Instead, we’ll simply post the frames from a scene in Mouse Into Space (released March 1962). Todd Dockstader’s story has Jerry reading a newspaper ad encouraging mice to enlist in the space programme, promising “There are no cats in outer space!” Here's an in-between as Jerry turns to look at Tom.
Fed up with Tom trying to kill him, first with a pistol, and then a bomb, Jerry has had enough, and storms off out of the scene after slamming down a newspaper. The action takes place pretty quickly, though it still seems a little jerky on screen. These are the drawings, one for each frame (exceptions noted below).
The drawing below is held for four frames.
The next two drawings are held for two frames.
33 frames in all, less than a second and a half. Lots of jagged impact animation, isn't there?
Vaclav Bedrich is given an "animation director" credit, though Deitch is credited as the director. Who did what is your guess. Gene isn't around any more to ask.
Jerky? In a Deitch T&J? NO!
ReplyDeleteThe sixties Tom and Jerry cartoons have their detractors, but one element in their favor is the absence of the elaborately rendered welts and bruises of the original set.
ReplyDeleteI always had an odd affinity for the aesthetic of Deitch’s Tom and Jerry shorts. They occupy this sort of liminal space between American Midcentury and Mod-Euro-Communist oddity — if ol’ Disney’s Fantasia looked to transport viewers to the concert hall, then I guess Deitch’s excursion accidentally transports you to the desolate echoey halls of some brutalist Eastern Bloc ministry.
ReplyDelete(That was probably the first and last time someone psycho-analyzed these shorts. But still, they have more aesthetic intrigue than the plastic of the 70s/80s.)
Count me in as well. For some reason I've rewatched Deitch and Jones Tom and Jerry more than Hanna and Barbera Tom and Jerry.
DeleteI see I'm not the only one who hated Yakky Doodle. When you're 8 years old, and you find a cartoon and cartoon character unwatchable. that's something.
ReplyDelete"They do have some redeeming factors. One is they never included an annoying duck that became Yakky Doodle. Another is they never featured a way-too-cute little French mouse."
ReplyDeleteAm I dreaming? Yowp is saying Deitch Tom and Jerry has SOME improvements over Bill and Joe Tom and Jerry? What a world!
(Personally, I too prefer Bill and Joe Tom and Jerry over Gene Deitch and Chuck Jones Tom and Jerry but I don't hate Deitch and Jones Tom and Jerry. Hell, I somewhat don't hate Tuffy and Little Quacker unlike you!)
I hate to admit but I kinda like the Gene Deitch Tom And Jerry shorts that don't feature the owner. I just like the weird animation and sound effects and how those shorts were made in a different perspective of a view of another country when it comes to these kinds of cartoons
ReplyDelete