alley. Both spend a lot of time sliding on the well-polished lanes. Eventually, Jerry takes up residence among the pins and Tom tries to bowl him down. |

Plot Keywords:

Bowling | Tom And Jerry | Bowling Alley | Cartoon Cat | Cat Versus Mouse

Runtime:

8 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (8137) | South Korea:All | UK:U

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Movie Connections:

Followed by Catty-Cornered (1966)

Something new

This is one of the first Tom and Jerry shorts that doesn't take place inside a generic 1940s house but inside, as the title would suggest, a bowling alley. This new environment allows for fresher gags and more imagination. There are some inventive sequences and it doesn't resort to the ancient clichés of Jerry plugging Tom's tail into a power socket or putting his tail in a mousetrap.

There are no humans to be seen at all and it appears that Tom and Jerry at alone in the bowling alley. Which is good. I find that extra characters such as stray cats and unseen humans (including the staggeringly un-offensive Mammy-Two-Shoes) to be a distraction. New locations, new torture devices and no diversions would make Tom and Jerry funny every single time. Too bad they mostly never really turned out that way.