Calypso Cat
Calypso Cat is a Tom and Jerry animated short film, produced in 1961 and released on June 22, 1962.[1] It was the seventh of the thirteen cartoons in the series to be directed by Gene Deitch and produced by William L. Snyder in Czechoslovakia.
| Calypso Cat | |
|---|---|
 The title card of Calypso Cat. | |
| Directed by | Gene Deitch Animation direction: Václav Bedřich |
| Produced by | William L. Snyder |
| Story by | Larz Bourne |
| Starring | Allen Swift |
| Music by | Steven Konichek |
| Animation by | Jindra Barta Antonín Bures Mirek Kacena Milan Klikar Vera Kudrnová Vera Maresová Olga Sisková Zdenka Skrípková Zdenek Smetana (all uncredited) Checking: Ludmila Kopecná (uncredited) |
| Backgrounds by | Background paint: Bohumil Siska (uncredited) Assistant background paint: Miluse Hluchanicová (uncredited) |
| Color process | Metrocolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date | June 22, 1962 |
Running time | 8:00 |
| Country | United States Czechoslovakia |
| Language | English |
While the Deitch shorts were generally negatively-received by the Tom and Jerry fans, this particular short is often considered as one of the best of the thirteen cartoons. This is due to its love triangle that harkens back to the Hanna-Barbera era, as well as the background art and the calypso-flavored soundtrack.
Plot
While Tom is chasing Jerry around a dock with a rope, Jerry stops by a stack of passenger's luggage. He opens a bag on the top and a bowling ball rolls out of it. It rolls down the stack of luggage and hits Tom's head. Then Tom gets a bump on his head. He takes the bowling ball off his head for it to hit Jerry. Jerry is shown sticking out his tongue at him. Tom runs after Jerry, then he steps on a wooden plank, making it rise. It hits him in the face and he falls off the ship into the sea. The mouse looks underneath to see Tom sinking into the sea. Soon Tom gets up from the side of the ship and smashes him with a plate of jelly. Tom plays with the jelly using one of his fingers. But Jerry eats the jelly and then runs off. As Tom is chasing Jerry for another time, he spots a female cat and instantly falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Jerry places a box of matchsticks near his foot, takes a matchstick from it, scratches it on the box to produce fire, and lights up fire on his foot. The female cat appears to return Tom's interest, so Tom sneaks aboard the ship when the female cat and her owner have just boarded it. But the captain throws him off the ship. He ends up hitting a post and landing on a pier. Jerry splashes a cup of water on his face to wake him up. Next, he follows Tom onto the ship and proceeds to interfere with Tom's subsequent flirtations.
Later, during the cruise, Tom gets a tray of cakes and feeds the female cat with it. Seeing Tom acting as if he is having a sweet date with her, Jerry kicks one of the back feet of the deckchair the female cat was sitting on and it breaks. The female cat falls as the deckchair falls. Tom tries to prevent the tray of refreshments from getting knocked over onto her, but it does get knocked over onto her. Seeing this, Jerry laughs. Tom lifts up the tray from the female cat's face and is shocked to see some of the refreshments being knocked over onto her. He then gets a towel to soak it in water before using it to wipe the damaged refreshment off her face. Jerry makes the cat trip over his foot and he falls near the female cat. He manages to wipe the damaged refreshment off her face but not the cream from the refreshments. So he also wipes the cream off her face. Thinking that Tom was the one who kicked the deckchair she was sitting on and made it fall, she hurls the tray onto Tom's head. The tray becomes bell shaped when it lands on Tom's head. Seeing a vase with flowers inside, Tom decides to impress the female cat by letting her smell the flowers. Then Jerry puts the flowers into the spout of a fire hose. Not noticing that the flowers were put into the spout by Jerry, Tom carries the hose which contains the flowers in its spout and proceeds to get the female cat's attention. The female cat smells the flowers. Unfortunately, Jerry turns on the fire hose when she was doing so. Water sprays onto her face and Tom is terrified to see the flowers and the female cat being boosted by the water into the air. He stretches out his hands to catch the female cat. After she emerges from a vent, Tom neatens her bow tie. She punches Tom on the nose angrily, making it hang over his chin. Then the cat fixes his nose back to normal. When the ship arrives at its destination, (a Caribbean island), Tom manages to make amends with the female cat for Jerry caused him to provoke her. A local cat, Calypso Musician cat, who is playing the steel drum spots the female cat and falls in love with her. Tom is jealous when the female cat appears to pay heed to Calypso Cat's affections. Jerry tricks Calypso Cat into making Tom feel guilty by hitting the steel drum with a stone, which causes Calypso cat to think Tom has kicked it. Obviously, Tom expresses his innocence and the two start to fight, using the drum sticks and steel drum as weapons. Tom loses the fight, and Calypso Musician cat proceeds to walk off, accompanied by the female cat.
Jerry then lights Tom's feet with fire again to get his attention. Now, Tom finally realizes that Jerry was responsible for sabotaging his potential relationship, so the chase continues on the dock in a crazed fury. Afterwards, the chase proceeds onto the ship. Despite being chased by Tom, Jerry is smiling in the camera for the episode's conclusion as if it was all worth it.
Production
- In scoring the Tom and Jerry series, newcoming composer Steven Konichek "found a way forwards" through "avoiding old-style chase music" and "concentrating on atmospheric underscoring" in the Deitch shorts; his cues in this particular cartoon have been described as "dissonantly jazzy".[2]
References
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 150–151. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
- Cooke, Mervyn (2008). A History of Film Music. New York: Cambridge University Press.