The Cat Concerto (1947)

Jerry is determined to disrupt Tom's concert while Tom fights him with the piano without missing a single note.

Directors:

Joseph Barbera, William Hanna

Writers:

William Hanna, Joseph Barbera

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 nomination.

Storyline

Tom enters from stage left in white tie and tails, sits at the piano, gets his focus as the orchestra in the pit beneath him warms up, and begins to play Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody." Unbeknownst to Tom and the audience, Jerry is asleep across several of the low-note keys inside the instrument, so Tom's playing eventually wakes him. Jerry is pummeled by hammers, bounced by wires, and squeezed by Tom as the cat tries to play the concerto while dispensing with Jerry. Jerry's defensive antics add to the brio of the program and answer Tom with Jerry's own skillful musical attack. By the concerto's end, the duet leaves only one animal standing for the audience's applause.

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Plot Keywords:

piano | applause | cat | concert | orchestra | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Family | Music

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Release Date:

26 April 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Cat's Concerto

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

8 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was the focus of a short and bitter flurry of allegations between Warner Brothers and MGM of plagiarism over similarities between this film and WB's Rhapsody Rabbit. The controversy began when raw film from "Rhapsody Rabbit" was sent to be processed at a central film lab which serviced both Warners and MGM. By accident, the finished negatives were sent to MGM, who eventually returned them, but Friz Freleng (the director on "Rhapsody Rabbit") suspected that Hanna and Barbera or others at MGM may have viewed the film before sending it on to Warner Bros. Hanna and Barbera counter-charged that Freleng had somehow overheard their ideas for "The Cat Concerto" and acted on it.

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Connections

Followed by The Vanishing Duck (1958)

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Soundtracks

"Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C Sharp Minor"
(1847) (uncredited)
Music by Franz Liszt

User Reviews

pure magic

Tom is playing Hungarian Rhapsody #2 for an audience, but when he wakes up Jerry, he must maintain his perfect piano playing abilities while contending with the mouse. I know there was a controversy between this short and the WB's Looney Tune short "Rhapsody Rabbit" (which is a funny short as well and the similarities are a lot), but I feel that this Tom and Jerry short is the clear winner. It is damn near pitch perfect and one of the best Tom and jerry cartoon shorts of all time. And rightfully so. The classic tune meets classic animation. This award winning cartoon can be found on disc one of the Spotlight collection DVD of "Tom & Jerry"

My Grade: A+