Calypso Cat

Director: Gene Deitch
Release Date: June, 1962
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★½
Review:

Tom chases Jerry at the harbor. There he falls in love with a kitten and he follows her on a cruise ship to the Caribbean. All the time Jerry tries to break their love. He succeeds in the end, and Tom chases Jerry back into the harbor.

Although Jerry is quite unsympathetic in all Gene Deitch’s Tom & Jerry films, his character is particularly nasty in this one. Unlike a Hanna-Barbera Tom & Jerry like ‘Springtime for Thomas’ (1946), one cannot sympathize with Jerry’s actions, as his motive remains unclear.

The calypso cat from the title only plays a small role as Tom’s rival on a Caribbean island, to witch the cat loses his love interest. Nevertheless, the animation of the calypso cat dancing to his own steeldrumming forms the highlight of the cartoon.

Watch ‘Calypso Cat’ yourself and tell me what you think:

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 121
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Landing Stripling
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Dicky Moe

‘Calypso Cat’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Tom and Jerry – The Gene Deitch Collection’