Mouse for Sale

One of the smarter things that William Hanna and Joseph Barbera did with the Tom and Jerry cartoons was to switch the winner of the outcome of the battles that the cat and mouse had with each other. There were times where Jerry won and times when Tom won (though it be said that Jerry won more that Tom). Doing this kept the series interesting and fun. By not doing this - always having the same character as the winner - would have given the T and J cartoons a lopsided and frustrated feel. And "Mouse For Sale" proves this point of being balanced... it's one of the times that Jerry Mouse deserved his butt-whooping by Tom Cat.

As I wrote for my review for "Buddies ...Thicker Than Water" I've always liked Tom more than Jerry and most of my favorite shorts of the series had Tom as the winner (but not always - "Tennis Chumps" was one of the shorts where Jerry clearly was the winner and a cartoon I've always enjoyed, Mice Follies is another). Why? I guess it's because I've always associated myself far more with Tom's snide personality than with Jerry's self-congratulating persona. To me Jerry was always an obnoxious little smart-ass who always got a thrill out of getting the best of the cat and somehow or other got rewarded for it with a victory at the end of the cartoon... and sometimes it was a victory that the mouse clearly didn't deserve. But not this time! Mouse For Sale is one of top times where Hanna and Barbera gave us a reason why we should sneer at Jerry and Tom became the winner.

The cartoon starts out with Tom seeing an ad in a paper for a pet store who needs white mice. So Tom grabs Jerry, slaps on a coat of white paint, and then swaps him at the store for big bucks. Tom's owner then finds the money (after Tom hides it underneath a rug), goes out with the dough, buys and brings back home a "cute little white mouse"... all of this to Tom's horror. When Tom tries to take care of Jerry, our feline gets smacked upside the head with a broom by his owner. Of course Jerry takes full advantage of this situation to get Tom clobbered over and again. But fear not... Tom outwits the rodent and Jerry gets a good comeuppance at the cartoons end (I'm just not saying how Tom does it).

Mouse For Sale stands out as one of the funniest of the T and J shorts because of the generous amount of sight gags. Example... when the owner brings Jerry home and Tom sees him for the first time Tom's face comes off his head for a moment as though it's a mask he is wearing, Jerry's fan dance with a couple of feathers to fool the owner into thinking he is still a white mouse when some of the white comes off, Tom's reaction when Jerry jumps out of the broom closet (one of the best gags), and so on. Also Hanna and Barbera really go into the personalities of the characters. Tom is still snide, but you like him here (whereas you disliked him before in some other T and J cartoons) thanks to Jerry's irritating teasing. And this cartoon is included on the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Volume 3 DVD set.

So rejoice Tom Cat lovers... Mouse For Sale is indeed one of Tom's best wins!

Tom sees that the local pet store is paying big money for white mice, so he pops a coat of paint on poor Jerry and collects his cash, which he stashes under a rug. Tom's owner finds the money and goes shopping, returning with an adorable white mouse (no prizes for guessing it's Jerry!) that she has bought from the pet shop.

The rest of the cartoon sees Tom trying to show his owner that Jerry is nothing more than a plain brown house mouse, but every time he gets rid of the rodent's white coating, Jerry finds another way of making himself white again. Don't expect much in the way of innovation—this is another fairly routine episode for Tom and Jerry—although there is one great gag that sees a shocked Tom's eyeballs leave their sockets, roll down his arms and back into his head.

It's the average Tom and Jerry fun. I felt it could have had more to it, especially anything instead of that hasty laconic end which I didn't like. Being an average Tom and Jerry movie at the moment was a sin I suppose. The main team, which made the glory days, was all alive; directors (Joseph Barbera), (William Hanna), musician (Scott Bradley), and being led by producer (Fred Quimby) himself. But sure not all the works of one group of artists had to be all classics.

Many thoughts come to my mind whenever I see the housewife of the old Tom and Jerry shorts, the one with the never-seen face. The thing is she always has very thin, and I mean very thin, waist. Not to mention her blown skirt, with the well-mannered language. Back then, the figure of the woman had to be just one all along. While the opposite is exclusive for the black servant (nothing but fat and noisy!). I believe that's why the word "mold" doesn't differ much from the word "mould"!

Anyway, did you hear the voice of her this time? Oh God. The surprise just hit me; it is (Amy Adams)!

True that I knew later that it was the voice of actress (June Foray), who vocally played the lady, along with numerous characters, in old cartoons. But according to the striking similarity between the 2 voices, you'll bet that (Adams) traveled in time to make it, then returned. Here's something for the sci-fi mysteries writers to inspire!

If you skipped this one, you wouldn't lose much. It's interesting only for that resemblance. Whether it's (Adams) or (Foray), that smooth tender tone is something to enjoy, and remember this movie for.

There was nothing I didn't like about Mouse for Sale. The story is well written and original, with Tom painting Jerry white to sell him for money starting off as the main basis of the story. Here we see Jerry dancing as well, he is a really good dancer and cute at it, and I will admit the ending surprised me. That's not all, the animation is beautiful, the music is lovely, the minimal dialogue is nice and relevant and the sight gags are clever and funny. Both Tom and Jerry are on top form here, and as well as being funny, this cartoon was also really pleasant to watch. Overall, another really delightful Tom and Jerry cartoon and one I recommend highly. 10/10 Bethany Cox