Originally created as shorts for the silver screen, Tom & Jerry returns in a slick new feature film

by E. BRETT VOSS

Bosque Film Society Board President

 

Originally created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Tom & Jerry became best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. While the series centers on the rivalry between the titular characters of a cat named Tom and a mouse named Jerry, many shorts also feature several recurring characters.

Now featured in a 2021 live-action/animated hybrid film, Tom & Jerry comes to The Cliftex Theatre in Clifton for multiple showings this weekend.

 

As the second theatrical feature film based on Tom & Jerry, the slapstick comedy follows Jerry taking refuge in a fancy hotel, which hires Tom to exterminate him before an important wedding arrives, until the duo put their differences aside to save the hotel, its planned wedding, and Kayla’s career.

In its original run, Hanna and Barbera produced 114 Tom and Jerry shorts for MGM from 1940 to 1958. During this time, they won seven Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film, tying for first place with Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies with the most awards in the category.

After the MGM cartoon studio closed in 1957, MGM revived the series with Gene Deitch directing an additional 13 Tom and Jerry shorts for Rembrandt Films from 1961-62. Tom and Jerry then became the highest-grossing animated short film series of that time, overtaking Looney Tunes.

Chuck Jones then produced another 34 shorts with Sib Tower 12 Productions between 1963-67. Three more shorts were produced, The Mansion Cat in 2001, The Karate Guard in 2005, and A Fundraising Adventure in 2014, making a total of 164 shorts.

And of course, most of us and our children have grown up with Tom & Jerry on television all through the years.

Watch trailer: