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Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: July 27, 1963
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★
Review:
‘Penthouse Mouse’ was the first cartoon in a series of 34 Tom & Jerry cartoons produced by Chuck Jones, after he was fired by Warner Brothers.
Jones had taken all his staff with him, including writer Michael Maltese and co-director Maurice Noble. Even Warner Bros. voice Mel Blanc contributes to the film. The result is typical Chuck Jones: highly stylized backgrounds, excellent animation, and great facial expressions and poses. All this makes a great improvement on the Gene Deitch films.
Oddly enough ‘Penthouse Mouse’ borrows its theme precisely from one of Jones’ predecessor’s films: the Gene Deitch’s Tom & Jerry short ‘Buddies Thicker than Water‘ (1962). But now the story is reversed: Tom has made it on the top floor of a skyscraper, while Jerry is the hungry tramp, roaming the streets. Unfortunately, the story is not very consistent, and the result is not really good. Jones could do better as he was going to show in his next Tom & Jerry cartoon, ‘The Cat Above, The Mouse Below‘.
Watch ‘Penthouse Mouse’ yourself and tell me what you think:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuKOXq3gFlk
This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 128
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Carmen Get It
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: The Cat Above, The Mouse Below
Director: Gene Deitch
Release Date: November 1962
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★
Review:
In ‘Buddies Thicker than Water’ Jerry has it made, living in a luxury penthouse on the top of a huge skyscraper. Meanwhile Tom is freezing in the snow below.
Tom calls his former foe for help and Jerry is willing to take him in. But Tom double-crosses his savior and in return the mouse haunts Tom out of the house.
This cartoon has got one of the best and most straightforward stories of all Gene Deitch’s Tom & Jerry cartoons, which makes it stand out of the series. Unfortunately the short is very low on gags, and the animation and staging are very poor, as always in Gene Deitch’s Tom and Jerries. I guess the cartoon’s highlight is the modernly designed interior of the apartment.
Watch an excerpt from ‘Buddies Thicker than Water’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 126
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Sorry Safari
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Carmen Get It
‘Buddies Thicker than Water’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Tom and Jerry – The Gene Deitch Collection’ and the European DVD-Box ‘Tom and Jerry Collection’
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