The Missing Mouse
| The Missing Mouse | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Story by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby |
| Starring | William Hanna Paul Frees Harry E. Lang |
| Music by | Scott Bradley (theme song only) Edward H. Plumb |
| Animation by | Ray Patterson Ed Barge Kenneth Muse Irven Spence |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 6:29 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Missing Mouse is a 1952 American one-reel animated cartoon and the 73rd Tom and Jerry cartoon, released in theaters on December, 20 1952.[n 1][1]
Plot
While running away from Tom around the house, Jerry gets accidentally all covered in white shoe polish. Tom hears an annoucement on the radio informing the population that a white mouse, after having swallowed an explosive product, has fled from a laboratory and that the animal is extremely sensitive to sound, which would trigger the explosion and cause enormous damage. Tom then sees that Jerry is all white and does his best to prevent him to be attained by noise or harm of any kind.
Production and release
- Directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera[2]
- Animation by Ed Barge, Ray Patterson, Kenneth Muse, and Irven Spence
- Layouts by Robert Gentle
- Music by Edward H. Plumb
- Produced by Fred Quimby
- The short was released on December 15, 1952.[3]
Home media
The short was released on VHS/DVD/Blu-ray in various collections, including Tom and Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology, The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume I,[4] Tom and Jerry - Hijinks and Shrieks (2003),[5] Tom and Jerry: The Classic Collection, Tom and Jerry: 85th Anniversary Kids Collection, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, and Tom & Jerry's Greatest Chases: Volume Four in 2010.[6]
Reception
"This is fast and furious, rating with the better T and J entries. EXCELLENT.", wrote a contemprary review in The Exhibitor.[7]
Rodney Figuereido of Animated Views wrote: "This is a fun short with Jerry at his most devilish persona as he tortures Tom into thinking he is about to blow up."[6] Ben Simon, of the same website, found the short "ma(de) the most out of its "threat on the loose" concept".[4]
Describing Tom's sudden ageing sequence in the short, Paul Wells commented: "The 'body' in animated cartoons can be free from ageing. Tom and Jerry, it seems, were perennially the same age in the Hanna Barbera period, unless 'ageing' itself could be used as a gag as, for example, in The Missing Mouse [...], when Tom ages with worry as he realises that the white mouse he is vigorously washing is not Jerry but an explosive mouse who has escaped from a laboratory and will ‘go off’ at the slightest touch!"[8]
Thad Komorowski of Cartoon Research remarked that the short was "(h)istorically significant as the only short from the original MGM cartoon studio not scored by Scott Bradley. Disney regular Ed Plumb fills in, giving this cartoon a chilling, spidery feel as it concludes with the destruction of the explosive white mouse and the whole city."[9]
Notes
- ^ Various sources indicate, apparently erroneously, 1953.
References
- ^ T. R. Adams (August 19, 1991). Tom and Jerry: Fifty Years of Cat and Mouse. Internet Archive. Crescent Books. pp. 131–132, 155. ISBN 978-0-517-05688-2.
- ^ "The Missing Mouse (1953) - The Internet Animation Database". www.intanibase.com. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
- ^ Motion Picture Herald. (1953). United States: Quigley Publishing Company. Vol. 190. P. 9.
- ^ a b Simon, Ben. "The Art Of Tom And Jerry: Volume One – Animated Views". Retrieved December 23, 2025.
- ^ "Tom and Jerry - Hijinks and Shrieks - The Internet Animation Database". www.intanibase.com. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
- ^ a b Figueiredo, Rodney. "Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases: Volume 4 – Animated Views". Retrieved December 23, 2025.
- ^ The Exhibitor (Nov 1952-Jan 1953) General Edition. Media History Digital Library. Philadelphia, Jay Emanuel Publications, Inc. 1952. p. 183.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ The gendered object. Internet Archive. Manchester, UK ; New York : Manchester University Press ; New York : Distributed exclusively in the USA and Canada by St. Martin's Press. 1996. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-7190-4474-8.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "Thad's Review – Part 3: "Tom & Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology 1940-1958" |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved December 23, 2025.