Oh, wait. This is Wile E. Coyote wearing a Tom costume. Isn’t it?
The cartoon starts with Jerry mouse drinking some kind of potion that makes him as fast as a, um, roadrunner. About the only thing missing in Is There a Doctor in the Mouse (1964) is a pile of purchases from the Acme Company.
We get Warners directors, Warners artists, a Warners writer, Warners sound effects and even Warners voices. We also get a slick-looking cartoon that’s really boring.
Actually we have Jay Ward sound effects.... and some WB.. On the OTHER hand WB brought in Alex Lovy from HB and then started using HB sound effects...SC:)
ReplyDeleteThis was the first Jones-produced T&J cartoon I ever saw, and was quite intrigued at the use of the Joe Siracusa 'Jay Ward' sound effects. Unfortunately none of the other 34 cartoons produced and/or directed by Jones used them.
DeleteYou'd think with Maltese's success with Bugs and Quick Draw, they'd have something worth watching. Then again, it's all in the direction.
ReplyDeleteAs theatricals of that period went, were these really that bad? I certainly don’t think so!
ReplyDeleteYes, Jones was certainly recreating Wile E. in the guise of Tom, but why hire Jones to direct if they wanted something different from “what he does”? You don’t hire Roger Corman to direct “Gone with the Wind”, and you don’t hire Michael Curtiz to direct “Saw (whatever the number)”.
…And Tom and Jerry would certainly fare far more worse in the years to come. I think we'd all agree on that!
Well, I watch a cartoon for entertainment, not to put it on sliding scale of comparison to Paul J. Smith or Filmation. The Jones Tom and Jerrys just aren't entertaining to me.
DeleteIn animation, you hire who's available from a very, very limited pool. Gene Deitch had been hired because he was available and had a reputation. So was Jones. I don't think MGM cared too much about anything other than putting cartoons on the screen it could later sell them to television. It's too bad because Jones was one of the best directors of all time and made some of my favourite cartoons.
And, yes, being dull is better than being paired with Willy Wonka.
Always kinda liked the Jones T&J episodes. Two or three quite good, and certainly entertaining (well, at least to me.) Always good looking, even if full blown belly laughs are MIA.
ReplyDeleteMost the Jones-produced T&J cartoons written or co-written by Maltese have a few decent gags or routines that distinguish them, and cut through Jones' overly glacial 'artsy' direction. In this cartoon, I do get a chuckle at Tom trying to envision (via thought clouds) what creature is stealing his food. He dismisses one option, then settles another equally absurd, winking at us and pointing at his head to let us know he's 'smart'. Wile E Coyote often confided in the viewing audience in this endearing manner.
ReplyDelete