The Cat Above and the Mouse Below
| The Cat Above and the Mouse Below | |
|---|---|
| Tom and Jerry series | |
 The title card of The Cat Above and the Mouse Below | |
| Directed by | Chuck Jones |
| Produced by | Chuck Jones |
| Story by |
Michael Maltese Chuck Jones |
| Voices by |
Terence Monk Stan Freberg |
| Music by | Eugene Poddany |
| Animation by |
Tom Ray Dick Thompson Ben Washam Ken Harris Don Towsley |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) |
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| Color process | Metrocolor |
| Running time | 6:27 |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Pent-House Mouse |
| Followed by | Is There a Doctor in the Mouse? |
The Cat Above and The Mouse Below is second of thirty-four Tom and Jerry shorts produced by Chuck Jones, released in 1964. This cartoon is reminiscent of the 1950 short, Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl.
Plot
In a concert entitled "Signor Thomasino Catti-Cazzaza Baritone", Tom is a famous legendary baritone singer who will perform at a concert to sing Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville. Tom arrives in a very long limousine, walks into his backstage to applause and begins to sing for the audience watching. While all this is taking place, down below the stage, Jerry is trying to sleep, but is awakened by Tom's operatic tones.
Jerry tries to gesture for Tom to stop, by banging on the stage with a toothbrush but in return Tom while singing, stomps on the floor enough to get Jerry to shake and bounce around the room. Jerry gets angered and uses a hammer to throw Tom from a floorboard in the air and end up falling in his suit improperly. Tom is forced to pause the concert to go change back to normal.
Next, Tom sings again, this time, stomping the floor while performing. Creating a huge rumble in Jerry's house, much harder than before,and, when Tom stomps really intense, Jerry's bed snaps to pieces. Jerry thinks it's war and decides to get revenge. Tom continues the performance and Jerry holds up a sign through the vent that has written on it "PSST!" Tom sings as he peeks through and Jerry ties his mouth shut with a rubber band. Tom, in retaliation uses the rubber band and shoots a staple into the vent, which scoops up Jerry, and hangs him by neck to a wall. Jerry makes an annoyed expression.
As Tom sings in the middle of his performance, Jerry manages to get free from the staple and licks a lemon so Tom gets sour by the thought of the scene. Tom is sweating, gets disgusted, his lips shrink and then frustrated goes to Jerry. While singing, he twists the lemon on Jerry's head. Tom returns to the spotlight and Jerry drills a hole in the floor and pulls Tom's front garments off with a wire. Tom pulls the wire up and down and wrenches it from Jerry's grip. While Tom is singing the "Figaro!" part, Jerry aims a plunger at Tom's mouth and scores a direct hit. Jerry imitates Tom mockingly; and is stuck with the plunger. Tom uses the same bow Jerry used and shoots him into the wall.
Jerry frees himself and unintentionally drops a huge sandbag on Tom as he is reaching the climax, sending him crashing through the floor. Everything is silent until Jerry walks out in a tuxedo and sings the rest of the performance himself (albeit sped up and in falsetto). An infuriated Tom raps on the floor with a broom and sends Jerry flying, but this just adds to Jerry's drama singing the final few notes. Jerry gets all the applause and the curtains draw. "The End" appears on the curtains.
External links
- The Cat Above and the Mouse Below at The Big Cartoon DataBase
- The Cat Above and the Mouse Below at the Internet Movie Database
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