Between 1961 and 1962, MGM released 13 Tom and Jerry cartoons produced at a Czechoslovakian animation studio under the guidance of expatriate Americans Gene Deitch and William N. Synder. It is safe to say that very few people adore these films – with their cheapjack animation, irritating sound effects and stupid scripts, these Tom and Jerry endeavors represent some of the shoddiest animation ever put forth by a Hollywood studio.
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Notable as the final animated short produced and released by MGM, this 1967 film is adapted from Frank Tashlin’s 1947 children’s book about a bear who awakens from hibernation to find a construction site was erected around his cave while he was sleeping. A construction foreman accosts the bear and demands to know why he’s not working, but when the bear identifies himself the foreman insists he is only “a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat.” The bear insists he is not an employee, so he taken by the foreman up the corporate chain of command – to the general manager, the third vice president, the second vice president, the first vice president and the president – who all inform the astonished ursine interloper that he is “a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat.” The bear is then taken to a zoo where the occupants in a cage of bears affirms the executives’ insistence that the bear is not a bear.
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BOOTLEG FILES 915: “Casanova wider Willen” (1931 German-language version of “Parlor, Bedroom and Bath” starring Buster Keaton).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the proverbial cracks.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It was released as a Region 2 DVD in Europe.
When the silent cinema disappeared in favor of the talkies, film producers found themselves with a tricky situation regarding the international distribution of their work. In the silent cinema, new intertitles in different languages could easily be edited into the prints sent around the world. But once there was a dialogue soundtrack, it appeared that films would be stuck in nations where the actors’ language was spoken.
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MGM’s 1930 film “The Rogue Song,” an adaptation of the Robert Bodansky-A. M. Willner operetta “Gypsy Love,” was the only sound-era production included on the American Film Institute’s 1980 list of the ten most wanted lost films. The inclusion of this title on the list was peculiar at many levels. For starters, its presence as the sole post-silent era entry, it inadvertently gave the wrong impression that few sound-era films were lost.
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I grew up watching Tom and Jerry and have remained a fan well in to my thirties, despite their troubled history. Despite the great Hanna Barbera MGM shorts that made me laugh, there’s also the god awful Chuck Jones’ shorts, the watered down remakes, and reboots, and of course the endless string of cheaply made straight to DVD animated sequels where the pair duke it out.
With the upcoming big budget movie hitting limited theaters and VOD this week, I thought I’d list my top five all time favorite Tom and Jerry shorts. While I’m skeptical that “Tom and Jerry” will be anything but mediocre, I still hold a place in my heart for the Tom Cat and Rascally Brown Mouse.
What are Some of Your Favorite “Tom and Jerry” shorts?
Greta Garbo was a hypnotic yet elusive commodity who continues to intrigue and obsess audiences. In this week’s episode of “The Online Movie Show,” actor-writer Joe Mannetti offers his insight on the never-ending Garbo allure.
Jean Harlow was Hollywood’s original blonde bombshell, and she lit up the Pre-Code screen with spirit and sexiness that has never been duplicated. In this episode of “The Online Movie Show,” James L. Neibaur, author of “The Jean Harlow Films,” pays tribute to the great star’s too-brief life and stellar career.