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Very well executed

The Age of Commercialism

Best movie ever!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

"Old Rockin' Chair Tom" (admittedly a very random, almost off-topic title) is a color cartoon from 1948, so this one will have its 70th anniversary next year. The name in the title as well as the fact that this is a Hanna Barbera production makes it obvious of course that these 7 minutes are another Tom and Jerry short film. In this one here, they continue the successful trend of including one other character with a great deal of screen time and T&J's interactions with it. With this, I am of course not referring to Mammy Two-Shoes who is voiced competently as always by Lilian Randolph (It's a Wonderful Life), but to the new ginger cat who is brought in when Tom's owner is no longer happy with his mice-catching skills. But Tom as well as Jerry are not too happy with being kicked-out, so for the rest of the film they are friends trying to establish the status quo again and Tom does not even try to steal from Jerry's half of the cake at the very end of the film, which shows how happy he must be being back as the cat-in-charge. I personally did not like the whole magnet/flat-iron comedy too much here, but everything else was very funny and entertaining. The first half was maybe slightly better, especially the parts before the ginger cat enters when we see an unusually destructive Jerry, but even in the second half there are good moments like when Tom gets framed for food theft, the moment that somehow establishes the new cat as an antagonist. Okay that is all I think. It was a funny good watch with great animation of course and this is my favorite short film from 1948. A must-see for cartoon lovers.

The story is a little on the unexceptional side, but everything else ensures for a very enjoyable Tom and Jerry cartoon as per usual. What makes this cartoon is the electric chemistry between Tom, Jerry, Lightning and Mammy Two Shoes- Tom and Jerry are both likable and Mammy Two Shoes has a more significant role here, but it is Lightning who steals the cartoon and he gets his comeuppance at the end as he must be very devious indeed to trick Mammy Two Shoes into thinking that Tom is getting old and incompetent. The animation is lovely, the music is rousing, the sight gags are clever and the violence is indeed violent but effective enough. Plus I liked the ending, it was quite sweet to see Tom sharing his treat once in a while. Overall, very enjoyable. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Jerry is tormenting Mammy-Two-Shoes (dubbed to sound less 'offensive' in the version that I watched and I suspect they have rewritten some of her dialogue too) but Tom is too slow and too lazy to catch him. Annoyed with this, she introduces a new orange cat called Lightning and kicks Tom out of the house, along with Jerry, for good.But Lightning turns out to be a glutton and T&J reckon it's time they teamed up and hatch a plan to give Lightning what he deserves (IE a painful walloping and framing him). Some good gags and visual humor along with a more original plot make this a better than average T&J short.

I like the Tom & Jerry cartoons where they realize they need each other and this one is a perfect example. Jerry is teasing Mammy and she calls for Tom to help her. Of course he messes things up so Mammy takes measures of her own by taking a new cat. The first job of that cat; kick Jerry out. After Tom is blamed for something the new cat has done he is kicked out as well. Tom and Jerry realize they have to work together to keep their comfortable place in the house.The cartoon has some nice touches in the beginning but really starts with the arriving of the new cat. The best gag comes when the new cat wants to kick Jerry out for the second time but Jerry does that for himself. An enjoyable cartoon with a happy Tom & Jerry ending, with one last gag involving poor Tom, of course.