Buddies Thicker Than Water
Buddies Thicker Than Water is a Tom and Jerry animated short film, released on November 1, 1962.[1] It was the twelfth and penultimate cartoon in the series to be directed by Gene Deitch and produced by William L. Snyder in Czechoslovakia. The short's title is a pun on the phrase "Blood is thicker than water".
Buddies Thicker Than Water | |
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Directed by | Gene Deitch Director of animation: Václav Bedřich (uncredited) |
Produced by | William L. Snyder |
Story by | Larz Bourne |
Starring | Gene Deitch Kutula Zbyňková (both uncredited) |
Music by | Steven Konichek |
Animation by | Jindra Barta Antonín Bures Mirek Kacena Milan Klikar Vera Kudrnová Vera Maresová Olga Sisková Zdenka Skrípková Zdenek Smetana (all uncredited) Checking: Ludmila Kopecná (uncredited) |
Backgrounds by | Background paint: Bohumil Siska with assistance from Miluse Hluchanicová (both uncredited) |
Color process | Metrocolor |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
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Running time | 9:00 |
Country | United States Czechoslovakia |
Language | English (no dialogue) |
Plot
On a snowy night in New York City, Jerry is comfortably asleep inside a penthouse. Tom, meanwhile, is freezing in the alley below after being evicted by his owner. He writes a note asking for help, slips it into a bottle, and throws it up to the penthouse window. Jerry, awakened by the noise, goes out to the balcony and finds the note. Alarmed, he rushes outside, going down to the first floor of the elevator, and rescues a frozen Tom. He then brings him inside to the higher floor, and after thawing him out with an electric warmer, Jerry serves him a hot meal from dehydrated food.
Tom and Jerry lounge about the penthouse, listening to music and drinking champagne in the owner's liquor cabinet. Both Tom and Jerry laugh afterward. However, Tom's owner returns and startles the inebriated pair. Jerry dives into his hole as the woman grabs Tom and prepares to throw him out again. Tom grabs Jerry and shows him to his owner, causing her to panic. Tom assures the owner he will get rid of the mouse and goes outside to throw Jerry off the balcony into the alley. Inside, Tom is stroked and pampered by his owner; outside, Jerry is angered by Tom's betrayal and wants revenge.
Upon entering the house, Jerry sneaks past Tom and goes over to the woman's make-up table, where he applies face powder on his body to resemble a ghost mouse, his plan being to make it seem that he has frozen to death and come back from the dead to haunt Tom. Putting on a record of spooky music (to make Tom think that the record player has turned itself on with spooky music playing), Jerry turns off the lights (to make Tom think that the lights have turned off on their own) and chases the terrified Tom through the house. Tom cowardly hides under a pillow under a couch, and then tries to hide in the champagne cabinet but Jerry swings into the cabinet via string from the ceiling. Tom crashes around in the cabinet and out the side and Jerry scares tom outside and onto the edge of the snowy roof, but some of the powder washes off as Jerry advances through the snow. Tom gets mad and prepares to kill Jerry, but accidentally spreads the snow on the side of the building and falls back down to the street below. Tom desperately sends Jerry another note, pleading for help, but the mad Jerry responds by turning the note into a paper airplane throwing it towards Tom and then throwing a pair of ice skates and an ice hockey stick down to him for him to use if he wants to get back inside where it's warm, then happily returns to his hole and goes back to sleep.
Censorship
The scene showing Tom and Jerry drinking champagne is cut in the UK and Middle East.
References
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 150–151. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.